WW2 Australian nurses | Community organisation

WW2 Australian nurses

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23.01.2022 What a find. Hope you love these pictures of nurses at sea https://www.sea.museum//10/in-celebration-of-military-nurs A note: the photo of the 'nurses' on the Manunda hospital ship includes two physiotherapists in the front row - you can see that they are wearing a different cape to the nurses.

19.01.2022 #OTD: Sister Margaret Anderson Today we pause to remember the life and service of Sister Margaret Anderson, who discharged from the Second AIF on the 4th of Ju...ne 1946 after serving in WWII. Sister Anderson was awarded the George Medal for bravery during the evacuation of Singapore on the MV Empire Star. Anderson enlisted in the Australian Army in September 1941 and was commissioned as a Lieutenant with the 2/10 Australian General Hospital, and deployed to Singapore. She was awarded the George Medal for bravery during the evacuation of Singapore. Her citation reads: `On 12 February 1942, the motor vessel "Empire Star" was bombed by the enemy. Staff Nurse Anderson, with some other Sisters, was in a cabin with some badly wounded men who were being smothered by smoke and fumes. Thinking the raid had passed, she assisted in dragging the men on to the deck when the planes returned and again attacked the ship, machine gunning the decks. Staff Nurse Anderson remained on deck during these attacks, sheltering the patients who were very badly injured, protecting one with her own person by throwing herself across him. All who witnessed Staff Nurse Anderson's actions have specially commended her bravery.' Sister Anderson would survive the war, and discharged on the 4th of June 1946. --------------------------------------------------------------- If you appreciate this content, please considering 'liking' the page and sharing this post so others can learn about Australia's fascinating military history! See more here: https://www.facebook.com/OTDAustralianMilitaryHistory

15.01.2022 Sadly, I heard today that the last WW2 nurse living in Queensland died earlier this year. Whilst I'm not sure that this is her, here's a story about one of the last - Effie Mary Carseldine (known as Mary): https://www.qt.com.au//oldest-living-wwii-nurse-pa/711660/

13.01.2022 One of the few ladies still alive in Victoria who served overseas in WW2 is aged 106! Dorothy Atkinson served as a physiotherapist in the war (details below). Physios in the Army were unaligned at the beginning of the war and often were considered members of the AANS because of their gender. Later physios became members of the AAMC - Dorothy is listed as an AAMC member from April 1942. Hopefully we will have a photo and more information soon as she was also mentioned in dis...patches for service in the South West Pacific Area from April 1 to August 15, 1945. ATKINSON, DOROTHY ANNE Service Australian Army Service Number NX70608 Date of Birth 23 Jul 1914 Place of Birth EMMAVILLE, NSW Date of Enlistment 06 Jan 1941 Locality on Enlistment CLIFTON GARDENS, NSW Place of Enlistment VICTORIA BARRACKS, NSW Date of Discharge 06 Feb 1946 Rank Lieutenant Posting at Discharge 2/1 AUSTRALIAN GENERAL HOSPITAL

12.01.2022 In 1943, the first RAAF nurses arrived in New Guinea. The Australian Women's Weekly reported on their experience (see link below). The AWW gave good coverage to military nurses during the war. Left to right: Sisters Edna M. Weber (Rockhampton, Old.), Nellie Gardner (Port Macquarie, N.S.W.), Agnes T. Cleary (Cambooya, Qld.), Senior Sister Jean Wheatley (Bridgton, W.A.), Sisters Evelyn A. Hamilton (Mackay, Qld.), and Florence A. Ashbey (Parramatta, N.S.W). 1943 'Nurses praise spirit of our men in hospital', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 13 March, p. 27. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51192451

11.01.2022 Another book which mentions WW2 nurses: Lighter Shades of Grey and Scarlet by Stella Guthrie and Jill Clark, published 1985 in Adelaide. This is 'a detailed history of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps'. It is available in 11 libraries across Australia but may not be able to be borrowed from some.

10.01.2022 It is always delightful to find a nurse's own writings. Sister Joan Loutit, a trainee of the Alfred Hospital, gave a talk about her nursing experience, both pre war and on RAAF MEDICAL EVACUATION AIRLIFTS, which is recorded on this website: https://www.3squadron.org.au/subpages/Loutit.htm Great anecdotes and illustrated. As she says: Nurses can do anything! Enjoy.

10.01.2022 Can you help please. Do you recognise any of the nurses in the 1968 photo and could add to or correct the list of names provided below? If so, please comment here, or go to the Muntok Nurses page and let them know.

08.01.2022 Thursday, 22 October 2020 at 12:00 UTC+11 Online with Facebook Live Public Hosted by Shrine of Remembrance... The Shrine’s newest exhibition, Dean Bowen’s Imagining Centaur, centres on a series of beautiful, thought-provoking works of art created in response to the tragic sinking of the 2/3 Australian Hospital Ship Centaur on 14 May 1943. Join the exhibition’s co-curators, Dr Madonna Grehan and Neil Sharkey, in conversation as they discuss the historical significance of Centaur’s sinking and their role in bringing this unique exhibition to life. The discussion will be hosted live on Facebook so you can join in with your own questions. A recording of the conversation will be released later on YouTube. Register here: https://www.facebook.com/events/5144778322214268 Preview the exhibition: https://www.shrine.org.au/exhibition-dean-bowens-imagining-

08.01.2022 First Australian nurse to win Royal Red Cross in WW2 Lilian Gladys Smairl just looks like one of the 620 odd nurses who joined the RAAF Nursing Service in WW2, being appointed in July 1944. But a look at her personnel record at the National Archives and a few newspaper articles reveals that this lady served not only for an Australian service but also for a British service Queen Alexandra’s Royal Navy Nursing Service. And it was in 1941 when a member of this service that she... was awarded an Associate Royal Red Cross. Lilian, born in Perth WA in 1898, and trained at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Sydney, was on holiday in England when war began and she enlisted on 3 September 1939. Her postings (billets) were to hospital ships including off Dunkirk during the evacuation, a naval hospital, a casualty clearing station and to a hospital ship in the Scarpa Flow. She was injured on duty during her service. She returned to Australia in 1943 with an Atlantic Star among her medals. She died 9 Feb 1987. If anyone knows of her name on a war memorial, I would be pleased to know the details. More than 240 Australian nurses worked in non Australian services during the war - one reference says the number might be as high as 400. 1941 'How Sydney nurse won Royal Red Cross', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 23 August, p. 8. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47486804 Her personnel file is at www.naa.gov.au - go to Record Search and put in her name - her file is accessible online or download the pdf. Lilian had the most interesting set of nursing positions since graduating in 1922.

04.01.2022 There's a new exhibition at the Shrine of Remembrance in Victoria. It’s about the sinking of the 2/3 Australian Hospital Ship Centaur in May 1943, and how we memorialise such events. Central to the exhibition is a series of art works by Dean Bowen. The Age and Sydney Morning Herald featured an article Imagining Centaur Exhibition (The Age SMH 8 August 2020) about the exhibition, on the weekend. The exhibition website (https://www.shrine.org.au/exhibition-dean-bowens-imagining...-) features an 8 minute animation that has been a collaboration between several of us. Just scroll down to the third image to the webpage and click Play. https://www.smh.com.au//i-went-right-down-exhibition-evoke Courtesy: Dr Madonna Grehan

04.01.2022 Margaret Flowers NX127955 from Murwillumbah, NSW, born 20 April 1916, trained at Lismore Base Hospital, graduating June 1940.

03.01.2022 RAAF nurse Marie Eileen Craig, born 6 August 1914 in Balmain, NSW.

03.01.2022 The Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service has its entire history captured in three (just 3!) pages in the Official History of WW2. https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com//docum/5519823.PDF It is worth a read though - just one nurse actually served at sea while others served in New Guinea. ... While the history says the number in the service 'never exceeded 60', 73 were enlisted for this service in WW2, plus 10 others on a reserve list.