AWM41 992 - [Nurses Narratives] Sister E W King - Part 1

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Butler Colln.
WAR OF 1914-18
AWM 4 1

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AWM 4 1

AUSTRALIAN ARCHIVES
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN
SISTER E.W. KING.
A.W.M.
LIBRARY
Classn N^o 373.2
[992]
 

France  118/22
Sr E.W. King
At Luna Park at the beginning, no
servicemen, sterile water brought
over from cookhouse by natives.
found an onion at the bottom
of a sterile (?) jug of water
Food scarce. Left the ward at
night with 60 patients - next
morning there were 140 , and
the food for 60 had to do for
the 140.

The Official War Historian of the Commonwealth
Government (Dr. C. E. W. Bean), after his study of the
collection of private war records preserved in the Australian
War Memorial Library, wrote : -
"The private diaries in this collection furnish some of its most  
valuable historical records, but, like all private memoirs which were  
not compiled with any historical purpose, they should not be  
regarded as first-hand evidence except where it is certain that they  
are so.  The diarist is almost always sincere in his desire to record  
accurately, but he is subject to no obligation or inducement to  
indicate whether he is recording his own observations or incidents  
told him by friends or heard at third or fourth hand at the mess-table.  
Thus, in some of the diaries in this collection, scenes described with  
vivid detail, and without any warning that they are told at second  
or third hand, have been found to be completely inaccurate in  
important details. A certain number also have been written up 
or revised long after the events, though doubtless usually from notes  
made at the time. In most cases the student must rely on his  
experience and on internal evidence to guide him in judging what is  
and what is not likely to be historically accurate."
 

AUST. WAR MUSEUM LIBRARY
E253/1
Experiences of Sister E.W. King. AANS.
at Lunar Park Hospital 1915
June 15 

 1 copy for use of
Historian
EW. King
extracted from this file
CEWB 18.2.21 

 Area Office No.
AUSTRALIA

Requisition and Receipt for Clothing from the Ordnance Department for

253/1/10
To Officer-In-Charge.
Australian War Record Section.
11
In reference to your communication
re my experiences as a Sister
of A.A.N.S. working at No 1. A.G.H.
Luna Park. Egypt. My Dairy etc
has all been returned to
Australia therefore I will do my
best as per memory:
When I with 20 other. Sisters
arrived in Cairo on June 1. 1915
we were immediately put on
duty at Luna Park.
Twelve Australian Sisters whose
services for the duration of the
war had been given to the R.A.M.C.
& were proceeding to England.
had been detained at Suez, sent to
Cairo & opened up Luna Park. There
were then 1000 to 1200 patients all
 

(2)
sleeping on native, cane beds just
put anywhere a space could be
found. Soon after our arrival the
R.A.N.C. Sisters left for Imperial
Hospitals. We had no trained orderlies
except a few we brought on the troopship
& the little training we gave them, on
the way over. but ambulance lads &
semi convalescent patients helped
considerably. Also french Belgian Italian
& Egyptian women helped up with
small dressings.
There were absolutely no conveniences
The Sterile? Water was brought us
by a native servant from the Cook
House - which by the way consisted
of 5 or 10 large dixies with a fire
under each. The day when we
had almost finished one jug of Sterile?
Water we found a large onion in
the bottom. There was an absence
of even antiseptics. An order was
given from the O.C. that picric acid 1%
solution was to be used for External
wounds & 5½% for Syringing
Kerosene tins were converted into Arm
& foot baths - dressing trays sterilizers
and many other useful things.
There was no sterilized dressings
 

(3)
Gauze was placed in 1% Solution of
picric acid over night & in the morning
diluted with sterile ? water.
Under his treatment many of the
wounds did very well indeed.
The Dressing rooms in the various
parts were in the early days of
Luna Park very rough. In the
ground floor of the rink where all the
patients were on their own floor each
Sister had a big box. but in the
Pavilion the patients came from the
joy wheel, laughter house, skeleton
house, scenic railway, & bandstand,
to be dressed they used "The
Mysterious Cavern" as a dressing
room. About 8 months after the
opening we were able to have
the place almost completedly
filled with iron bedsteads in
place of the old. cane ones which
were fearfully uncomfortable for
the patients to lie on though
we were not supposed to have
bed patients when a rush came
on as at Lone Pine & other