Nursing in Australia...Working overtime?

English exam is for everyone, know of a few UK nurses that have posted elsewhere that they have to do it.

hi there a lot of what you are asking will depend on the type of visa you will be on. I am not familiar with an American Working Holiday Maker visa as there are differences between it an the one offered to Europeans. If you are being "sponsored" ie a 457 business long stay you have to work only for the hospital of nursing agency that you are sponsored by.
It depends on what kind of nursing you want do here if you dont need the security of a full working week esp around dec-jan then you could talk to a nursing agency who can get you work in many of a cities hospitals and private hospitals and nursing homes and home care. However they do have tons of work. I done all of this when I was on my WHM visa. i also done a 3 month contract in the country side where they are desperate for nurses.
Then I spoke to a public hospital in order to get my sponsorship in order to stay in the country. I have to work full time for them as it is part of my visa requirements and I can only work for them i.e not do any agency work for OT. here in melbourne most hospitals do 8hr shifts which means I only get 2 days off a week so I want to enjoy them. However some critical care areas do 12hrs. i miss my 12 hr as well but when i was home it meant that I could go places on my 3 or 4 days off.
My advice would be to look up the dept of immigration website for advice and working restrictions. the agency that I worked with and each public hospital that I worked for through the agency checked my visa status.
Good luck with your plans

Yes to the English test - much to their indignation, my non-EU-passport-holding colleagues had to sit English exams to work in the UK, too.

in Melbourne, at least, overtime in fulltime positions is rare, but agency nurses can (and sometimes do) work more than the mandated 38-hour/week schedule.

Hi, the regulation has been changed recently, so people who studied and worked in English in USA, CA,UK...also need to take English examination. There is an information for the registration requirements for oversea nurses (This is Victoria. It can be different by states, though).
Also, I think you need to do GNP(Graduate Nursiing Program), if you want to get better job later on.

Cheers,