AWM41 1028 - [Nurses Narratives] Sister Richmond - Part 2

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Miss Woniarski
Of the voyage of the Kyarra the less said
by any of us the better & we were all
very thankful to arrive in Egypt where we
finally disembarked arriving at Heliopolis
Jan 24th. to start work at the Palace Hotel.
A vast place but not particularly suitable
for hospital work. Still considering subsequent
stations we were lucky to get such quarters.
Commencing work under new conditions
was rather trying, none of us really understood
the mysteries of the [[?I.Lu]] department etc.
and were apt to feel annoyed at
the inevitable delays in equiping
wards etc.
The wards just opened were medical
& were quickly filled with influenza
pneumonia pneumonia cases of a very severe
type.
Until the commencement of the
actual Gallipoli campaign 

 

we had a sufficient nursing staff

& the happiest feeling of confidence

existed between our matron Miss Bell

the sisters.

At the end of April 1915 we commenced

receiving sick and wounded from

the peninsula.

The quick expansion of the hospital

prior to the opening of the auxiliaries

led to difficulties in equipment etc.

& later when the auxiliary hospitals

had to be staffed the drain on the

resources of the hospital was

very great. -

Wards were crowded, transfers were

often delayed for want of places to

evacuate wounded & altogether the

conditions were very trying

Gradually the auxiliary hospitals

were equiped & relieved the

 

overcrowded wards at the Palace.

The acute cases were nursed in

special wards which we have

[[?]] in C.C.S. learned to call by 

various names.

The medical wards were crowded with cases of

dysentery, rheumitism & various

tropical diseases - Finally all

penetrating ^chest cases were sent to

the acute medical wards as we 

had small rooms which were 

suitable.

By the same reason tetanus cases

were sent to us & three of these who

were admitted from the same

A. Train were most interesting.

Being late infections their chances of

recovery were rather better than 

some who had been previously

admitted. All three made great

 

recoveries & we were very proud when

we were able to send them on to England.

One especially who had had an

[[?sely]] septic condition arising

from an infected wound of the foot &

who came in for amputation made

a wonderful recovery. Amputation was

delayed as his condition was considered

not serious & later after frequent local

baths etc the wound cleaned well &

when transferred to England his

chances of saving his foot were

good.

On June 8th six sisters left for New Zealand

on an ambulance transport and

after that time N. Zealanders were

nursing at British general

hospitals.

On June 25th 1915 we lost the first sister

from I.A.G.H. Sister Bidwell dying after 

a short illness.

On July 5th a party of us who had volunteered

were ordered to join a hospital ship at

Alexandria. At this time the Staff were

severely taxed to the departure of six

made it so difficult that it was necessary

for some of us to work all night & then

catch our train for the port after a hasty

breakfast.

Hospital ship life proved very different

from base work & we were glad of the

time necessary to arrive at W beach to

equip our wards. The ship, hastily

filled by native labour was inconvenient

in many ways and before long we found

so many defective pipes etc that

working in the wards was difficult.

The discomfort of the heat; the defective

waste pipes etc was very great &

whilst landing at the beach the

awful swarms of flies were

intensely trying especially to the helpless

patients - no dispenses had been

shipped so we had to make all our

new solutions. We were short of the

most ordinary surgical appliances

& one rubber catheter had to be used

in turn by the various surgical wards.

The Galley was the only place were

we could sterilize large instruments

The wards were each provided with

one primus but some of these were

out of order & quite useless -

The kindness of consideration of the

Ships officers & crew helped greatly

to lightened the work of the nursing staff.

A staff of six proved quite inadequate

two were necessary for night duty but by

working 16 or 18 hours a day we were able

to cope with dressings etc. The loss of

as many as 39 before reaching port was

partly due to the severity of their wounds but

also to the intense heat below decks.

Later two of us were transferred to a

transport of for duty with so called

convalescents being sent to England

This second voyage lasted 17 days during

that time we were short of all medical

comforts, food was bad & severely

wounded men had merely deck 

accommodation.

Later on returning to Egypt in October

conditions had changed completely.

Reinforcements for all ranks had

arrived at intervals. The number of

extra hospitals opened, the regular

evacuation of sick & wounded to England

& Australia relieved the hospitals

in Egypt of all fear of overcrowding

& our first Xmas in Egypt was quite

jolly in spite of the general depression

resulting from the evident failure of the

Gallipoli campaign.

In 1916. we travelled in an Australian hospital

ship from Melbourne to Egypt so were

able to compare one hospital transports

with our earlier English ones. They

were extremely well fitted but in many

ways we could not help realising the

later English ships were better in every way.

Later Jan. 1917. we arrived again in Suez Canal

& a week later were sent to France being

lent to English hospital to augment their

staff. The contrast between life in Rouen

& Cairo was very great but our stay there

was short. We were transferred to No 42 C.C.S

at Aubigney near Arras just at the time of

the taking of Vinny ridge.

We arrived in time for night duty, went

into huts badly lighted, crowded with 

wounded & life became at once very

strenuous. Resuscitation of half frozen men

badly wounded & half starving means constant

work and so often failure instead of success
[[would?]] attend our efforts. The pluck of the
men was truly remarkable & one can 

never forget how considerate even these helpless

frozen men were with regard to us.

Later for a time we were transferred to the

"Gas" wards & spent many nights trying to

ease the awful sufferings of these gassed

men. By all the terrible things of this war

I think "gassed" cases stand out as the most

tragic & one can still picture the huge cylinders

of oxygen with four or six masks at intervals

down the ward in the [[serious?]] cases.

^Later the more careful use of gas masks etc did

much to limit the number of cases admitted

but surprise attacks and gas shells sometimes

caught unwary companies.

Item Control
Australian War Memorial
005172273