World War I and Australia

They served in places such as Egypt, Lemnos, England, France, Belgium, Greece, Palestine and India. About 2139 nurses served overseas between 1914 and 1919, while many worked in military hospitals in Australia. Seven women received the Military Medal during the war.

Nurses, staff and soldiers at a convalescent hospital in 1920
 

• Women to the front: the extraordinary Australian women doctors of the great war 
  This book explores the stories of the Australian women who served as surgeons, pathologists, anaesthetists and medical officers between 1914 and 1919. Accounts are drawn from letters and personal papers, such as diaries and journals, written by the woman doctors. Includes a detailed list of Australian women doctors known to have served in World War I.

• A woman's experiences in the Great War
  Louise Mack was one of the first woman war correspondents. She reported from Belgium her eye-witness accounts of the war. In 1917 she returned to Sydney and toured the country speaking about her experiences and raising money for the Australian Red Cross Society.
• Australian heroines of World War One : Gallipoli, Lemnos and the Western Front
  Tells the story of eight Australian women working as nurses and journalists through diaries, letters, original photos, paintings and maps.
• Australian Peace Alliance records, 1907-1924, 1943
  Contains correspondence of the Sisterhood of International Peace.
• More than bombs and bandages : Australian Army nurses at work in World War I
  Documents the roles and skills that women in the Australian Army Nursing Service had during the war.
• One woman at war: letters of Olive King 1915-20
  King led a remarkable life. She became a volunteer ambulance driver in Serbia and helped displaced Serbian families and soldiers by setting up Australian-Serbian canteens. For this she was awarded the Serbian silver medal for bravery and a year later she received the gold medal for zealous conduct.
• That dangerous and persuasive woman : Vida Goldstein
  Goldstein was an passionate pacifist who was the chairman of the Australian Peace Alliance. In 1915 Goldstein started the Women's Peace Army.

• The Other Anzacs : The Extraordinary Story of our World War 1 Nurses [ebook]  The harrowing, dramatic and profoundly moving story of the Australian and New Zealand nurses who served in the Great War.

We have a number of diaries of nurses and volunteer workers including:

• Edith Florence Avenell
  Avenell enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force as a nurse when she was 25 years old. On 15 May 1915 she left on the HMAT Mooltan with the No. 1 Australian General Hospital unit from Sydney, New South Wales. She nursed at No. 13 Hospital, Boulogne, France and No. 2 Australian Auxillery General Hospital, Southall.
• Anne Donnell
  Donnell was a South Australian nursing sister who served with the 3rd Australian General Hospital at the Lemnos field hospital on 12 October 1915. She then moved in January 1916 to the Abbassia Barracks in Cairo until October when she travelled to England to the Kitchener War Hospital in Brighton. From May 1917 Sister Donnell worked in hospitals in France. In January 1918 she became ill and was sent to recover in England after which she worked at the No. 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Harefield Park in Middlesex.
• Nora Kathleen Fletcher
  Fletcher trained as a nurse, graduating from the Coast Hospital in 1906 and later left Sydney to work in England. Fletcher served as Principal matron in France with the Joint War Committee. She received several awards for her services including the Royal Red Cross in 1915 and the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920.
• Miles Franklin (Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin)
  Franklin was a noted Australian feminist and author. In June 1917 she joined as a voluntary worker in the 'American' Unit of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service stationed at Ostrovo, Macedonia. In February 1918 she returned to London as she was unwell. Her diary describes her day to day activities in wartime London and the effects of malaria and depression on her health.
• Florence Holloway
  Holloway was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales in 1874 and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at the age of 43. She served as a nurse in England and Egypt.
• Florence McMillan
  McMillan served as a nurse in the Middle East, including at the 3rd Australian General Hospital at Lemnos during the war. Her correspondence is part of the McMillan family papers collection.

Florence McMillan and a Gallipoli kitten from Photographs of the Third Australian General Hospital at Lemnos, Egypt & Brighton taken by A. W. Savage.