AWM41 1023 - [Nurses Narratives] Sister Pidgeon - Part 1

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SISTER  PIDGEON. 

A.W.M.

LIBRARY

Classn No 373.2 

(1023)

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 the most
valuable historical records, but, like all private souvenirs 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 of 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." 

91/15

Sister Pidgeon.    Sydney Staff:  No3AG.H. Abbeville 3/4/17
Late Sister o/c Children's & Surgical & Infectious
Blocks in Sydney Hospital at outbreak of war. 
Joined up for No2 A.G.H leaving on 15 July 1915.
Came as a Sister.
The Govt gave us £20 (I think): & the Red X gave
us £10 for outfit.
Had to get ∧ set of instrs not much use on Lemnos.  but

not much nor since)
Uniform ugly  uncomfortable for hot weather
I reckon I spent about £50 altogether.
the £30 didn't nearly cover what we
had to get let alone pocket money.
We went straight on board from the Hospital the
Sydney Hosp photo  The Queenslanders
found us including Miss Wilson - Matron.
I was not in the Militia Reserves had no
prev expce of military Medical Nursing.

We had to lecture the orderlys - they were almost
all totally ignorant of Medical & Nursing
work.  The Mooltan was a passenger boat
We had a lot of passengers & were very
crowded after leaving Bombay. There were three

or more sittings.. We had 60 or more nurses

leaving the Q.A. they seemed to think they

were going to the AIF. They had very short

notice & disembarked at Suez for tent Hosp for

British in Egypt.
We were lectd on Base Hospl. with organisation.

It was really very useful
he spoke - tent Hospitals the & we all
expected we were going to a tented
Hospl in France. Col Dick had been in
Mil Hospls in S. Africa. He told us
about getting stores.
When we got to England we were told we were
going to Lemnos - were at the time Drs.
appointed:

We left on the Themistocles. There was an English
Bn. on brd. 2000 troops a comdr - the
ships & other officers men who were
decent to us- People in London were
awfully good to us - theatre manager &c
Mr William of the Simla was esp good to 
us. Landed at alex.  (calling at Malta
harbour for the day) I went to the 17
general - surgical ward. they were
at the time light but had been very
hard worked. The first time we had
seen a Military Hospl. We saw
little nursing. I was doing officers cleaning.
We went on the Dunluce Castle
there were A.I.F Sisters on Bd.             
Six of our Sisters were taken to go
on a French Hospital Ship.
Sister Taylor Sister Barron in
Lemnos Harbr.  When we had no
Sisters & they wanted them.
We zigzagged all the way from Malta to [[?]]
thro to Lemnos. The food was good - the o/c & matron were
very good to us. Sister Miss McHardie White was on Bd.
When we arrived at Lemnos for could
see the flashes of the guns & hear them.
Every morning at dawn they roused us
We were on bd. the Dunluce & the others
transferred to P&O - D. had to go off
in a hurry to the Peninsula - they wanted
to take some of us but Fiaschi hung
on to us, & reckoned that he wd lose us & he
got us ashore as quickly as he could.
I got the impression that they didn't expect we
would land as a bunch & that the ADMS
or Divs or something would split us up
& we wouldn't land as a bunch None of our
equipment was there tho' it was supposed
to be there waiting for us. The
Officers had already landed.  

About to go after we were transferred off

our boat Taken to the shore  on ladders-

landed in two batches & marched

up to the Bagpipes of Sgt Monk to the

bare stoney place with some bell tents wh.

the officer & personnel had put up. There

was mattresses down for us & we had our

own bedding. They had to spread straw for

us - & had cleared away the stones -We did'nt

know that we wd be taking pats. at once

& some of us went at once to no 2

Stationary. Believe things were, x from any

decent standard of nursing, clean beds

& ordinary dressings, but almost comfort -

after from what our Sisters

who went there say - appalling. The

orderleys were not ^of course ,fully trained & were not

supervised from ^to work up to any decent standard of

nursing.

We began taking cases next morning-

we only had mattresses & blankets-

The first lot was light - but the
next day the cases were ghastly -

dirty - we had nothing to wash

them with - no beds- we stripped them

& put them in mattresses on the

ground tarpaulin between blankets.  We

had very few bed pans.  No lamps - got us

from personnel - jam tins

We had tea - some arrowroot - rice

no fresh meat - some bovril & we got 

some dried fruit - bread which was awful

the patients were forbidden to eat it -mouldy

uncooked sodden - we had to tear up 

our clothes to wash the patients no

towels of any description.

It was three weeks before our own

equipment came but we got lamps

we operated - I know - & dont know where

the work &c came from- I dont know

how they sterilised dressings &c.
Fiaschi Lt McCormack Lt Col Cudmore  & Trethowan
were the operators -
by the third day we  had tents - marquees
pitched temporarily : on the 2nd day
the officer mess tent had to be turned
into a ward - no mattresses -  We
had to put penetrating chests -
heads etc over on the ground. We had
to move the patients outside to let the 
dying cases in.
On blankets only. bad cases. That and
by abt Aug. 9^th or 10^th Later 2 days after
they got mattresses ∧they were lying about
 everywhere in the Sun. The cases were landed
from Hospl Ships - light cases on trawlers
or anything. We had a mess tent up
& a table - We set about at first
They did wonders in the 24 hrs they did one
must say. Clearing the first was bad
enough-
I had an officers tent on the fourth day -
I had them in a marquee- mostly sick.
Sister McMillan had the wounded. We
had practically no equipment only their
own mess tins & not enough at
that. The Hospl was gradually
forming but we did'nt get really going
till we got our own equipment. We
It was hot ver  hideously
hot in the tents the night nurses
had to go out in the shade with
wet towels on - I never felt such 
heat & the flies were cruel.
We all got pretty sick with chiefly
 diarrhoea
about the 3^rd week not enough 
to go off duty.
We got no sheets for 3 wks. & Red X
pyjamas. The Red X was then  after
three days - but they did help us

Only had a limited staff at first but
things simply idled in afterwards.
The conditions for nursing were very trying - 

we had
brought some tea towels most of the Sisters
had brought some. We used most of our
wet towels & from washing patients with
It was difficult to do anything for the flies - the
tents food &c black with flies - I have
never seen them so awful - worse than
Egypt. Sanitary arrangements crude Bed
pans are placed into blankets & then they
had to empty into the sea. The Ty &
para stools  even, after a couple of
weeks, boiled. We had to fly proof latrines
at once. We had seats & covers for our own
latrines in about a fortnight. We were
going like the devil for about 4 wks.
until the Reinf. Sisters came.
The first day the Admiral wanted some of
us to go to tea ! When we did'nt
know how to leave to see to the boys.
But the naval people were awfully good to
us making us presents of bread &c
Our Cr used to bring the bread himself
^ [[up the?]] hill to our mess with a Bluejacket ∧ 

following behind with another

sack.
I heard after & we all believed it that our
Equipment was there all the time
We reckoned that our Equipment was ahead of
us - The people evidently twiddled it
somehow.
In about six weeks we had our tents
comfortable & had beds- mattresses-
lanterns & utensils- things were going
well & we had water The first few 
days water was a terrible difficulty
before our Condenser was fixed up. It

was being fixed up when we arrived.
We were in tents all the time. the huts
were not ready till the first Blizard
came - Armstrong huts.
In the officers ward we had to do all the
cooking on Scutari oil stoves abominable
things - the Primuses all went out
of order & there was no one to repair
them. I had the an officer ward. para
& dysentery all the time - it was a 
nightmare - was so hard to get
things for them - It was not that we
wanted more than the privates but
we could not get as much. The
wards & everything were all the same
as for the ptns - food & everything
alike - the only diff. was any other
cooking that we could do ourselves.
The winds were terrible at Lemnos -
the sand dust &c blew onto everything-
the tents were constantly
down after the gales - it seemed
to me to blow hard five days out
of the seven - enough to keep the
heat going.
The Blizards later were cruel worse
even than the flies - It began to get 
cold about September - & got cruelly

bitter by the middle of November. We
personally got into tents the first big
cold blizzard. We had plenty of blankets
for the patients we put them into
anything we could get We couldnt
keep any fire alight even in the
Cookhouse - no hot water for
bottles - We had then heaps of Red
Cross stuff. as much as you wanted

flannel pyjamas. Sox - woolens. the
patients wd have done badly without it.
There was of course necessarily a lot of
waste - stuff could'nt be washed &
had to be thrown out.
We had some terrible frostbite cases - We had

I think a couple of hundred  of frostbites 
in one Convoy. Some were very terrible
There were no officers with gangrenous feet but
the pain with even less injuries was very
great. The cases among the officers
were much the same grade as the mens
I heard - we had some trench hepatitis one
officer died. Lot of Jaundice - more than
I have ever seen anywhere. I only had
then was cases of officers. in C.S.F..of a major
who died.
After we got lighter we got at last a good 
deal - we got on to the warships. ec
We got ½ days off - the rule being
(Whole day on 7.30 - 8 or later Next 
day 7.30 - 1 off for rest of day. This
was when we were light - often
it could not be done. I got 3 full
days off & went to Castro - on donkeys
I had a bath at Therma - will
never forget it. At Hospl we only had
the sea (which got too dirty after a
while)  & sponge baths -  the water
was so scarce. But Therma - the
water was so soft & just the
right warmth. right out of the side of
a hill - then we had a fowl - the old
Greek chased ran it down & killed it for
us. This was our lunch on the island & we had
a ride to Castro. I loved Castro - the
trip to the old Castle looking toward Greece

& the snow-covered islands of Samothrace
& the Glacier blue of the Mediterranean
were unforgettable. We could see the
Mainland from the old Phoenecian fort.
Castro was one of the best places we have seen
the pass through the mountain side was
a thing to dream of. The spring of course was
past when we got there & we saw
nothing of the flowers often to us told
of nothing but burrs - stones dust (or
mud)
The orderlies were getting useful - at first
they were pretty useless - Anyway they
always seemed to be away [[drawing]]
things or emptying things ec
We worked them I believe the same as
we do now - with block waiters etc
but I did'nt see any block waiters I
had two orderlies to a ward of
24 officers - & two sisters nurses including
myself. & a staff nurse. We had
the same staff I believe as the private
wards.
When the troops began to come back
we got out to Off camp for concerts ec
We had same rides at first but one
of the sisters had a fall and cracked
her scalp and they stopped it after that.
It was a brute of a horse & she was not
up to it.
We didnt see anything of the other
sisters - esp. the Canadians or British
Neither the Canadians or British
visited us - one would'nt know they
are on the island except for
meeting them now & then. We