Australian Women - who served - units & names

[Ghost]

Hi Indunna,

I see you have Jean Miles-Walker listed as serving, but not as died. Here is the text from Picture Australia; Image number: H19428

Matron Jean Miles-Walker RRC, AANS. Sister Miles-Walker of Hobart, Tasmania, embarked on the troopship Euripides on 20 October 1914 with the 2nd Australian General Hospital (2 AGH). She went to Ismailia and worked at No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital and worked on the hospital ships and transports. Transferring to London, she became a matron in October 1916, working in a number of different hospitals prior to her death on 30 October 1918. Matron Miles-Walker died at Sutton Veny Military Hospital of broncho-pneumonia (influenza). Her burial report records that she was buried with full military honours at the St John the Evangelist Church at Sutton Veny, her coffin draped with an Australian flag and carried on a gun carriage to the cemetery, accompanied by a firing party and a band from the 1st Australian Training Battalion. Six captains of the AIF acted as pall bearers. Her funeral was attended by 40 nursing staff, 30 officers and over 300 NCOs.

The CWGC have listed her as Walker, Jean Miles. Incorrectly maybe.

Alan

[frev]

I see you have Jean Miles-Walker listed as serving, but not as died. Here is the text from Picture Australia; Image number: H19428

The CWGC have listed her as Walker, Jean Miles. Incorrectly maybe.

Hi Alan - I think you'll find her listed in the first post under 'Women who died'.

The Miles-Walker is an interesting one. Her father's name was Alfred Miles WALKER, his marriage & death were registered as WALKER, and all the children's births, including Jean's were registered under WALKER (Jean Nellie WALKER). However, (after Alfred's death) Jean & her mother often signed themselves as MILES-WALKER - an affectation perhaps - I've come across it quite a bit with hyphenated names.

Cheers, Frev

[Guest Dennisg]

And so did Ensign Emily Jackson. She served in India

[Guest Dennisg]

Salvation Army Nurses serving with AANS

Adjutant Toft

Adjutant Collins

Adjutant Eggleston

Ensign Gant

Ensign J. Henderson

Ensign M. Lawrence

The Salvation Army Shelter for Homeless Men at Lyons France was used as a hospital in WW1

Often forgotten is Ensign Emily Jackson. She served in India as a Staff Nurse in the AANS and should be inluded in any list of Salvation Army Officer Nurses serving with the AANS

[lucknow]

Hi everybody, just been looking at all the messages and there is one about the No.22 Stationary Hospital Alexandra War Hospital in India, it lists all the Australian nurses on a photograph and a Miss Harvey. Could anyone tell me where I can get a copy of this photo as Miss Harvey was my great aunt. I have quite a lot of her personal belongings but not many photos.

Would greatly appreciate any help.

Rosemary

[kjharris]

Blue Birds - More info[from The British Journal of Nursing /b]

The British Journal of Nursing -Volume 57, 02nd September 1916 (p190)

The Secretary of State for the Colonies announces that, in recognition of the wonderful heroism of

the French soldiers, the New South Wales division of the Red Cross Society has arranged to place

twenty trained nurses at the disposal of the French Government. It was intended that they should be given the

Army pay from the date of embarkation, but the Australian Jocley Club has arranged to make a contribution sufficient to make up for them the full Day of staff nurses for six months. They sailed on August 4th.

The British Journal of Nursing - Volume 57, 16th September 1916 (p230 & p231)

We have often pointed out that the work of a British nurse in French militarv hospitals

under the direction of French military medical officers, and where conditions are so different to

those obtaining in English military hospitals, is one of very great difficulty and requiring the utmost skill and tact, and when it was first proposed to organize the French Flag Nursing Corps under these conditions we were told it was a hopeless task. The two years’ work of this Corps in France has anyway disproved this pessimistic view, although the difficulties remain, and it is exceedingly creditable to so many of the Sisters that they have succeeded in spite of such diffculties. ‘ Now Australia proposes to help our French Allies in the same way, and twenty nurses, a gift to the French Government from the New South Wales Branch of the Red Cross Society,

which has equipped and will maintain the nurses in France, left Australia on July 4th on the hospital ship Kanowna for Europe. The Australian Jockey Club, with truly patriotic spirit, has offered to maintain the twenty nurses for six months, a matter of 1,560 pounds The Lismore Branch of the Red Cross has given 150 pounds

The following are the nurses selected, all of whom are members of the Australasian Trained Nurses Association, and are provided with their regristration certificates and the badge of silver and dark blue enamel :

Mrs. Elsie Cook, Miss N. Weston Crommelin, Miss Lynette E. Crozier, Miss Dorothy E. Duffy,

Miss Alice F. Gray, Miss Fanny M. Harris, Miss Winifred Hough, Miss Susan Hughes, Miss Ruby Hungerford,

Miss Jessie T. Hutchinson, Miss Annie Jamieson, Miss Hilda Laxton, Mrs. Jessie McKillop, Miss Ida J. Moreton,

Miss Olive H. Norman, Miss Alice E. Robinson, Miss Grace Sheridan, Miss Lilian F. Thompson,

Miss Helen S. Wallace, and Miss Elfrida Warner,

In addition to the nurses, Miss Hamilton Moore, masseuse (a registered member of the Australian Massage

Association) , has been sent to France, and as it was impossible to secure nurses who spoke French,

Mlle. Niau accompanied the nurses to England to give them instruction on the vovage.

But the only plan by which ‘‘ grown ups ” who know not French can obtain a working use of the tongue is to study it assiduously when amongst the people, and this no doubt the Australian nurses will recognise

as a duty to their patients. A departure has been made, says the Australian Nurses’ Journal, from the well-known uniform of the nurses, with a view to doing away with the cape coats and obviating the necessity of wearing any outer coat, unless, of course, the weather should demand it. As these nurses are not permitted

to wear anything approaching the military uniform in colour, the Red Cross Society has decided on a neat dark blue uniform, consisting of a tailored Norfolk coat and skirt with a very slight piping of pale blue (the New South Wales colour) on collar and on coat-sleeve. The same colour is shown again in a hat-band on a very dark blue felt hat. A comfortable double-breasted military overcoat oi dark blue, lined with white satin, is to

be provided, and this will be worn when necessary ; but the lighter coat and skirt will really be a uniform

in itself. The indoor uniform is a pretty dark blue-striped zephyr. To the outfit given by the Society three dark blue aprons are added of the same material, for working purposes. White belts complete a very serviceable indoor uniform. The whole of the twenty nurses are delighted with the choice of uniform, commenting on its neatness and suitability. Special badges have bees designed. Over a red cross is the word " Australia," and under it the words ' New South Wales."

The British Journal of Nursing - Volume 57, 07th October 1916 (p290)

The unit of twenty Australian nurses sent as a gift for war service with the French Army from

New South Wales, left for France last week. We hope they will all be fitted in where their skill will

be really useful ; but, as they will find conditions very different to those to which they have been

accustomed, they must not be ‘‘ down-hearted ” if they find the work less exciting than they

expected. In the picture on this page they appear very happy group, taken on board the steamer

just before crossing from England.

The story goes that the New South Wales Government recently expressed their great appreciation

to France of their glorious defence of Verdun, and asked in what manner they’ could give practical

assistance to their gallant allies.

The French Governm.ent replied that they were in need of War Nurses-and so the unit of Australian

Nurses was sent.

In case you are looking for these quotes, it is the British Nursing Journal, not the BJN.

[cheapchippy]

Staff Nurse Genoveva Julia Amey, Registration Number 5537, Australian Army Nursing Service

Genoveva Julia Amey was born in Franklin Harbour, South Australia on the 1^st January 1888 to John and Mary Evans (nee Hannan), Hundred of Pirie.

As a schoolgirl she lived at Butler’s Bridge, east of Lower Broughton and about 10 miles from Port Pirie, South Australia.

Genoveva married Leo Douglas Joshua Amey in North Adelaide on the 6^th April 1915 who unfortunately died the following year aged 28.

Genevieve, a widow aged 29 of King Street, Croydon, Adelaide enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service on the 27^th of February 1918. She had tried to enlist on the 23^rd October 1917 but was considered unfit with a heart condition.

She had been trained as a nurse at the Port Pirie Public Hospital from June 1907 to December 1911. The duration of the hospital training course varied depending on the bed numbers of the hospital, which was considered an indicator of the range of health ailments suffered by their patients. The courses ranged from a minimum of three years to a maximum of four years in the time leading up to the commencement of the First World War. Gen had also 3 years’ experience in mental nursing at Stockton Mental Hospital, New South Wales.

It was said …'Your qualifications as a nurse must include - Gentleness, Cleanliness, Truthfulness, Observation, Order, Courage and Coolness, Tact'.

“I pledge myself loyally to serve my King and Country and to maintain the honour and efficiency of the Australian Army Nursing Service. I will do all in my power to alleviate the suffering of the sick and wounded, sparing no effort to bring them comfort of body and peace of mind. I will work in unity and comradeship with my fellow nurses. I will be ready to give assistance to those in need of my help, and will abstain from any action which may bring sorrow and suffering to others. At all times I will endeavour to uphold the highest traditions of Womanhood and of the Profession of which I am Part.”

Staff Nurse Genoveva Julia Amey, Registration Number 5537, Australian Army Nursing Service, embarked from Melbourne on the 6^th March 1918 per S.S. Ormonde and was posted to Colaba War Hospital, Bombay which mainly treated patients from the British garrisons in India. Over a million Indian soldiers served under the command of Britain in World War 1 and over 74,000 died with tens of thousands wounded.

Thousands of Australian nurses were sent to various Commonwealth nations during the First World War - including over 500 sent to India. Between 1916 and 1919 more than 500 AANS nurses served in British hospitals in India, where their patients included hundreds of Turkish prisoners of war and wounded British troops. Most of the Australian nurses posted to India intensely desired to serve in the Western Front or Mesopotamia as they believed they would be more “useful” there as those places experienced “active service” unlike India.

Here they faced the challenges of isolation, culture, language, an oppressive climate and primitive conditions.

“English nurses could not stand the heat and cholera … that is why they have sent Australians.” Sister Jessie Tomlins Sister

They nursed soldiers with diseases such as malaria, smallpox, Spanish influenza and cholera - illnesses to which some nurses succumbed. Sister Genoveva Amey was invalided to Australia sick with malaria and left Bombay on the 28^th February 1919 per the S.S. City of Cairo.

Genoveva had two brothers that served during the Great War, Sergeant George Hannan Evans (who was wounded three times) and Private Thomas James Evans; who made the supreme sacrifice in France. The two brothers had shared a farm between Warnertown and Crystal Brook before the war and both spent time with the 27^th Battalion.

George and Genoveva returned to family and friends in Port Pirie on the afternoon train on the 21^st May 1919. She was discharged from the A.A.N.S. on the 20^th June 1919.

In 1923 Genoveva was appointed as a Woman Police Officer on probation but resigned soon after.

Two years later she was listed on the New South Wales Medical Register, employed at the Soldiers Home, Myrtle Bank, South Australia until 1939. Many nurses never recovered from the physical and emotional stresses of wartime service. For some, the experience of working during the war gave many nurses new confidence in their abilities and skills. During the war, some nurses received training and opportunities to perform roles previously reserved for men, such as surgery and administering anaesthetics.

From 1939 to 1943 she worked as a Nursing Sister in the Repatriation Hospital, Wayville, South Australia. She later married Herbert Lemon and lived in Mount Gambier, South Australia until her death in 1975. She is interred in Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena, Mitcham City, South Australia.