School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Research Publications
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Item'Rubbery figures': the puzzle of the number of AANS on active service in WW1(Military Historical Society of Australia, 2008)Australian female nurses from all states nursed overseas during World War I. But how many nurses actually served as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF)? This paper investigates the work done by researchers on just who was in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), the conclusions drawn and the proffered total figures. It also explores the author's journey in developing the most complete list of AANS nurses on active service to date. As a result, a new database shows almost 2500 AIF nurses' names and demonstrates the breadth of the AANS' military postings and consequent military experience.
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ItemRed rag to a British bull?: Australian trained nurses working with British nurses during World War I(RMIT Publishing, 2004)The outbreak of WWI caused a rush of patriotism and thousands of male volunteers demonstrated their keenness to serve the Empire. Both Britain and Australia’s female nursing fraternities were just as enthusiastic to enlist. Some 3000 Australian nurses who joined the Australian Army Nursing Service or served in the British nursing reserve spent part of their service working in British military hospitals alongside nurses from the QAIMNS – Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service. Many Australian nurses had trained under systems of British origin and believed that they shared the same qualifications, skills and outlook as the English sisters. However, British regular army nurses did not regard their colonial sisters as equals. From general snobbishness to giving them all the ‘hard’ duties, Australian nurses had to prove their worth. It was a success; in many cases, by the end of the war British matrons sought Australian nurses in preference to their own country women. This paper explores notions of imperial femininity through aspects of nursing culture, nursing politics, class and primarily labour practices thus making an important contribution to the small but growing number of investigations into women’s military work during World War I.
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Item'Giving the dope': Australian Army nurse anaesthetists during World War I( 2003)More than 2500 trained Australian army nurses served overseas during World War I. Many were called upon to act outside their normal nursing practice and one new area was that of anaesthetics. Due to a lack of medical officers in the latter part of the war, a number of Australian theatre sisters trained and worked as nurse anaesthetists in Casualty Clearing Stations in France. The British Army provided three months’ training for Australian, British and New Zealand nurses in the use of chloroform and ether. Australian nurses were enthusiastic volunteers as trained nurses at home had already carved out a small but unofficial place for the profession in this role. In addition, Canadian and American army and civil nurses were already trained and used as nurse anaesthetists. While nurses were successfully used without recorded incident, at the end of the first training course, the Director General of Medical Services, Australian Imperial Force, decreed that the nurses would not be further trained or used. This was out of step with the other countries participating, and this paper examines some possible reasons for the change of heart.
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ItemIn the ‘Grey Battalion’: Launceston General Hospital nurses on active service in World War I(Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine, 2008)Nearly fifty nurses from the Launceston General Hospital served with the Australian Army Nursing Service or the British nursing service during World War I. These nurses served in countries that included Egypt, France, India, Greece, Italy and England. They worked in various roles including as a surgical team nurse close to the front working under fire; nursing on hospital ships carrying the wounded; or managing wards overrun with patients on ships at Gallipoli in 1915, whilst dealing with a lack of hospital necessities. This case study, of one group of nurses, shows that their experiences reflected the skills and roles needed to be a military nurse of the time, significantly different to the skills required to nurse in Australia.
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ItemWork, work, work: Australian Army nurses after World War I(School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, University of Queensland, 2009)The Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), with almost 2500 trained female nurses, provided nursing care and performed a myriad of other medical, administrative and non-nursing roles for the AIF overseas during World War I. In 1919 and 1920, the Army demobilised most. However, the nurses’ military service changed their nursing lives forever. Based on extensive new data, and building on the work of historian Jan Bassett, this paper explores the work of nurses immediately after the war, their continuing ties with the military, how the government’s repatriation system treated them and the commemorations of their work. While some were entitled to pensions, many others struggled financially through life. Many were mentally and physically exhausted from their military service and found general nursing, their own qualifications, too much. Although other historians believe that the AANS set the standards for Australian hospital nursing after the war, many branched out and pioneered other fields such as infant welfare, repatriation nursing, industrial and school nursing while others opened nurses’ homes.
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ItemRed reflections on the sea: Australian army nurses serving at sea in World War 1(Naval Historical Society of Australia, 2009)The onset of World War 1 placed immense strains on the medical treatment and evacuation plans and organisation of the Australian defence force. This article examines and describes the roles played in this essential service by the nurses of the Australian Army, many of whom found themselves serving in ships and sharing the risks and conditions experienced by all at sea in a war zone. The contribution that these women made led to the development of better nursing services in the war that followed in 1939.