Studio portrait of Staff Nurse Christine Erica Strom, Australian Army Nursing Service, of Rydalmere, NSW. (AWM P04397.001 ) Education Kit - Secondary
This Education Kit has been developed by the Museum of Tropical Queensland to provide teachers with resources to plan a successful visit to Nurses: from Zululand to Afghanistan at the Museum of Tropical Queensland from 4th September to 26 October 2014.
Educational materials are included in this kit for a series of pre and post visit lessons linked to the students’ visit. Although the kit is aimed at years 9 & 10 History, it has material that could be used for other year levels. It also contains activities linked to the Visual Arts and English curricula. Teachers may copy material in this kit for educational purposes.
Acknowledgements This Education kit was collated by Claire Speedie, Learning Activities Officer, Museum of Tropical Queensland, using material developed by the Australian War Memorial and other resources.
Nurses: from Zululand to Afghanistan is a travelling exhibition produced by the Australian War Memorial.
© Museum of Tropical Queensland 2014
‘Nurses: From Zululand to Afghanistan’ - Education kit (Secondary) 2014 – Museum of Tropical Queensland 1
Contents Page
Teachers Notes The exhibition……………………………………………………………………. 3
Curriculum links ……………………………………………………………….. 5
Activities and background information In the beginning: Florence Nightingale………………………………. 8
Boer War Introduction: the Boer War…………………………………… 10 Conditions: Boer War...... 12 Case study: “Bessie” Pocock………………………………..... 14
First World War Introduction: World War I……………………………………. 18 Conditions: World War I ...... 20 Case study: Rachael Pratt MM……………………………… 23
Second World War Introduction: World War II…………………………………… 26 Conditions: Second World War...... 28 Case study: “Betty” Jeffrey…………………………………… 31
Nurses’ activities Online activities………………………………………………... 37 Examine the source online activity………………………… 39 “We served too…” ……………………………………………. 41 Recruitment and propaganda………………………………… 44 Uniforms…………………………………………………………49 Nurses in art……………………………………………………. 52 Case study: Nora Heysen……………………………………..55 Nurses in poetry………………………………………………... 57 Service and sacrifice………………………………………….. 59
Glossary ………………………………………………………………… 60
Educational resources ………………………………………………………… 61
Bibliography ………………………………………………………………….....63
‘Nurses: From Zululand to Afghanistan’ - Education kit (Secondary) 2014 – Museum of Tropical Queensland 2
Teacher Notes
Australian nurses have been going to war for well over 100 years, but their important contribution to Australia’s overseas military operations often goes unreported.
Nurses: from Zululand to Afghanistan explores the involvement of nurses from the first known Australian in the Zulu War of 1879, right up to the experiences of the male and female nurses serving in recent conflicts and peace keeping operations.
The exhibition highlights the personal stories of Army, Air Force and Navy nurses who have served overseas; their difficulties and challenges, along with their determination to care for the sick and wounded come what may.
Nurses: from Zululand to Afghanistan is on display at the Museum of Tropical Queensland, 70- 102 Flinders Street, Townsville from 4th September to 26 th October 2014.
Visits to Nurses: from Zululand to Afghanistan may be either Museum staff or teacher led.
Costs
Self-led visits to the exhibition are free to schools in the Townsville, Burdekin, Hinchinbrook and Charters Towers council areas.
Led programs are $5.50 per student for schools in the Townsville, Burdekin, Hinchinbrook and Charters Towers council areas and $7.50 per student for all other schools.
Teachers, carers and accompanying adults at a ratio of 1:5 for school groups will be admitted free of charge . Groups may opt to pay prior to their visit, pay on the day of the visit, or be invoiced on the day of the visit for the number of students attending.
The Exhibition
Nurses: from Zululand to Afghanistan uses personal stories and first person accounts, photographs and artefacts, including medals and uniforms to tell the story of nurses in war. The exhibition is divided into the following themes:
Zulu War nurse (and Royal Red Cross (medal))
Boer War nurses - including the first Australian military nurse to die during overseas service
Great War nurses - in Belgium, Egypt, Britain, France, Gallipoli, the Western Front, India and Greece
Second World War nurses - in the middle East, Greece, Crete, New Guinea and the islands - in Australia, including a nurse who survived the sinking of the Centaur off Moreton Island, Queensland - Air Force and Naval nursing services - Flying angels – Medical Air Evacuation Transport Unit - Nurses in captivity – in prison camps in Rabaul, Sumatra and Japan
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Cold War nurses - Posted to occupied Japan after World War II - Vietnam War
Military nursing today - Rwanda and Afghanistan conflicts - humanitarian aid in the Pacific - peacekeeping operations
Sister Sybil Fletcher shortly after arrival in the Middle East in 1940 (AWM, 000924)
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Curriculum links
The Nurses: from Zululand to Afghanistan exhibition and activities in this Education kit have direct links to the years 9 and 10 Australian History curriculum and links to the Visual Arts and English curricula.
The year 9 history curriculum theme of ‘The making of the modern world’ and the year 10 history curriculum theme of ‘The modern world and Australia’ provide a study of the history of the making of the modern world and Australia from 1750 to the present, including depth studies in World War I (year 9) and World War II (year 10). The content provides opportunities to develop historical understanding through key concepts – including sources, continuity and change, cause and effect, perspectives, empathy and significance.
Year 9
Historical Knowledge and Understanding Depth Study: World War I (1914 -1918) Students investigate key aspects of the First World War and the Australian experience of the war, including the nature and significance of the war in the world and Australian history.
The places where Australians fought and the nature of warfare during the First World War, including the Gallipoli campaign (ACDSEH095)
The impact of World War I, with a particular emphasis on Australia (such as the use of propaganda to influence the civilian population, the changing role of women, the conscription debate) (ACDSEH096)
The commemoration of the First World War, including debates about the nature and significance of the Anzac legend (ACDSEH097)
Historical Skills Chronology, terms and concepts Use chronological sequencing to demonstrate the relationship between event in different periods and places (ACHHS164)
Use historical terms and concepts (ACHHS165)
Historical questions and research Identify and select different kinds of questions about the past to inform historical inquiry (ACHHS166)
Identify and locate relevant sources, using ICT and other methods (ACHHS168)
Analysis and use of resources Identify the origin, purpose and context of primary and secondary sources (ACHHS169)
Process and synthesise information from a range of sources for use as evidence in an historical argument (ACHHS170)
Evaluate the reliability and usefulness of primary and secondary sources (ACHHS171)
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Perspectives and interpretation Identify and analyse the perspectives of people from the past (ACHHS172)
Identify and analyse different historical interpretations (including their own) (ACHHS173)
Explanation and communication Develop texts, particularly descriptions and discussions that use evidence from a range of sources that are referenced (ACHHS174)
Select and use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies. (ACHHS175)
Year 10
Historical Knowledge and Understanding Depth Study: World War II (1939 -1945) Students investigate wartime experiences through study of World War II in depth. This includes a study of the causes, events, outcome and broader impact of the conflict as an episode in world history, and the nature of Australia’s involvement.
The experiences of Australians during the World War II (for example, Prisoners of War (POWs), the Battle of Britain, Kokoda, the Fall of Singapore) (ACDSEH108)
The impact of World War II, with a particular emphasis on the Australian home front, including the changing role of women and use of wartime government controls (conscription, manpower controls, rationing and censorship (ACSEH109)
The significance of World War II to Australia’s international relationships in the twentieth century, with particular reference to the United Nations, Britain, the United States and Asia (ACDSEH110)
Historical Skills Chronology, terms and concepts Use chronological sequencing to demonstrate the relationship between event in different periods and places (ACHHS182)
Use historical terms and concepts (ACHHS183)
Historical questions and research Identify and select different kinds of questions about the past to inform historical inquiry (ACHHS184)
Identify and locate relevant sources, using ICT and other methods (ACHHS186)
Analysis and use of resources Identify the origin, purpose and context of primary and secondary sources (ACHHS187)
Process and synthesise information from a range of sources for use as evidence in an historical argument (ACHHS188)
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Evaluate the reliability and usefulness of primary and secondary sources (ACHHS189)
Perspectives and interpretation Identify and analyse the perspectives of people from the past (ACHHS190)
Identify and analyse different historical interpretations (including their own) (ACHHS191)
Explanation and communication Develop texts, particularly descriptions and discussions that use evidence from a range of sources that are referenced (ACHHS192)
Select and use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies. (ACHHS193)
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In the beginning: Florence Nightingale
In early nineteenth century Britain, the nursing profession was viewed with derision. Hospitals were seen as filthy, dangerous places, and nurses as unsavoury characters. One woman, Florence Nightingale was determined to change this perception. *** In 1853, when British health care proved inadequate during the Crimean War (1853-56), Nightingale volunteered her services. Over the course of the four-year war, Nightingale led hospital staff in caring for thousands of wounded and sick soldiers.
When Nightingale and 38 British nurses arrived in the Crimea, conditions were much worse than they had anticipated. Infection was rife and stores had either not arrived or had been lost at sea. Nightingale immediately recognised that the hospitals needed to be properly managed and often worked 20 hour days to achieve this. She was the first to recognise the connection between a patient’s mental and physical wellbeing. At night Nightingale would walk the hospital corridors, caring for her patients. She was given the affectionate nickname, “The Lady with the Lamp”.
After returning to Britain, Nightingale demanded a Royal Commission into the Military Hospitals and the health of the army. Money donated by the general public was used to establish the first organised training school for nurses, the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas’ Hospital, London.
In her later life Nightingale researched, campaigned and wrote over 200 reports, pamphlets and books on nursing, hospital organisation and health reform, which had a profound effect in Britain and across the world.
Florence Nightingale’s ideas on nursing were ahead of her time and changed society’s approach to nursing forever. She was a visionary health reformer, introducing a holistic approach to nursing and promoting commitment to patient care. Perhaps Nightingale’s greatest achievement was to take the first step in making nursing a respectable profession for women.
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Florence Nightingale Medal posthumously awarded to Matron Olive Paschke, 2/10th Australian General Hospital. Paschke drowned, along with 32 other Australian nurses, when the Vyner Brooke was sunk by Japanese bombers in the Banka Strait on 14 February 1942. (AWM REL25108.006)
In 1907 the Hungarian Red Cross Society proposed that a world tribute be paid to Florence Nightingale in the form of a special medal for women who distinguished themselves in the noble mission of caring for the sick and wounded.
Over 40 Australian nurses have received the Florence Nightingale medal.
In 1992, the International Committee of the Red Cross changed the criteria for awarding the Florence Nightingale Medal so that both male and female nurses would be eligible. The award is now open to qualified nurses and voluntary nursing aides who are active members or regular helpers of a national Red Cross organisation or an affiliated medical or nursing institution.
Activity Research one of the following Australian nurses who have been awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal: Matron Olive Paschke, Sister Evelyn Conyers, Captain Vivian Bullwinkel or Barbara Moriarty. i) Why were they awarded this medal? ii) How do their actions reflect the work of Florence Nightingale?
For more information Vivian Bullwinkel: https://www.awm.gov.au/people/1906.asp Nurses exhibition: https://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/nurses/introduction/ Search for a person: https://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/ Roll of Honour: http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/roll_of_honour/index.asp, First world war nominal roll: http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/nominal_rolls/first_world_war/ First world war embarkation roll: http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/nominal_rolls/first_world_war_embarkation/ Family history : https://www.awm.gov.au/research/family/ Brief essays and lots of links about major conflicts : https://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/interview/florence-nightingale-medal-interview-110810.htm http://www.victorianweb.org/history/crimea/florrie.html http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/cms/index.php/florence-introduction
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Introduction: the Boer War (1899–1902)
Despite the need for good health care in the Crimean War The Boer War and the success of Florence Nightingale and others, the The Boer War, which began in contribution of nurses in war was still harshly undervalued October 1899, was fought between at the end of the nineteenth century. Members of the Britain and her Empire (including British Army suggested that nurses should be restricted to Australia) and the Boers (white farmers). It arose out of opposition established hospitals far away from the front line, to British administration of the Cape believing that they would otherwise be immoral influences Colony, and was technically the on fighting men. Second Boer War, the first having been fought in 1880–81.
Nevertheless, Queen Victoria, a good friend of Florence Who were the Boers? Nightingale, forged ahead, developing a Nursing Service
by 1861 and instituting the Royal Red Cross in 1883, the The Boers were descendants of first order exclusively for women. By 1897 a British Army Dutch or Huguenot colonists who
settled in South Africa. Today Nursing Service Reserve was established and put under South Africans of Dutch descent the care of the War Office, which gave nurses immediate are usually called Afrikaners. status.
In Australia
In 1899, inspired by the formation of the British Army Nursing Service Reserve for nurses, Major General George French supported the development of the NSW
Army Nursing Service Reserve (NSWANSR) based on its
British counterpart. Twenty-four nurses, each with over Surrendered Boers, c. 1902. seven years’ nursing experience, were selected by (AWM P00093.009)
Matron Nellie Gould. They undertook military training and were given uniforms and an annual allowance. NSWANSR was the first of its kind in Australia. Information taken from Wilcox, Craig, Origins of the Boer War: http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/8/ar ticles/origins_boer.pdf]
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The war begins ... Australia’s contribution When the Boer War broke out, NSWANSR was still the only nursing service in Australia. Many were sceptical The six Australian colonies had not yet federated when n the Boer War about the use of military nurses, who were criticised for broke out. Each colony sent troops being “in the way” in warfare owing to their having little or to fight alongside the British forces no experience with the treatment of battle wounds. This in South Africa. In all, 16,000 attitude was soon silenced with the early defeats for the Australian troops were sent to South Africa, some arriving as early as British Army and the recognition of the need for good December 1899 and the last healthcare. The War Office soon indicated its support for contingents arriving in 1902, too late the recruitment of nurses and their deployment to South for any action.
Africa. The conditions in which they fought were difficult, and by the end of the Sixty nurses, drawn from across Australia, went to the war, 282 Australian soldiers had died in action or from wounds, 286 Boer War. In accordance with military regulations, these had died from illness or disease, nurses were all between the ages of 25 and 40, unmarried and 38 had died as a result of an and from middle-class families. They were not all paid for accident or other cause. by the government. Many were sponsored by privately Six Australians were awarded the raised funds, while others paid their own way. Victoria Cross in South Africa, and many more received other Once the nurses reached South Africa, they worked in decorations. general hospitals, stationary hospitals, hospital trains or hospital ships, which transported convalescent troops to Activity Britain. They nursed the wounded and treated diseases Three Australian nurses were such as typhoid, often becoming ill themselves. One awarded the Royal Red Cross for their service in the Boer War. nurse, Sister Frances “Fanny” Hines, did not return home, Who were these nurses and why dying of disease while in South Africa. were they awarded the Royal Red
Cross?
By war’s end, the contribution of nurses was beginning to be acknowledged. Even General Sir George White, who had earlier rejected offers of assistance from civilian nurses, eventually praised them.
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Boer War Conditions
Medical staff at a refugee nursing camp in the Orange River Colony, South Africa,
1901–02 (AWM P03558.001)
Imagine being left alone on the veldt in a Boer farm with your patients, far from assistance, hearing no news, and knowing nothing of what was happening. My hut was built of clay with a roof of reeds. There were no drugs other than those I had with me and no medical aid available. All treatment was left entirely in my hands. Altogether I had thirty patients ... and thirteen at one time. Seven in one small tent on the ground with a macintosh sheet underneath.....
Julia Anderson in Jan Bassett, Guns and brooches , Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992, pp. 20–21.
Medical staff and patients in a hospital ward, possibly in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), c. 1900. The ward, with its bare earth floor, is decorated with flowers and framed portraits in an
attempt to brighten up the primitive conditions. (AWM P04544.011)
Our nursing sisters were the only sisters who ventured into these districts, and they have indeed done more than their share of work. At times one, sometimes two, would be trekked off on a week’s coaching journey to some fever bed where the troops are
‘Nurses: From Zululand to Afghanistan’ - Education kit (Secondary) 2014 – Museum of Tropical Queensland 12 falling ill, with possibly no accommodation but a deserted public house. I have seen two sisters on their knees scrubbing and cleaning such a place to receive their patients, and in the middle of their work 10 or 12 sick and dying men dumped down from an ox wagon ... The nurses would be obliged to take off some of their own clothing to make pillows for sick men, and then go outside to cook food under a blazing sun.
R.L. Wallace, The Australians at the Boer War : Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1976, pp. 249–50.
Medical staff in Rhodesia, c. 1900.
Sister Fanny Hines is seated far left. She died in 1900 and was buried with full military honours in Bulawayo cemetery. (AWM P04544.003)
The health of some was affected. One of the Victorians, Fanny Hines, “died of an attack of pneumonia contracted in devotion to duty. She was quite alone with as many as twenty-six patients at one time, no possibility of assistance or relief, and without sufficient nourishment”.
Julia Anderson in Bassett, Guns and brooches , p. 24.
Activities 1. On the basis of the above evidence, what would you conclude about the experience of Australian nurses during the Boer War? Give reasons for your answers.
2. Note the ways in which the nurses coped with these conditions/experiences.
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Bessie Pocock
I am so anxious to go to the front. I want to be in the thick of the excitement. AWM PR 05050
Nurses and service personnel outside a hospital building in South Africa in 1900. Bessie is seated second from the left. (AWM P01840.003)
New South Wales Army Nursing Service Reserve (NSWANSR) In 1900, 14 NSWANSR nurses, led by Matron Nellie Gould, including Pocock, served in South Africa with the New South Wales Army Medical Corps. To be eligible for the NSWANSR, women were to be well-educated, middle class, unmarried and aged between 25 and 40.
Anne Mary “Bessie” Pocock Anne Mary Pocock was born into a farming family on 20 July 1863 in Dalby, Queensland. Known as Bessie, she worked for many years as a domestic servant before beginning her nursing training at Sydney Hospital at the age of 27. Once her training was complete, Pocock joined the hospital staff as a Sister. Years later, when the Boer War began, she quickly joined the NSWANSR and proudly followed the British flag into service in South Africa. The NSWANSR arrived in 1900 and Bessie was posted to No. 2 British Stationary Hospital in East London, South Africa. It was housed in an old agricultural show building, where conditions were primitive. In her diary, Pocock wrote:
just 3 huge rooms, 2 with boards on the floor. We had about 500 patients in a very little time. It was very hot here, the building all covered with corrugated iron, flies very bad, everyone required mosquito nets.
AWM PR 05050
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Pocock went on to serve closer to the front, first in Johannesburg, then at Middelburg in the Transvaal, where she was Sister-in-Charge. Here she treated wounded and ill soldiers until she herself contracted typhoid in May 1902. She was invalided to Britain.
For her service in the Boer War, Pocock was Mentioned in Despatches and was awarded the Queen’s and the King’s South Africa medals, which she highly cherished. She was also the envy of her nursing colleagues when she attended the coronation procession in London on 9 August 1902.
The King’s and Queen’s South Africa medals; the former belonged to Corporal P. Nicholson and the latter to Private C. Cooke. (AWM REL17286.002; AWM REL/11942)
When Pocock returned home to Australia in 1903, it was to a federated nation. A decision had been made to have one unified nursing service and Bessie was one of the Boer War nurses who joined the Australian Army Nursing Service Reserve (AANSR) in the lead up to World War I.
Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) The AANS began as a reserve in 1903 and its members served with distinction in the World War I. To be eligible to join, women needed to be a registered nurse, preferably with some years’ experience, aged between 25 and 35 and single.
Sister Pocock in front of the sphinx, Mena, Egypt, c. 1915. (AWM P01840.010)
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Associate Royal Red Cross medal. This one was awarded to Head
Sister Emma Cuthbert in 1919. (RELAWM15022.001)
Second time around With the outbreak of World War I, Pocock again enlisted, first with 1 Field Artillery Brigade (FAB), then as a nursing sister with 2 Australian General Hospital, Australian Army Nursing Service. She served in hospitals with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in Cairo and Ismailia in Egypt, then became matron on board the Hospital Ship Assaye . She went on to serve in France, Belgium and England. On 2 May Pocock was awarded the Associate Royal Red Cross for her nursing service; she was later twice mentioned in despatches.
Matron Pocock (second from left) outside Buckingham Palace after receiving her Associate Royal Red Cross medal, London, 1919. (AWM P01840.016)
After the war When she reached home, Pocock returned to her role as matron at Gladesville Hospital in Sydney, before opening a private hospital Ismailia in Chatswood. In her retirement she remained an active member of both the Australasian Trained Nurses’ Association, of which she became a life member, and the AANS. Pocock never married and lived with her nieces until her death on 16 July 1946. Her niece, Margaret, lovingly handcopied her diaries for future generations to read.
For your information
The Royal Red Cross is awarded in two levels – First Class
(RRC) and Second Class or Associate (ARRC)
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For more information http://www.bwm.org.au/site/Nurses.asp http://www.bwm.org.au/site/Boer_War_Medals.asp
Activities Imagine you could interview Bessie Pocock. What would you want to know about her experiences as a nurse? As a woman?
How do you think she would answer your questions? Consider the era, the role of women, and her personality. How might these answers help to build up a picture of her life?
Create a timeline of Pocock’s life, highlighting important dates.
How would nursing service have changed for Pocock and other nurses between the Boer War and World War I?
1. Use the Australian War Memorial website to answer the following questions: what achievement does the Associate Royal Red Cross recognise?
2. For what was Bessie awarded the Associate Royal Red Cross and promoted to matron?
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World War I Introduction: World World War I began in late July–early August 1914. For Australia it began with War I (1914–18) the British declaration of war on Germany and its allies on 4 August. Australian More than 3,000 Australian civilian nurses Prime Minister Andrew Fisher pledged full support for Britain, and the nation volunteered for active service during the First appeared to welcome this decision with World War. While enabling direct participation in enthusiasm. the war effort, nursing also provided opportunities The Gallipoli landing for independence and travel, sometimes with the On 25 April 1915, Australian troops along hope of being closer to loved ones serving with troops from New Zealand, Britain and overseas. France landed on the Gallipoli peninsula The Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) had in Turkey A naval attempt to force the Straits of the Dardanelles had earlier been formed in July 1903 as part of the Australian failed. The Gallipoli landing was the Army Medical Corps. During the war more than beginning of an eight-month campaign to 2,000 of its members served overseas alongside the secure the Straits that ended in failure with the evacuation of troops in December Australian nurses working with other organisations, 1915. such as Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS), the Red Cross, or During 1916 and 1917 there were heavy losses on the Western Front with little privately sponsored facilities. success. Fortunately in August 1918 Australians reached the peak of their The women worked in hospitals, on hospital ships fighting performance in the battle of and trains, or in casualty clearing stations closer to Hamel and a number of advances until 11 the front line. They served in locations from Britain November when Germany surrendered. to India, taking in France and Belgium, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Many of them were decorated, with eight receiving the Military Medal for bravery. Twenty-five died during their service.
An Australian digger uses a periscope in a The four years of this war saw nurses taking on trench captured during the attack on Lone increasingly complex roles, where they often had Pine, Gallipoli, 1915. (AWM A03771) to make split second decisions. They were The Western Front indispensable team members in busy operating After Gallipoli, the Australians went on to theatres, and kept entire operations running fight in campaigns on the Western Front smoothly. They had a unique role in the war: on and in the Middle East. During 1916 and 1917 there were heavy losses on the the one hand, they cleaned and dressed wounds, Western Front with little success. performed minor surgery and administered
‘Nurses: From Zululand to Afghanistan’ - Education kit (Secondary) 2014 – Museum of Tropical Queensland 18 treatment, often in squalid conditions, in trying climates and environments. They were usually In July 1918, however, the Australians reached the peak of their fighting understaffed and lacking supplies, sometimes performance in the battle of Hamel and under threat of attack and constantly fighting off the series of decisive advances that exhaustion and sickness themselves. On the other resulted in Germany’s surrender on 11 November. hand, they were also expected to be feminine and cheerful, a “sweetheart and mother” to every Middle East patient. Patients and nurses often became friends, Beginning in 1916, the Middle East campaign centred on the defence of and nurses frequently wrote to the families of those the Suez Canal and the reconquest of men who died while under their care. the Sinai Peninsula. In 1917 Australian and other allied troops advanced into By war’s end, having faced the dangers and Palestine and captured Gaza and Jerusalem. By 1918 they had occupied demands of wartime nursing and taken on new Lebanon and Syria. On 30 October responsibilities and practices, nurses had proven to 1918 Turkey sued for peace. be essential to military medical service. World War I remains the most costly
conflict for Australia. From a population The first Australian hospital ship of fewer than 5 million, 416,809 Just days after war was declared in August 1914, enlisted, of whom over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, the Royal Australian Navy requisitioned the or taken prisoner. passenger ship Grantala . Following its conversion into a hospital ship, seven nurses from Sydney’s For more information http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ww1.asp Royal Prince Alfred Hospital joined its medical
Use the Memorial’s website to team. For four months the Grantala accompanied research ONE of the nurses who the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary were awarded the Military
Force, and its nurses treated a small number of Medal: You may wish to
research Rachael Pratt, Alicia patients from action with the Germans at Rabaul Kelly, Alice Ross King, Mary and Suva. Jane Derrer, Pearl Corkhill or
another of the eight Military
Medal recipients.
Sick bay staff of HMAS Grantala , 1914. (AWM 302802)
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World War I conditions
Washing day at the nurses’ quarters at the 60th Australian General Hospital, near Salonica, Greece, 1917. (AWM C04337)
Salonica [Sister Gertrude Munro] was … put straight into hospital for sick sisters … she had a bad combination, neumonia [sic] and M.T. Malaria which is very hard to fight. Being a strong healthy woman, we hoped against hope she might win through, but alas it was not to be.
Jessie McHardie White, 2 December 1918, Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry files, AWM 2 DRL 0509
“Bluebird” nurses in a slit trench in the grounds of a French military hospital at Essay they visited in 1917. Called “Bluebirds” because of their blue uniform, these nurses had volunteered for service in French hospitals. They were sent to the Western Front by the NSW Branch of the Australian Red Cross. (AWM P01790.002)
Hospital train, France Patients lying everywhere in the grounds of the clearing station, the walking wounded were in hundreds and were fighting to get on the train, they had to be kept back by a Guard to enable the [stretcher] bearers to get the more serious cases on the train.
Sister Leila Smith speaks of her experience on No. 15 Ambulance Train, 1916. AWM 41 6/49
A nurse with the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital in the carriage of a hospital train, Denham, Buckinghamshire, 1916. (AWM P02402.004)
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Lemnos Had a desperately hard time at Lemnos with food, tents, mud and sickness, as well as great troubles with Colonel Fiaschi, who treated Nurses shamefully – No consideration whatever ... I believe the Hospital would have collapsed but for the Nurses. They all worked like demons.
Lieutenant General R.H.J. Fetherston, AWM 3DRL 251
Matron Margaret Grace Wilson “does a round” in Lemnos, Greece, 1915. (AWM A05332)
Hospital ship off Gallipoli, Sunday 25 April 1915 About 9 am my first patients from battlefield commenced to pour in ... They came in an endless stream, some walking holding arms, hands covered with blood, some on stretchers with broken legs, some shivering and collapsed through loss of blood and some with faces streaming with blood ... we went for the worst cases first and worked like fury while all the sound of firing was going on...we took on board 570 wounded ... we filled every space ... in my ward I had 118 patients ... we got to bed between 3 and 3.30 am.
Elsie Gibson, quoted in Melanie Oppenheimer, Australian women and war , Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Canberra, 2008, p. 26
A flat-bottomed barge transporting wounded soldiers from ANZAC Cove alongside the Hospital Ship Gascon . AWM A02740
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Patients and nurses at Colaba War Hospital make Christmas decorations on the verandah of the ward. Members of the AANS served at the hospital mainly treating patients from the British garrisons in Bombay [Mumbai], India, 1917. (AWM P07133.006)
India Here I am on duty, and Sister-in-Charge of two wards. Oh, these poor men from Mesopotamia! They are … only skin and bone ... most of the poor men are not long for this world … Why are men allowed to suffer like this?... I suppose stone monuments… will be erected to their memory “of our glorious dead”. What about the living? The blind, crippled, disfigured and those poor mad men and women.
Matron “Babs” Moberly speaking of her work in the dysentery and malaria wards in Cumballa hospital in Bombay, today known as Mumbai (quoted in Oppenheimer, Australian women and war , p. 30).
Sister Mary Jane Derrer of the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station, France, 1917. She was one of eight Australian nurses awarded the Military Medal during the war. (AWM P00156.071) France I arrived at the C.C.S. about 10 am…The next few days was a continuous stream of wounded each one seemingly as bad as could be. Eight theatre teams working day and night yet it seemed impossible to cope with things; and the men were such bricks, lying on their stretchers waiting for their turn on the operating table. One realised this was war indeed. If one had time to think we would have just been weeping hysterical women but we’d only time to do.
Sister Belstead in A.G. Butler (ed.) The Australian Army Nursing Service , Vol. 3: Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1940, p. 557.
Activity Using the above as evidence, list some of the challenges faced by Australian nurses in the First World War. What qualities would be needed by these nurses to cope with these conditions?
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Sister Rachael Pratt MM
A most charming lady, well-spoken and highly regarded by all those who came under her care.
Merrilyn Lincoln, “Pratt, Rachel (1874–1954)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
Sister Rachael Pratt MM, 1918 (AWM P05664.001)
Rachael Pratt Born near Heywood, Victoria, on 18 July 1874, Rachael Pratt was the ninth child of farmers William and Phoebe, both originally from England. She attended Mumbannar State School, then after the death of both her parents, she moved in with one of her brothers, living with him for many years.
Always an independent spirit, Pratt decided, in 1909, to begin nursing training at Ballarat Hospital. She lowered her age from 35 to 31. She received her certificate of competency in August 1912 and just two months later was employed at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne.
Nurse Pratt With the onset of the First World War, Rachael made the decision to serve her country. Aged 41 at the time, she enlisted as a staff nurse in the AANS in May 1915 and was posted to the 3rd Australian General Hospital; she embarked for Britain aboard RMS Moolton .
Three months later, Rachael was transferred to the Greek island of Lemnos, where equipment was in short supply. As the wounded soldiers from Gallipoli descended upon the hospital, she described a complete “state of chaos” there. Dysentery, gangrene and frost bite were common ailments, and Pratt recalled an early experience where she was forced to dress the wounds of Turkish prisoners while under armed guard. The nurses nevertheless organised the hospital so that it was operating effectively and managing to maintain a mortality rate of just 2 per cent.
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Pratt went on to work, for a short time, in Egypt, before being posted to the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station (1ACCS) in France.
In the early hours of 4 July 1915, 1ACCS was attacked from the air. Pratt was busy nursing a patient when the shrapnel from a bomb burst through the tent, puncturing her lung and tearing through her back and shoulder. Despite her injuries, she remained calm, and when the attack ended resumed treating her patients. Soon, however, the pain of her injuries and the loss of blood caught up with her, and she collapsed. She was evacuated to Britain for treatment and convalescence.
Pratt’s experience was detailed in a number of Australian newspapers at the time, including The West Australian , which reported on Tuesday 14 August 1917:
[To] Rachael Pratt ... belongs the distinction of having been the first and only Australian nurse to be wounded in the present war. It was while ministering to wounded soldiers in an advanced casualty clearing station in France that Sister Pratt was herself struck by a German bullet ... she is progressing favourably.
Sister Pratt’s medal group (left to right): Military Medal, 1914–15 Star, British War medal, and Victory Medal. (AWM REL/05769.001)
Sister Pratt MM For “conspicuous gallantry displayed in the performance of her duties” Pratt was promoted to sister and was awarded the Military Medal. This award had only been extended to include women in June 1916, and Pratt was one of only eight Australian nurses to receive it during the First World War.
After spending time in a hospital in England, Rachael returned to duty and nursed until the end of the war. In October 1918, she returned home to Melbourne and was discharged from the AIF in April 1919. With shrapnel still in her lung, Rachael suffered from chronic bronchitis until her death on 23 March 1954, aged 79. She never married.
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Activities What does the above newspaper report detailing Sister Pratt’s experiences tell you about how women were viewed during the early twentieth century? What is the focus of the article? What is the purpose? Is it propaganda? Why/why not?
Why is it significant that Rachael was awarded the Military Medal?
What do Sister Pratt’s experiences tell you about the nature of nursing during World War I? Would this have changed over time? How/why?
What does Rachael’s response to the bombing attack tell you about the qualities of many nurses who served during World War I? How does this compare to the soldiers who served? Are the same qualities required? How/why?
Why is the ANZAC legend so focused on the male story of World War I? What part do women have in this story? Is this a realistic representation of the experiences for nurses in World War I?
For more information: Australian War Memorial: www.awm.gov.au.
Merrilyn, Lincoln, “Pratt, Rachel (1874–1954)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography , National Centre of Biography, Australian National University: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pratt- rachel-8099/text14137 (accessed 8 November, 2011)
National Library of Australia: http://trove.nla.gov.au/
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Introduction: World War II World War II (1939–45) Australia’s involvement in World War II began on 3 September 1939. Almost one million Australians, both men and Nursing during the Second World War women, served in World War II in the After World War I, some nurses married and left the three services, army, navy and air force. They fought against Germany and Italy workforce; others took over the care of family members in Europe, the Mediterranean and North incapacitated by the war. Some retrained in jobs away Africa, as well as against Japan in south- from nursing, but many continued to work in hospitals, east Asia and other parts of the Pacific. often in senior positions. During the war Australia came under attack for the first time, as Japanese When World War II broke out, nurses again volunteered, aircraft bombed towns in north-west Australia and midget submarines motivated by a sense of duty and a desire to “do their attacked Sydney Harbour. bit”. Eventually, some 5,000 Australian nurses served in a variety of locations, including the Middle East, the Germany surrendered in early May Mediterranean, Britain, Asia, the Pacific, and Australia. 1945, and on 2 September Japan formally surrendered. Over 30,000 Seventy-eight died, some through accident or illness, Australian servicemen had been taken but most as a result of enemy action or while prisoners prisoner during the war and 39,000 of war. Australians had given their lives. While those who had been prisoners of the
Germans had a strong chance of At first, the AANS was the only women’s service. The returning home at the end of the war, Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service (RAAFNS) around one in three prisoners of the Japanese died in captivity. was formed in 1940, and the Royal Australian Navy Nursing Service (RANNS) in 1942. But the AANS remained by far the largest, and also made up the bulk of those who served overseas.
By the end of the war, nursing sisters had been commissioned as officers, although many were loath to Members of the 2/18th Battalion AIF, give up their traditional titles of “sister” and “matron”. who had been prisoners of war of the They were yet to be given the same status and pay as Japanese, shown here in Changi prison, male officers. Singapore, just after the end of the war. (AWM 117022)
For more information: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ww2.asp
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The changing role of women World War II saw considerable change for women in Australia and overseas. During the early years of the war Australian women were generally not given the opportunity to make a significant contribution to the war. However, labour shortages soon forced the government to allow women a more active role. Women’s divisions within the three services, army, navy and air force, were soon established, and the male-dominated spheres of farming and factory work were soon available to women on the home front. This opened up new opportunities for women.
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Conditions: World War II
Amber Bushell, VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) in the wet weather at Kilo 89 camp, Gaza, Palestine, 1942. (AWM P02480.008)
Gaza Ridge, Palestine When equipment was first opened, I am told many hearts sank. It was obvious that many instruments were out of date and certainly not serviceable. For a time there was NO water connected to the tents (wards). So we, sisters, orderlies, and up patients [who could walk] carried buckets of water from a central tap – Primus stoves were used to heat water, or some “quaint” sterilizers called fish kettles were placed on two primus stoves to boil or sterilize instruments.
Sister Joan Paige, Nurse 2/1st AGH; quoted in Bassett, Guns and brooches , pp. 115–16.
Four nursing sisters of the 2/11th AGH, standing knee-deep in water outside a tent, New Guinea, 1945. The Aitape River had flooded during the night while the women slept, and they awoke to discover deep water running through their tents under their stretchers. (AWM P02749.001)
Papua New Guinea The sisters lines were tents pitched in a paddock opposite the hospital and we had to dig ditches on all four sides to prevent us from being washed out as the rain was so continuous ... our treck [sic] from quarters to ward were made wearing ground sheets and gum boots.
Sister Frances Aldom; quoted in Bassett, Guns and brooches , p. 160
Sister Elizabeth Bray and a nursing orderly, members of the
RAAF Nursing Service, attached to No. 1 Medical Air Evacuation Transport Unit (MAETU), RAAF, attend to patients during a flight from New Guinea to Australia, c. 1944. AWM OG3345
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Lae, New Guinea The workload on only 15 sisters was heavy, with each Sister flying approximately 75 hours per month.
Sister Nancy Read; quoted in Gay Halstead, Story of the RAAF Nursing Service 1940– 1990 , Nungurner Press,
Metung, Vic., 1994, p. 211. Nurse attending a patient in ward 1 at 2/2 Casualty Clearing Station, Borneo, 1945. (AWM 112432) Port Moresby Nursing in the tropics was a whole new ball game. We had been taught very little during our training about how to cope with tropical diseases ... The bedside nursing was a real challenge – malaria with its frequent rigors and the comatose conditions of the patients with scrub typhus, for which there was no specific treatment beyond constant attention, the sparing of exertion and intake of copius [sic] fluids.
Sister Mollie Nalder of 2/9th AGH; quoted in Innes Brodziak, Proudly we served , Australian Military History Publications Loftus NSW 1988, p. 173
Interior of a tent ward at the 2/9 th Australian General Hospital, Port Morseby, Papua. Nurses stop for a tea break. Note the earth floor. (AWM 107160)
Singapore Last night just after midnight the hospital was bombed ... I was standing beside the bed of one of my patients giving him a dose of pain-killing mixture ... all the glass doors and windows were blown inwards showering the patients in broken glass ... My first job was to do a quick round of all the patients to make sure that no one was cut ... then cleared the beds of Australian nurses and their patients at a broken glass and got the men back in bed. military hospital in Singapore after a bombing, 1942. (AWM 012451)
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Sister Sara Baldwin- Wiseman; quoted in Bassett, Guns and brooches , p. 137. Athens All was a total shambles! The corridors were lined each side with patients on mobile stretchers, and the wards were crammed. Many of the patients [were] still clad in their soggy battle dress, from action in snow country in the North ... Supplies of all sorts desperately short—no linen— very little medication of any sort, and even food in short supply. One ward with at least twenty amputation patients ... and not a tornique [sic] anywhere. At least every second night a convoy of 300 would come in, and often the same number of fatalities would go out.
Sister Margaret Barnard of the 26th British General Hospital; quoted in Bassett, Guns and brooches , p. 122.
Three nurses avoid air raids in a cemetery in Greece, 1941. (AWM 087663)
Western Desert, Egypt During the battle of El Alamein in the Western Desert, casualties poured in and the hospital expanded, and expanded again. We jumped from a 600 bed hospital to a 2000 bed hospital, mostly with the assistance of large marquees, but with no additional staff. AWM PR S01811 Wounded soldiers being treated by AANS
nurses and members of the VAD in one of the
wards of a desert hospital, Egypt, 1942. AWM
013654
Activity Imagine you are one of the nurses in these images. Write a journal entry or a letter describing your experiences. If you are writing a letter, what would you want your family to know? What couldn’t you tell them? Why?
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Betty Jeffrey
Australian Army Nursing Service
We are ... praying for our freedom. If this doesn’t happen soon we shall be a mess for the rest of our lives.
Betty Jeffrey, White coolies: a graphic record of survival in World War Two , Angus & Robertson, North Ryde, NSW, 1997, p. 148
Captain Vivian Bullwinkel (left) and Lieutenant Betty Jeffrey at a dedication
ceremony to the fallen of the Second World War, 1950. AWM P04585.001
Agnes Betty Jeffrey Agnes Betty Jeffrey was born in Hobart on 14 May 1908, the second youngest child of six. As a child Betty and her family moved often on account of her father’s job. An accountant at the General Post Office, he was often transferred interstate to implement new accounting methods. Jeffrey came to dislike her first name, preferring to be called Betty. After many years of travelling, the family finally settled in East Malvern, Victoria, a town Jeffrey would call home for the rest of her life. As part of a large family, she was surrounded by the singing and laughter of her siblings. She quickly learnt how to make clothing and food spread a little further and knew what it meant to “do your bit”. She didn’t know it at the time, but the basic life skills she had learnt as a child would one day help to save her life.
Sister Jeffrey At the age of 29, Jeffrey began nursing training at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital. She had not been happy with other hospitals, so had put off her training for many years. Nevertheless, in 1939, she graduated with her General Nursing Certificate and in 1940, while at the Royal Women’s Hospital, she received her midwifery certificate. That same year, at the age of 32, Jeffrey volunteered for the AANS, excited by the opportunity to travel, aid the war effort, and represent her country.
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Following a posting to Darley Military Camp in Victoria, Jeffrey embarked for Malaya on board the Zealandia in May 1941, to join the 2/10th AGH. At this stage, the Pacific war had not yet broken out that all changed on 8 December: the nurses were now, in Jeffrey’s words, “in the thick of it”.
The nurses were soon evacuated to Singapore, where they converted an old school into a hospital. Here they worked tirelessly for weeks, nursing the sick and the wounded. But the danger soon found them. Air raids soon became a daily occurrence, and on 13 February, the nurses were instructed to evacuate. Initially, the women refused, not wanting to abandon their patients, but orders were orders:
Our refusal was useless. We were ordered to leave and had to walk out on those superb fellows. All needed attention ... I have never felt worse about anything. This was the work we had gone overseas to do.
Jeffrey, White coolies, p. 2
Taking only what they could carry and donning their red capes as a symbol of their peaceful purpose, Jeffrey and 64 of her nursing colleagues boarded a small privately owned ship, the Vyner Brooke , along with 300 civilians and soldiers. A fierce air raid was raging, and the nurses each silently prayed that this would be the end to the danger.
But it was just the beginning.
Two days out of Singapore, the Vyner Brooke was attacked by Japanese aircraft. After a couple of near misses, a bomb hit the bridge. The nurses ensured that everyone was safely off the vessel and into life boats before they themselves abandoned ship. Some of them accompanied the civilians in boats and on rafts, while others, including Jeffrey, jumped overboard and prepared to swim for it. She turned to take one last look at the burning vessel, and watched as it quickly disappeared below the surface of the water. She heard their matron, Olive Paschke, call out, “We’ll all meet on the shore girls”.
She never saw her again.
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A prisoner of war After three days in the water, Betty and her companion, Matron Iole Harper, were finally pulled from the water, exhausted and delirious, by Malay fishermen. They were taken to Japanese-held Banka Island, off Sumatra, where they were soon taken prisoner.
As the two women were taken to the camp where they were to be held, they were relieved to see some of their comrades from the Vyner Brooke . But their smiles soon disappeared as they realised that 34 others were still missing. Where were Matron Paschke and the girls who had been with her?
Staff Nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, AANS, in service dress uniform, Melbourne, May 1941 (AWM P03960.001)
Unbeknown to them, 12 of these women, including Matron Paschke, had been lost at sea. The fate of the remaining 22 was revealed when a tired and bedraggled Vivian Bullwinkel joined the camp just days later. She had been one of the nurses who had made it to shore on Banka Island along with a number of civilians and soldiers. Upon reaching the beach, the group decided to surrender, and sent some of the civilians to find the Japanese. But when the Japanese arrived on the scene, they shot or bayoneted the men and forced the women to wade into the sea and then machine-gunned them. There were only two survivors– Bullwinkel and a soldier, Private Cecil Kinsley, whom Vivian managed to keep alive for almost a week in the jungle, but who eventually died. After hearing the news, the nurses made a pact never to mention the incident again during their captivity, for everyone’s safety.
Jeffrey and her colleagues were held prisoner in and around Sumatra for three and a half years. They lived in appalling conditions on a diet of bug-ridden rice and rotten vegetables. Many of the nurses had only the clothes on their backs – and no shoes, having removed them before diving off the Vyner Brooke. Their treatment by prison guards was often cruel. As punishment, nurses already weak from starvation were forced to stand for long periods in the hot sun. Others had to walk for hours to collect clean water for the guards’ sweet potato crops, while they themselves were forced to drink water that was often putrid and contaminated. Red Cross parcels carrying food and medical supplies were also held back from the prisoners.
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Soldiering on To cope with these circumstances, Jeffrey and her friends attempted to establish a routine whereby individuals were designated as cooks, cleaners, and gardeners. To keep their spirits up, a choir was established and music was written. They also performed skits and played cards.
The nurses made the most of what little they had, fashioning toys and clothes out of old rags, and drawing with, and on, whatever they could find. Throughout her imprisonment Jeffrey kept a diary. Finding an old exercise book and using a small stub of pencil, she made a record of her experiences, which she kept hidden. Had it been found, she would have been harshly punished or killed.
A soft doll the nurses made to represent a Japanese guard nicknamed “Bully”. Made from a stolen Japanese soldier’s khaki-coloured shirt-tail, other fabric and leather scraps, it was given to Sister Jeffrey on her birthday in 1944. (AWM REL/11877)
By the time Jeffrey and her friends were set free, there were only 23 left of the original 32 nurses who had been taken prisoner. Jeffrey returned to Australia an emaciated shadow of her former self. Weighing just 32 kilograms and suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, she spent two years in hospital and for a long time afterwards had to have injections of cortisone.
Jeffrey (centre) and Sister Jenny Greer talking to an Australian soldier in a hospital in Malaya in 1945. The sisters were recovering from malnutrition. (AWM 305369)
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Nurses Memorial Centre When Jeffrey returned to Australia, she and Bullwinkel travelled around Australia raising funds for a memorial to honour nurses who had died in Sumatra. The Nurses Memorial Centre, a “living memorial” to Australian nurses who had died in all wars, opened in Melbourne in 1950. Betty was its first administrator, and then its patron from 1986 until her death in 2000. www.nursesmemorialcentre.org.au/
For Betty’s enlistment forms: http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp?B=6120132
Activities Read Jeffrey’s story and her book White Coolies . Use this information to write your own short play highlighting the Australian nurses’ experiences as prisoners of war.
• Who is your audience? What events/experiences would you emphasise? What would you down play? Why?
Watch Paradise Road , the 1997 film version of Jeffrey’s book. Discuss how the story has been presented. What has been emphasised/highlighted from Betty’s book and what has been omitted? Why?
Imagine you are a prisoner-of-war nurse in Sumatra. Write a diary entry or letter telling of your experiences. What would you say? What would you leave out?
• Remember to consider that Japanese guards read mail, prisoners were not allowed to keep a journal (they could be killed if it was found). What wouldn’t you want to tell your family? Would you really want them to know what you were going through? Why/why not?
RESEARCH: What is the Geneva Convention (1929)? Why was it established? Did Japan sign it?
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Article nine of the Geneva Convention reads in part: • The personnel charged exclusively with the removal, transportation, and treatment of the wounded and sick, as well as with the administration of sanitary formations and establishments, and the chaplains attached to armies, shall be respected and protected under all circumstances. If they fall into the hands of the enemy they shall not be treated as prisoners of war. (Quoted in Jan Bassett, Guns and brooches, p. 141)
• Read Betty Jeffrey’s story. How were nurses who were prisoners of war treated? How does this comply with/contravene the terms of the Geneva Convention?
Why did the Japanese treat prisoners of war this way? What was their view of prisoners of war? Why?
The following images show three other nurses who were prisoners on Sumatra:
Sisters Jean Greer, Jess Doyle and Eileen Short, all from the 2/10th AGH, after their release from the prison camp. (AWM P01015.006 P01015.005 & P01015.007)
How do these photographs make you feel? If they were your sisters or aunts, how would you feel? What do these images reveal about the strength of these women?
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Online activities
Use the Memorial’s online databases to investigate the war service of the following nurses. Some of these nurses died and some did not, so you may need to use a number of different databases to gather your information. For guidance on researching, see the Memorial’s information sheets. When you are finished, present your findings to the class. You may wish to prepare an oral presentation using Powerpoint.
Boer War • Staff Nurse Margaret Anderson
• Sister Fanny Hines • Sister Jenny Greer • Sister Julia Anderson • Matron Olive Paschke
• Sister Marie Craig World War I • Sister Cherry Wilson • Sister Evelyn Trestrail • Sister Margaret Augusta de Mestre • Sister Nellie Morrice • Sister Grace Wilson Post-World War II • Sister Dorothy Duffy • Captain Barbara Probyn-Smith • Sister Jean Miles-Walker • Lieutenant Nell Espie World War II • Sister Betty Crocker • Matron Kathleen Dorothy Best • Sister Natalie Oldham • Matron Annie Sage • Sister Jan McCarthy • Sister Margaret de Mestre • Flight Officer Patricia Furbank • Captain Constance Box • Sister Dorothy Angell • Sister Wilma Oram • Captain Lewis MacLeod
You can use one or more of the following databases to find your information:
The Roll of Honour This will have the names of those nurses who died in war and some basic information about where and how they died. http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/roll_of_honour/
Nominal Rolls The nominal rolls list all Australians who enlisted in particular conflicts as well as some basic service details. http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/nominal_rolls/
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Honours and awards Here you can find out whether any of the nurses received an award for their service. http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/honours_and_awards/
Collections search This database provides online access to the Memorial’s collection. Here you may find an image of, or objects belonging to, one or more of these nurses. http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/
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Examine the source
Select one of the Australian nurses below and use the National Archives of Australia website www.naa.gov.au to find their service records.
Boer War Second World War
Matron Ellen Julia ‘Nellie’ Gould Sister Myrle Moston
Sister Ellen Savage
Sister Janet Patteson Gunther First World War Captain Kathleen Parker Staff Nurse Pearl Corkhill Lieutenant Daisy Cardin Keast Staff Nurse Carrie de Groot
Sister Ella Jane Tucker Post-World War II Sister Mabel (May) Tilton Sister Ethel Jessie Bowe Sister Jessie Millicent Tomlins Sister Barbara Frances Black Sister Evelyn Augusta Conyers
Answer the following questions for your chosen nurse: 1. Find and examine the individual’s enlistment form.
• Is this a primary or secondary source?
• When was it completed?
• What was the purpose of this document?
• What information can you gather about this individual from their enlistment form?
• Would the same information be necessary in enlistment papers today? Why/why not?
2. What other forms or documents are included in their service record?
What information can you gather about your nurse from these other documents? For example, what do they tell you about their health, death and service awards?
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3. Use the information from these sources to write, in 500 words the individual’s biography. Include details of when they were born, where they came from, their family, which service they joined, where they served, what happened to them during their service, and whether they were injured or killed. You may also wish to search the Memorial’s website for more information: www.awm.gov.au
Tell the story of your nurse to the class. You may wish to show some of the documents or images from the Australian War Memorial and National Archive websites.
Write a report evaluating the reliability of these documents. Is it useful in telling the person’s story? Use the documents as evidence in your report.
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We served too...
During World War I, not all Australian nurses served with the formally established AANS; many worked with other organisations, such as QAIMNS, the Red Cross, or privately sponsored facilities in France.
QAIMNS qualification badge that belonged to Annie Maria Locke, a First World War nurse; it would have been worn pinned to the shoulder cape of her uniform. (AWM REL35881)
Florence Narelle Hobbes Florence Narelle Hobbes grew up as part of a large family and a busy, noisy household. As each of her sisters married and left home, Hobbes became determined to maintain her independence, so she took up nursing as a career. After her training, she became matron at the remote Brewarrina District Hospital in north-western New South Wales.
When World War I broke out, Hobbes decided that rather than wait to enlist with the AANS she would travel to London, where she was quickly accepted in QAIMNS. With them, she headed to Malta, where she saw first-hand the devastation of the Gallipoli campaign. As she treated the long line of casualties, she would often think of their families at home: “every … boy … is somebody’s boy” (Melanie Oppenheimer, “Narelle: nursing for empire”, ABC Radio National, 28 March 2004).
The following nine months were spent nursing on-stop in Sicily, India, and Mesopotamia, but by mid-1917, Hobbes had become ill. Her concerned family back home sent her youngest sister, Elsie, to India to bring her home. As they made their way to Australia on board the hospital ship Kanowna in 1918, Hobbes died, her sister by her side. She was buried at sea.
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Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) run by the Red Cross functioned during World War I as an auxiliary to the Medical Corps. The voluntary service was revived during World War II. Many VADs went on to join the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS). VADs were employed without pay and were trained in nursing and first aid. They worked alongside the nursing sisters in hospitals, both in Australia and overseas. In Red Cross wartime publicity, the VAD became the face of Australian womanhood, patriotically caring for the sick and needy.
VADs were employed without pay and were trained in William Dargie, Group of nursing and first aid. They worked alongside the nursing VADs, 1942, oil on canvas, 92 x 76.2 cm. (AWM ART22349) sisters in hospitals both in Australia and overseas. In Red Cross wartime publicity, the VAD became the face of Australian womanhood, patriotically caring for the sick and needy.
Tell us a story Helen Madge Gill was born in Townsville, Queensland, on 10 January 1919, just two months after the end of World War I. Before World War II broke out, she met a young man by the name of Bruce Strange. Given his quirky sense of humour, she may have thought, “strange by name, strange by nature”, but there was something about him she liked. When the war started, she became a VAD; she received medical training and worked in local hospitals. For his part, Strange joined the 2/25th Battalion, AIF, and was soon posted to North Africa.
A group of VAD nurses marching along George Street after attending a Christmas service, 1944. (AWM P02526.007)
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For two years the couple wrote to each other, telling of their experiences and their hopes for the future. On 5 December 1941 Helen was one of 30 Queensland VADs chosen for overseas service. It didn’t matter where they were, whether Bruce was lying in a slit trench or cramped in a ship at sea, whether Helen was at home or away—they would still write to each other in an increasingly playful, teasing tone. By 1943, Bruce, in his letters, would refer to Helen as the “delight of his heart” and often mentioned the “promise” he had made her when they had last met. Towards the end of that year however, Bruce began to sense some doubt in Helen’s letters. Having not seen each other in four years, Helen had begun to spend time with another man. With the distance between them, Helen wondered whether she should wait for Bruce. In a letter he sent her towards the end of 1943, Bruce wondered whom she would choose. It was the last letter he ever sent her.
Major Bruce Strange of the 2/5th Battalion (left) and his driver. Strange was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 28 October 1942 for “utmost vigour, aggressive spirit and initiative”. (AWM P04602)
So what happened? What do you think happened to Bruce? To Helen? Can you find out whether Bruce returned home? Whom do you think Helen is most likely to have married: Bruce or her other beau?
Write your own ending to this story. What factors would influence the result? What conclusion would you like to see? Which is more likely?
To discover the real ending to the story go to: http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/roll_of_honour /person.asp?p=539610
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Recruitment and propaganda
Throughout Australia’s military history, recruitment posters have been used to persuade men and women to join one of the wartime services. Images and stories of nurses have been successful in influencing Australian society during times of war.
Maurice Bramley, Join us in a victory job , (colour photolithograph on paper, 48.2 x 60.4 cm, 1943, ARTV00332, AWM Collection)
The above poster is a good example of the recruitment posters aimed at women during the Second World War. The six women depicted in the poster include members of the women’s services, a nurse and a factory worker. The imagery and the wide range of occupations make the poster all-encompassing, implying that there is a job for every Australian women and that she must take it up.
Recruitment “Recruitment” refers to the action of finding new people to join an organisation or a military service.
• Were women allowed to join military services before the Second World War? Would these roles have been familiar to women living in Australia during the 1940s?
• Examine the female figures in the poster. Can you tell how old they are? Their social standing? How are they represented? Why?
• How has the artist used elements of 1940s advertising and popular culture to attract Australian women to the services? Make note of colours and imagery.
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• What message does the poster portray to women? Men? What is the attitude towards women in the poster? Would this attitude have been permanent or would it only have lasted throughout the Second World War?
Bob Whitmore, Work, save, fight and so avenge the nurses! (1943– 45, photolithograph, coloured inks on paper, 50.2 x 63 cm ARTV09088)
At 4 am on 14 May 1943, the hospital ship Centaur , which was brightly lit and clearly marked with red crosses, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the Queensland coast. It sank for the loss of 268 lives, including 11 of the 12 nurses on board. It was the greatest loss of life from a Japanese torpedo attack in Australian waters during the Second World War. The sinking was widely deplored by the Australian public as an atrocity.
Propaganda “Propaganda” refers to the use of information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, to promote or publicise a political cause or point of view.
1) The sinking of the Centaur was a common subject for recruitment posters after 1943. Why do you think it was so used?
2) The poster depicts two victims of the attack struggling in the water while their clearly marked hospital ship burns in the background. Why has this moment been chosen?
3) Who is the intended audience for this poster? How can you tell?
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4) What emotions would this poster evoke in its audience? How might this affect people’s decision to enlist in the Second World War?
Ellen Savage
Sister Ellen Savage of the Australian Army Nursing Service was on board the Centaur when it was hit. She was the only nurse to survive the sinking of the Centaur . As the ship was going down, she grabbed hold of some floating wood on the surface of the water and scanned the sea for her friends. Realising with a jolt that they had perished, she turned her attention to the men struggling around her and vowed to do whatever she could for them. She did her best to keep them alive, and their spirits up by singing to them. When she was finally rescued, Savage was suffering very badly with broken ribs and bruises. She was awarded a George Cross for her courage.
Is the story of Sister Ellen Savage represented in the poster? Why/why not? If so how?
Sister Ellen Savage, 1943. (AWM 044427)
Using tragic and emotive events involving nurses to motivate and manipulate the public was not a new concept in the 1940s. During the First World War, British nurse Edith Cavell and her story was used in propaganda posters. Cavell had helped hundreds of allied soldiers flee occupied Belgium for the Netherlands and had also saved the lives of many soldiers, both allied and enemy. After she was captured by the Germans, she was charged with harbouring allied soldiers and executed.
Edith Cavell’s story became well known in Australia and a memorial was built in her honour in Melbourne.
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Unknown, She gave all , (1915, chromolithograph on paper, 77.3 x 50.6 cm, ARTV00002)
Captain Vivian Bullwinkel and Lieutenant Betty Jeffrey lay flowers at the Edith Cavell Memorial in Melbourne, 1950. (AWM P04585.002)
A 1916 cartoon by T. Carnell depicting the execution of Sister Cavell. The top right hand corner reads “Miss Edith Cavell cowardly murdered October 12th 1915”. (AWM P03087.002)
1) When Cavell died she was 49 years old. How is she represented in the poster? Why?
2) Who is the audience for this poster? How do you know? What techniques does the poster use to capture its audience?
3) How is the poster similar to Work, save, fight and so avenge the nurses!? Note visual techniques, audience emotional response and social knowledge.
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4) Cavell’s story was not only used in posters, but it was also illustrated in cartoons of the time. What is the purpose of the cartoon (see above)?
5) Would it be effective? Why? Why not?
6) What message is it intended to convey?
7) Compare the cartoon with the poster.
8) If this story was well known and commemorated in Australia during the Second World War, would Second World War recruitment poster have been influenced by the story?
Research activities
Use the Memorial’s website to find other propaganda posters made during different periods of time. What tactics have been used to influence the public? (For example, emotional imagery, patriotic phrases, and so on.) What effect would this have had on the public?
Compare the following anti-conscription poster from the Vietnam War with the previous Second World War recruitment posters. How/why are they different? Consider the various social/technological changes (for example, the introduction of television in Australia) that occurred between the time of the Second World War and that of the Vietnam War. Did propaganda posters still have the same role/purpose in the Vietnam War? Why/why not?
Draft Resisters Union, March 20–25: anti- draft week (1971, screenprint on coloured paper, 45.8 x 29.2 cm, ARTV03064)
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Uniforms
Over the last 100 years, military nursing uniforms have changed significantly. From the white veils and red capes of the early 20th century to the camouflage uniforms of today, nursing uniforms have altered with the changing needs, expectations and status of military nursing.
1) Compare and contrast the following uniforms.
Camouflage uniform of the Australian Medical World War I AIF nurse’s Support Force, 1994. (AWM uniform, 1916. (AWM P07989.003) MSU/94/0042/31)
2) Discuss how the image of military nursing has changed. What did the nurses think about the change?
What did the nurses think? World War II Most unsuitable uniform for New Guinea, large veils, starched collars and cuffs etc, had to be put aside. The climate was very hot and humid, no protection for mosquitoes to start with. Issued with army boiler suits and boots later, until Safari Suits could be manufactured and issued.
Matron Nell Williamson, 2/9th AGH; AWM S01819
Second World War malaria
uniform, 1944. (AWM 083325)
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Vietnam War [The uniform] is totally inappropriate ... too hot and difficult to maintain, due to lack of starch and the wet. Still wearing veils!!??
Lieutenant Ann Hall RAANC
Nurses in day (left) and night nursing uniforms, Vung Tau. (AWM P04690.001)
1) What do these opinions illustrate about women and their changing roles and attitudes?
Uniforms in another light When 30 Australian nurses were shipwrecked and imprisoned by the Japanese at Banka Island and in Sumatra during World War II, they had only the uniforms on their backs. During their three and a half years in a prisoner of war camp, the nurses attributed special significance to these uniforms meant a lot to the nurses.
Though the nurses’ uniform could not convince the Japanese that the nurses were servicewomen with rank, it became the symbol of unification for the nurses. They agreed that when they were set free they would wear their uniforms and so they cared for them, patching holes and shining buttons. As it turned out, the nurses were to wear their uniforms many times before this day came–to the funerals of their comrades.
By the time the nurses were rescued, their uniforms were almost in tatters, but the day they left the camp, they wore them proudly.
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Those who had uniforms put them on ... this is the day they had been kept for ... we tried not to remember we’d worn them to our cobbers’ funerals.
Sister Veronica Clancy. AWM PR MSS1086
Nurses from 2/10th, 2/11th AGH and one nurse from the 4th Casualty Clearing Station arrive at the airfield in Singapore for the journey home, September 1945. They wear their original oil-stained uniforms. (AWM 044480)
1. Examine the above photograph, which was taken by a Sydney Morning Herald photographer. What can you determine about these women by looking at it?
2. What significance do these uniforms have for these women? How can you tell?
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Nurses in art
Since the beginning of the 20th century, military nurses have been represented, at work and at rest, by many different artists: from quick observational sketches completed by recovering soldiers, to detailed works by official war artists.
Examine the following works of art.
Frank Crozier, Nurse and patient, 3rd Australian CCS France (c. 1918, oil on
wood panel, 23.8 x 27.4 cm) (AWM ART13338)
George Coates, First Australian wounded at Gallipoli arriving at
Wandsworth Hospital, London (1921, oil on canvas, 154.5 x 128 cm) (AWM ART00200)
George Lambert, Balcony of troopers’ ward, 14th Australian General Hospital, Abbassia (1919, oil and pencil on wood panel, 32 x 45.6 cm) (AWM
ART02815)
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Bruce Fletcher, Medical evacuation, 2nd Field Ambulance, Vung Tau,
Vietnam 1967 (1967, oil on canvas on hardboard, 39.2 x 49.4 cm) (AWM ART40580)
Ivor Francis, Energy of war 1940 (1940, oil on canvas on cardboard canvas, 44.2 x 34.2 cm) (AWM ART28831)
Laurence Howie, Interior of ward, 3rd Australian General Hospital , Abbeville France (1 919, watercolour with pencil on paper, 25.8 x 47.2 cm) (AWM ART93081)
Activities 1. How are nurses represented in each of the above images? What are they doing? Are they passive or active? Why? Consider the time period, role of women and the artist.
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2. Where have these works been produced? How can the location and period be seen in the work? (Look at environment and uniforms, for example.)
3. What techniques have been used to capture the subject? (Note application of paint, colour, style and detail) Why?
Research
Research one of the artists whose work is shown above: Frank Crozier, George Coates, George Lambert, Bruce Fletcher, Ivor Francis or Laurence Howie. What is their story/background? How is the artist’s background reflected in their art? What was the artist’s role in war? What effect might this have had on their depiction of nursing? All of the artists of the above works of art are male. How might this affect their depiction of their subject? Ivor Francis’s work is often identified as giving expression to an anti-war sentiment. Examine his painting. How does this sentiment feature in the work? What role does nursing play in Energy of war? Why was a nurse included in the painting? None of the works depict specific portraits of nurses; rather they offer a general depiction of nursing and nurses in war. Why?
Case Study
Read the following case study on artist Nora Heysen. Compare her images with those you have just examined. How are they similar? How are they different? Give reasons for your answer.
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Nora Heysen
Nora Heysen, daughter of renowned German–Australian landscape artist Hans Heysen, was the first female official war artist appointed during the Second World War.
From a young age, Heysen was fascinated by the world around her and the people in it. In the same way she could see the intricate and subtle beauties in nature, she could perceive an individual’s emotional and psychological intricacies in their face. In 1938 she became the first woman to be awarded the Archibald Prize for portraiture.
Not surprisingly, on 18 October 1943, Heysen was commissioned to paint six portraits of those in charge of different women’s auxiliary services. One of these paintings was of Matron Annie Sage, Matron-in-Chief, AANS. Sage saw service in the Middle East, the Pacific, New Guinea and Singapore, and was viewed with respect and affection by the nurses in her care. When the Japanese surrendered in 1945, she flew to Singapore, then to Sumatra to meet and ensure the welfare of the sisters who had been prisoners of war before arranging for their repatriation to Australia.
Nora Heysen, Matron Annie Sage (1944, oil on canvas, 76.6 x 56.4 cm, ART22218)
In her portrait, Heysen captures Sage’s competence and status in the detailed depiction of her uniform, including the pips and chocolate cuffs which distinguish her rank. Meanwhile, Sage’s calm and gentle nature is demonstrated in her features, her tilted head and her thoughtful introspective gaze.
Heysen’s portraits were well received, and in April 1944 she was posted to New Guinea and given another assignment – to make a record of the nurses at work. Although Heysen was excited by this opportunity and the chance to travel, she soon tired of her new task. Always a fun and curious soul, she preferred to draw the nurses and soldiers during their rare and much
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Nora Heysen, Sister M. Russell nursing a native (1944, oil on hardboard, 45.5 x 60.8 cm, ART23715)
This, however, was not her brief. Heysen soon began to feel lonely and frustrated by the restrictions on her which left her unable to move into the forward areas with the male artists. As her sadness grew, the colours in her paintings grew darker.
In her painting Sister M. Russell nursing a native , Heysen attempted to reconcile the details of her brief with her own interests in the local population. What results is a visual depiction of her growing despair.
After seven unhappy months in New Guinea, Heysen returned to Sydney with dermatitis. Here she worked, capturing the activities of the army medical units at Sydney Hospital, before going to Queensland to paint RAAF nursing sisters serving on medical evacuation flights.
Heysen completed over 170 works as official war artist; while working in Queensland, she met Captain Robert Black, a doctor whom she later married.
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Nurses in poetry
The following poems were written by soldiers about their nurses:
A prayer of thanks The night is dark and dank and drear, I toss upon my fevered bed And softly comes on soundless feet An earthly angel to my head; And over my burning brow her hand So soft and cool in sweet caress, A healing touch that soothes my pain With loving care and tenderness. God bless “The Rose of No Man’s Land”, Who guides me through my night of pain, And keep her safe throughout the storm.
Anonymous (AWM PR 00526)
Smilin’ thru’ Sister Christine Erica Ström AANS, Though fate has been unkind to us with sickness and in 1917. (AWM H18820) pain, It takes the kindness of the nurse to bring us health again; Her smiling face so cheerful, with radiance aglow, I’ll praise her work unending wherever I may go.
No words that I can utter with justice half express The gratitude I’ll always feel, the depths you cannot guess. The kindness and devotion bestowed in Mercy’s cause, Deserves the highest praise of all – a round of loud applause!
No doubt they have their troubles (who hasn’t some these days?) But they never show they have them, dispensing kindness many ways. There’s one just here as I’m writing, who is always bright and jolly, And the first prize I would surely give to one whose name is Polly.
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So Australia is indebted, and the soldier thankful too, To the sisters and the nurses, with their motto Smilin’ thru’ . Farewell I’ll soon be leaving, you’ve done so much for me, For others in their illness and Australia generally.
A.M. McDermott (AWM PR 88019)
Activities 1) How do the soldiers describe their nurses? What qualities do the soldiers attribute to them?
2) Why would the nurses have meant so much to the soldiers?
3) Could you imagine a soldier writing a poem like this today? Why/why not? Be sure to note language, rhyme and subject.
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Service of Australian nurses from 1899 to 1975
Conflict Date Number who served Deaths (approximate)
Boer War 1899–1902 60 1 World War I 1914–18 3,000 25 World War II 1939–45 5,000 78 BCOF / Korean War 1946–53 140 0 Vietnam War 1962–75 350 1
1) Use the information in the table to create a graph illustrating:
i) the number of Australian nurses that served in each conflict
ii) the number of deaths in each conflict.
2) Use the above table and your graph and timeline to answer the following questions.
i) How many Australian military nurses lost their lives in war between 1899 and 1975?
ii) In which war did the least number of nurses serve?
iii) In which war did the most number of nurses serve?
iv) In which war did Australians lose the highest number of nurses? Why?
Where in the world have nurses served?
On a map of the world, mark the places that Australian nurses served during the Boer War, World War I and World War II.
In red mark the country Australian nurses served in during the Boer war.
In blue mark the countries Australian nurses served in during World War I.
In purple mark the parts of the world Australian nurses served in during World War II.
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Glossary
BCOF Abbreviation for the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. After World War II Australian troops occupied parts of Japan as part of BCOF.
Contingents A body of troops forming part of a larger unit.
Federated nation Federation is the process whereby a group of states come together to form a single nation. Australia became a federated nation in 1901 when the formerly self-governing colonies combined to form the Commonwealth of Australia.
Gallantry Another word for bravery
Macintosh sheet A cloth waterproofed with rubber
Mention in Despatches To be mentioned in despatches is to have one’s name appear in an official report, written by a superior officer and sent up the chain of command, in which the soldier’s brave or otherwise meritorious actions in the face of the enemy are recorded.
Primus stove A portable stove that burns vaporised oil or gas as its fuel.
Veldt (also spelled veld) Open grassland in South Africa.
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Educational resources
Loan kits
Loan kits are available for a free two-week loan period from the Museum of Tropical Queensland.
Relevant kits about Australia’s (and Queensland’s) involvement in war include:
• Queensland Remembers: Medical Corps – QM kit – includes nurses cape and photograph of Matron Ethel Gray, Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) • Australia in WWI (1914-1918) – AWM kit • Australia Under Attack (1940) – AWM kit • Our War in the Pacific (1942) – AWM kit
Web resources
1. Australian War Memorial For background information on Australia’s involvement in the wars featured in the exhibition and kit : http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/
The Australian War Memorial has a large collection of private records, including letters, diaries, cards, and other recollections.
To access individual nurses, see: http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/roll_of_honour/ http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/nominal_rolls/ http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/honours_and_awards/
Also search for AWM images in collections http://www.awm.gov.au/search/all/?op=Search&format=list
2. National Boer War Memorial Association http://www.bwm.org.au/site/Nurses.asp http://www.bwm.org.au/site/Boer_War_Medals.asp
3. Nurses Memorial Centre NMC is a ‘living memorial’ to the heroism and sacrifice of Australian nurses who gave their life or spent years in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps during World War awww.nursesmemorialcentre.org.au/
4. National Library of Australia Great resource images http://trove.nla.gov.au/.
Press
Newspapers and magazines from the era provide interesting articles about many facets of life during the war years. State libraries generally maintain a good collection of newspapers; see particularly Trove on the National Library of Australia website. Wartime issues of the Australian Women’s Weekly carried interesting articles about Australian women, men and children. Through its recipes, patterns and advertisements, the Weekly also provides a good impression of how everyday life was affected by wartime rationing and austerity programs.
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Oral history
This project has made use of the oral histories collected in the Keith Murdoch Sound Archives at the Australian War Memorial. Oral history is a fascinating type of history. Its value is debated as it is memory of historic events recorded years later. This memory is filtered by time and other events. Collecting oral histories from women who remember the war would be an interesting project for local schools and communities to undertake.
Private records
The Australian War Memorial has a large collection of private records, including letters, diaries, cards and other recollections. Many women in the local community have similar items and they can provide a valuable snapshot of history.
Official records
Official records from the Memorial’s collection, such as unit histories and diaries, were used in this project. Some official records may be available at the various State Archives offices.
Army Museum North Queensland
The Army Museum at Jezzine Barracks, Townsville collects and exhibits objects and stories relating to the history of the Australian Army in North Queensland.
Available for school visits, and includes curriculum linked education resources for a visit and pre and post visit. http://armymuseumnorthqueensland.webs.com/
North Queensland Historical Re-enactment Society – the Kennedy Regiment
This local living history group portrays civilians and the military from Colonial times to World War 2. They have a new home, hut 28 at Jezzine Barracks, Townsville. They welcome school groups and can visit schools. http://www.thekennedyregiment.com/
Contact: Barry Turnbull [email protected]
ABC TV Series - Anzac Girls
ABC six-part series - true stories of nurses serving at Gallipoli and Western Front, based on the book, The other Anzacs , by Peter Rees.
Screens weekly from Sunday 10 th August. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRcFPr1rVnU
2:52 min video of original photos and audio by Peter Reese talking about his book, The Other Anzacs , on which the TV series was based.
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Bibliography
Angell, B. (2003). A woman’s war: the exceptional life of Wilma Oram Young, AM, New Holland, Chatswood, NSW.
Bassett, J. (1992). Guns and brooches: Australian army nursing from the Boer War to the Gulf War , Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Biedermann, N., Usher, K., Williams, A., & Hayes, B. (2001). ‘The wartime experience of Australian Army nurses in Vietnam, 1967-1971’. Journal of Advanced Nursing , 35(4): 543- 549.
Critch, M. (1981). Our kind of war: the history of the VAD/AAAMWS , Artlook Books Trust, Perth.
Goodman, R. (1988). Our war nurses: the history of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps 1902–1988 , Boolarong Publications, Brisbane.
Halstead, G. (1994). Story of the RAAF Nursing Service 1940–1990 , Nungurner Press, Metung, Vic.
Herring, E. D. (1982). They wanted to be Nightingales: a story of the VAD/AAMWS in World War II , Investigator Press, Hawthorndene, SA.
Heuschele, M. (2000 ). In the shadow of Castle Hill , Townsville Library Service, Townsville.
Jeffrey, B. (1997). White coolies: a graphic record of survival in World War Two , Angus and Robertson, North Ryde, NSW.
Kenny, C. (1986). Captives: Australian army nurses in Japanese prison camps , University of Queensland Press, St Lucia.
Orchard, B. (1999). ‘Florence Nightingale: starting with a lighted lamp’, Wartime 7.
Rees, P. (2008). The other ANZACS: Nurses at War, 1914-1918, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW.
Reid, R., et al., (1999). Just wanted to be there: Australian service nurses, 1899–1999 , Department of Foreign Affairs, Canberra.
Simons, J. E. (1954). While history passed: the story of Australian nurses who were prisoners of the Japanese for three and a half years , William Heinemann, London.
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