Nurses Narratives Matron Ethel Sarah Davidson

AWM 4 1 5/73 

AUSTRALIAN ARCHIVES 
ACCESS STATUS 
OPEN 

MATRON E.S. DAVIDSON. 

A. W. M. 
LIBRARY 
Classn. No. 373.2 
Catd. 
Illusns. Indexed 
Maps Indexed 

[959] 

Egypt Matron Davidson 110/34 
France 
Italy 
C.C.S. staff increased from 
6 to 20 for Messines push. 
During the first 18 hours 
fighting at Messines 2800 
patients were admitted, and 
4 trains with 500 patients 
in each went out in 24 hours. 
Heavy bombing. 
To 38th British stationary Hosp 
Calais. RAMC officers 
Aust. sisters. 
To Italy in charge 60 
English V.A.D. and Aust sisters 
at Genoa Hospital Corso Torino 
RAMC Medical officers 
35 Aust sisters & 5 English 
V.A.D. 
British adj wrote that 
the sisters work was 
absolutely excellent. 

The Official War Historian of the Commonwealth 
Government (Dr. C. E. W. Bean), after his study of the 
collection of private war record 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."

TELEPHONE: 
CENTRAL 4780. 
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA. 

ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS 
TO "THE SECRETARY" 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE 
MELBOURNE. 9th July 1926 

No. ........................................ 

Dear Bean.,
The right woman is Matron G. E. Davis., R.R.C. of 
Private Hospital, 209, Dandenong Road, Windsor, Melbourne, Victoria. 
who was in charge of all the nurses in India for the three 
years. She went out first with No. 3. A.G.H. to Lemnos. 
She has R.R.C. 1st Class; Kaisar i hind 1st Class and was 
Mentioned in despatches. Australian nurses were scattered 
over India - ran a Hospital at Bushire in Persia: and 
vessels to Mespotamia, Persian Gulf but had no hospital there. 
The hospital at Bushire was inspected by Matron Davis who 
can give all particulars. She reckons she has not the 
pen of a ready writer and does not know a nurse who has 
but could supply all material and probably put whoever 
was responsible for writing on to original material. 
There will probably be letters published in Nursing Journals, 
and others available etc. and photos. I have told her you 
would probably be communicating with her. 
Herewith the material we have, 
Yours sincerely, 
A.S.Butler 

P.S. I hope you received Allens Book safely?.

VIII AUSTRALIAN WAR RECORDS SECTION 
E253/1/15. 
CLASSIFICATION SUB-SECTION 

Diaries-Personal 
Interview with Matron E S. Davidson 4/4/19 Her experiences 
since leaving Australia 

14/15 

P.A 
INITIALS 
DATE 19/4/19

INTERVIEW WITH MATRON DAVIDSON, A.A.N.S.

Departure from Australia in 1914 on "Shropshire". 
Work in Egypt at N.Z. Hospital Abbasia. 
Work at Mena House and Hezireh Palace Hospitals during Gallipoli campaign. 
Feb. to June 1916. Work at Sporting Club and Anzac Hostel Hospitals. 
Arrival in England. Posted to Harefield and then to A.I.F. H.Q. till Feb. 1917. 
Transferred to France to 2nd A.G.H. and then a C.C.S. Wounded admit 
during Messines push. Shelled from Lille. 
July 1917. Transferred to 38th (British) Stationary Hospital at 
Calais. Conditions in mud. Raids by German planes. 
Moved to Italian front. Opening up a hospital in Genoa. Smooth 
working - all Tommies taken in. After armistice 250 Austrians 
admitted. Good relations between nurses, patients and orderleys. 
Good work of V.A.D's. 
Return to England Jan. 1919.

AUSTRALIAN WAR RECORDS SECTION 
E253/1./15 
CLASSIFICATION SUB-SECTION 

INTERVIEW WITH MATRON E. S. DAVIDSON ON 4.4.19.

I left Melbourne with the 1st Contingent on October 20th 1914 
on the troopship "SHROPSHIRE" and landed in Egypt on December 5th 
1914 and proceeded with it to Cairo and was detaied for duty at 
the New Zealand Hospital at Abbassia. Miss Conyers, the present 
Matron in Chief and Miss Finly were on the troopship "Shropshire". 
In this Hospital, the O.C. was an R.A.M.C. with the Egyptian Army 
and the Matron was a Q.A. regular and we had New Zealand patients 
with a few New Zealand orderlies and a few 'gypos'. In four days 
time we were reinforced with 4 Queensland nurses. We were 
billeted at the Heliopolis House Hotel, a good 2 ½ miles away and 
rode on a tram to and from the hospital. I had charge of the 
Acute Pneumonia ward and during the 4 ½ months I was there, I had 
something like 60 cases of Pneumonia, and until the "Kyarra" came 
and we had reinforcements, I was alone in this ward with only 
orderlies. 

At the end of March, I was transferred to Mena House. 
(No. 2 A.G.H.) and was at this hospital when the first wounded 
arrived from Gallipoli (May 1915). At the end of May, Mena 
House closed and I went with the unit to Gezireh Palace. On 
the 6th August I returned to Mena as acting Matron with seven 
Sisters. It was then a convalescent depot but was increased to 
a General Hospital of 600 beds. 

On 1st February 1916 I was transferred to the 3rd 
Auxiliary Hospital (Sporting Club) Heliopolis, a large hospital 
of 500 beds and we had mostly semi-convalescents. We had one 
big dressing room, which, when in full working order, put 
through something like 1,000 dressings per day. The tennis- 
courts at this hospital were roofed over and screened round and 
when the number of beds in the hospital were increased, at the 
time of evacuation of Gallipoli, 500 beds were put into each 
Pavilion (2) and it was just one sea of beds. The hospital 
accommodation was then brought up to 1,700 but fortunately was 
not needed. 

About the middle of March, I and my nursing staff were 
moved out of No. 3 Auxiliary Hospital and No. 2 A.G.H. took 
position temporarily. I then was sent to the Anzac Hotel in 
Cairo to see about equipping the beds and arranging for the bed 
linen and then arranged and put up 500 beds. About the 
middle of April I returned as Matron to the Sporting Club and 
found there an entirely new staff of nurses and stayed there 
until June 24th, when the Sporting Club was closed and on 
July 7th I and 45 nurses left Egypt for England. We were 
billeted at Harefield for a while and then I was posted as 
Secretary to the Matron-in-Chief in London and stayed with her 
until the middle of February 1917, when I was transferred to 
No. 2 A.G.H. again, this time in France. I stayed about 10 
days and then went to a Casualty Clearing Station. This C.CS. 
was composed of huts and tents and was the nearest C.C.S. to 
the firing line. The staff consisted of 6 nurses and there I took 
charge of a ward (huts) as well as administration duties. The 
administrative duties were very slight as I only had these 6 
nurses to take charge of. At the latter end of May, my staff was 
increased to 20 and preparations generally were made for the 
Messines push. During the first 18 hours that wounded were 
received from the Messines push, 2,800 were admitted to the 
hospital, and 4 trains with 500 patients on each went out in 24 
hours. While I was at the C.C.S., we were constantly shelled and 
bombed. Once a shell came and exploded near

-2- 
explode until it had embedded itself in the ground. We were 
being shelled from Lille and the cause of our getting these 
shells was, that an observation balloon was on top of us and 
the boches shelled this and the shells dropped on us, and these 
shells came uncomfortably close. One piece of shell weighing 
58 lbs. came down on the Sisters' Quarters one evening. 

On the 14th July, I was transferred to the 38th British 
Stationary Hospital at Calais where the medical personnel were 
R.A.M.C., except the Sisters, who were Australians. When I 
arrived, the camp was under canvas and the huts for the patients 
and the Sisters' quarters were being built. My staff was 
increased daily by twos and threes until it reached its full 
number, 35. While we were still under canvas, we had the honour 
of entertaining the Matron-in-Chief A.I.F. and the Matron-in- 
Chief B.E.F. Fortunately for them they came the night they 
did, as two nights after we were blown out. At one o'clock in 
the morning the first tent came down and then by morning 3 or 
4 others were down and the remainder were in such a state that 
they could not be used. The Sisters' huts were the first huts 
to be completed at the hospital, the sisters always being 
considered next to the patients, patients first, nursing sisters 
next, and that was the general thing throughout the whole time 
I was with the 38th Stationary Hospital. Although the Sisters' 
huts were not quite completed, the O.C. instructed that we 
should move into them, which we did, going right through the mud 
which frequently came over the top of our gum boots. With care 
the patients' marquees were kept over them. When the moon began 
to get bright, the boche would come over every night and we had 
as many as ten nights in succession. At first we had no 
protection at all and the Sisters would make dug-outs for 
themselves by getting under their beds and putting all their 
trunks on top, but afterwards beautiful dug-outs were built. 
Just as they were completed, the unit was ordered to be ready 
to move in 48 hours. Evidently the luck was on our side, 
because very shortly after we left a bomb fell almost on the 
Sisters' dug-out and blew one end of it out. The whole unit was 
ready to move and as it was undecided where we were to go we 
were given leave from 4th November to 15th November 1917 and 
then were called suddenly back to France to proceed to Italy 
and we went down on a hospital train which took 60 English 
V.A.D's and Sisters, and I being the only Matron was put in 
charge of the lot. The only causality that occurred on the journey 
was the loss of one V.A.D. She disappeared. By a strange 
coincidence her name was 'Bolter'. As the staff on the train 
down received no instructions until 4 o'clock and we were to 
board the train at 6, they had made no preparations at all. 
After reporting at Boulogne from England a mistake was made as 
regards myself and the Matron-in-Chief's orders were that I should 
proceed by car to Abbeville, instead of which, I was sent by car 
to Calais and then had to report on the 11.6 train back to 
Abbeville. The trip on the train to Italy was interesting and we 
arrived at Genoa on Monday at 8 o'clock and were taken to the 
hospital, Corso Torino. The hospital was a large boys school and 
its owner was Christopholo Colombo. We were all accommodated in 
this hospital, the nurses, the personnel of the hospital, about 
50 R.E's. who were doing repairs and alterations. At night it 
was almost impossible to walk about as the men were sleeping 
along the corridoors. The day after we arrived we received our 
first equipment belonging to the Italian Medical Services, our 
own equipment had not arrived. The patients were English tommies

-3- 
Here again the Sisters were the first to be considered. 
They were the first people to be billeted. We stayed in one 
of the principal streets, we had our own kitchen and mess 
rooms and our own English servants - it was a mile and a 
quarter from the hospital and transport was provided, and 
with few exceptions, the Sisters never had to walk to and 
from the hospital. It was the Imperial Hotel which was 
beautifully furnished, and a portion of it had been commandeered 
by the Government. We finally got settled at the hospital, 
after we had got the Italian equipment out and our own in, 
which was quite a work of art. We got up 520 beds and after 
we had been there three months, we really thought we had the 
best hospital in Genoa, under the management of our excellent 
O.C., who was an R.A.M.C. regular of 20 years services and the 
whole thing went just like clockwork. 

On two occasions I was asked to send Australian Nurses to the 
forward B.C.C.S's. and whilst there one was awarded the A.R.R.C. 
All the patients were English boys, either wounded or sick, 
sometimes we were busy, sometimes not. We had a very bad 
time of the Influenza in January and again towards the end of 
the year, in November. 

After the Armistice was signed, we took in about 250 Austrians. 
They were very good boys and gave us no trouble. 
As one marked thing, practically the whole time we were at 
Genoa, a year and 2 months, not once did I have a complaint 
from the Sisters about the patients and only on one or two 
occasions was there any trouble between the Sisters and the 
Orderlies. The whole of the personnel tried to do their very 
best to help each other. 

The staff in their spare time had a great deal to interest them 
in the way of climbing mountains, walks, visiting the various 
places of interest around the town, which is a wonderful place. 
After the Armistice was signed, leave was given for the Sisters 
who wished to visit Rome and all the principal towns of Italy, 
about 25 availed themselves of this great privilege. Apart 
from the 35 Australian Sisters, I had 5 English V.A.D's. sent 
by Miss McCarthy and I have nothing but good to say of them. 
About a fortnight after the Armistice was signed, when the work 
was lessening, the Sisters gave the Officers a dinner and then 
the Officers gave the Sisters a dinner. They were both most 
enjoyable. 

On the 23rd December, our last patients were sent away and we 
felt as if we were a ship without a rudder. They were most 
excellent patients, so appreciative of everything that was done 
for them and they thought there was noone like the Australian 
Sisters. When the boys passed from the Convalescent Camp, 
past the hospital, they always used to cheer us. 

On the 3rd January 1919, the D.M.S. and A.D.M.S. Italy gave a 
large dance to all the nurses in the No. 11 General Hospital, 
which was then empty, there were about 500 guests present. 
On the 15th January, the first half of the unit left Genoa 
and on the 16th the second half left and we joined at Le Havre 
and crossed the channel together. I was sent straight from 
Waterloo Station to Southall as Matron and my staff to No. 3 
A.A.H., Dartford. No. 2 A.A.H. Southall is a hospital for 
Australian soldiers, but a great number have now been sent 
home and the others expect to go shortly. 

The Sisters' work was absolutely excellent at all times. 
As our Adjutant writing to me after we had left said, he 
thought he knew a lot about Nurses but he never found a staff 
so excellent at work and jovial at play as the Australian 
Sisters at 38th Stationary.

SPARE COPIES 20 

AUSTRALIAN WAR RECORDS SECTION 
E253/1./55 
CLASSIFICATION SUB-SECTION 

INTERVIEW WITH MATRON E. S. DAVIDSON ON 4.4.19. 

I left Melbourne with the 1st Contingent on October 20th 1914 
on the troopship "SHROPSHIRE" and landed in Egypt on December 5th 
1914 and proceeded with it to Cairo and was detailed for duty at 
the New Zealand Hospital at Abbassia. Miss Conyers, the present 
Matron in Chief and Miss Finlay were on the troopship "Shropshire". 
In the Hospital, the O.C. was an R.A.M.C. with the Egyptian Army 
and the Matron was a Q.A. regular and we had New Zealand patients 
with a few New Zealand orderlies and a few 'gypos'. In four days 
time we were reinforced with 4 Queensland nurses, We were 
billeted at the Heliopolis House Hotel, a good 2 ½ miles away and 
rode on a tram to and from the hospital. I had charge of the 
Acute Pneumonia ward and during the 4 ½ months I was there, I had 
something like 60 cases of Pneumonia, and until the "Kyarra" came 
and we had reinforcements, I was alone in this ward with only 
orderlies. 

At the end of March, I was transferred to Mena House. 
(No. 2 A.G.H) and was at this hospital when the first wounded 
arrived from Gallipoli (May 1915). At the end of May, Mena 
House closed and I went with the unit to Gezireh Palace. On 
the 6th August I returned to Mena as acting Matron with seven 
Sisters. It was then a convalescent depot but was increased to 
a General Hospital of 600 beds. 

On 1st February 1916 I was transferred to the 3rd 
Auxiliary Hospital (Sporting Club) Heliopolis, a large hospital 
of 500 beds and we had mostly semi-convalescents. We had one 
big dressing room, which, when in full working order, put 
through something like 1,000 dressings per day. The tennis- 
courts at this hospital were roofed over and screened round and 
when the number of beds in the hospital were increased, at the 
time of evacuation of Gallipoli, 500 beds were put into each 
Pavilion (2) and it was just one sea of beds. The hospital 
accomodation was then brought up to 1,700 but fortunately was 
not needed. 

About the middle of March, I and my nursing staff were 
moved out of No. 3 Auxiliary Hospital and No. 2 A.G.H. took 
position temporarily. I then was sent to the Anzac Hotel in 
Cairo to see about equipping the beds and arranging for the bed 
linen and then arranged and put up 500 beds. About the 
middle of April I returned as Matron to the Sporting Club and 
found there an entirely new staff of nurses and stayed there 
until June 24th, when the Sporting Club was closed and on 
July 7th I and 45 nurses left Egypt for England. We were 
billeted at Harefield for a while and then I was posted as 
Secretary to the Matron-in-Chief in London and stayed with her 
until the middle of February 1917, when I was transferred to 
No. 2 A.G.H. again, this time in France. I stayed about 10 
days and then went to a Casualty Clearing Station. This C.CS. 
was composed of huts and tents and was the nearest C.C.S. to 
the firing line. The staff consisted of 6 nurses and there I took 
charge of a ward (huts) as well as administration duties. The 
administrative duties were very slight as I only had these 6 
nurses to take charge of. At the latter end of May, my staff was 
increased to 20 and preparations generally were made for the 
Messines push. During the first 18 hours that wounded were 
received from the Messines push, 2,800 were admitted to the 
hospital, and 4 trains with 500 patients on each went out in 24 
hours. While I was at the C.C.S., we were constantly shelled and 
bombed. Once a shell came and exploded near

-2- 
explode until it had embedded itself in the ground. We were 
being shelled from Lille and the cause of our getting these 
shells was, that an observation balloon was on top of us and 
the boches shelled this and the shells dropped on us, and these 
shells came uncomfortably close. One piece of shell weighing 
58 lbs. came down on the Sisters' Quarters one evening. 

On the 14th July, I was transferred to the 38th British 
Stationary Hospital at Calais where the medical personnel were 
R.A.M.C., except the Sisters, who were Australians. When I 
arrived, the camp was under canvas and the huts for the patients 
and the Sisters' quarters were being built. My staff was 
increased daily by twos and threes until it reached its full 
number, 35. While we were still under canvas, we had the honour 
of entertaining the Matron-in-Chief A.I.F. and the Matron-in- 
Chief B.E.F. Fortunately for them they came the night they 
did, as two nights after we were blown out. At one o'clock in 
the morning the first tent came down and then by morning 3 or 
4 others were down and the remainder were in such as state that 
they could not be used. The Sisters' huts were the first huts 
to be completed at the hospital, the sisters always being 
considered next to the patients, patients first, nursing sisters 
next, and that was the general thing throughout the whole time 
I was with the 38th Stationary Hospital. Although the Sisters' 
huts were not quite completed, the O.C. instructed that we 
should move into them, which we did, going right through the mud 
which frequently came over the top of our gum boots. With care 
the patients' marquees were kept over them. When the moon began 
to get bright, the boche would come over every night and we had 
as many as ten nights in succession. At first we had no 
protection at all and the Sisters would make dug-outs for 
themselves by getting under their beds and putting all their 
trunks on top, but afterwards beautiful dug-outs were built. 
Just as they were completed, the unit was ordered to be ready 
to move in 48 hours. Evidently the luck was on our side, 
because very shortly after we left a bomb fell almost on the 
Sisters' dug-out and blew one end of it out. The whole unit was 
ready to move and as it was undecided where we were to go we 
were given leave from 4th November to 15th November 1917 and 
then were called suddenly back to France to proceed to Italy 
and we went down on a hospital train which took 60 English 
V.A.D's and Sisters, and I being the only Matron was put in 
charge of the lot. The only causality that occurred on the journey 
was the loss of one V.A.D. She disappeared. By a strange 
coincidence her name was 'Bolter'. As the staff on the train 
down received no instructions until 4 o'clock and we were to 
board the train at 6, they had made no preparations at all. 
After reporting at Boulogne from England a mistake was made as 
regards myself and the Matron-in-Chief's orders were that I should 
proceed by car to Abbeville, instead of which, I was sent by car 
to Calais and then had to report on the 11.6 train back to 
Abbeville. The trip on the train to Italy was interesting and we 
arrived at Genoa on Monday at 8 o'clock and were taken to the 
hospital, Corso Torino. The hospital was a large boys school and 
its owner was Christopholo Colombo. We were all accommodated in 
this hospital, the nurses, the personnel of the hospital, about 
50 R.E's. who were doing repairs and alterations. At night it 
was almost impossible to walk about as the man was sleeping 
along the corridoors. The after we arrived we received our 
first equipment belonging to the Italian Medical Services, our 
own equipment had not arrived. The patients were English tommies

-3- 
Here again the Sisters were the first to be considered. 
They were the first people to be billeted. We stayed in one 
of the principal streets, we had our own kitchen and mess 
rooms and our own English servants-it was a mile and a 
quarter from the hospital and transport was provided, and 
with a few exceptions, the Sisters never had to walk to and 
from the hospital. It was the Imperial Hotel which was 
beautifully furnished, and a portion of it had been commandeered 
by the Government. We finally got settled at the hospital 
after we had got the Italian equipment out and our own in, 
which was quite a work of art. We got up 520 beds and after 
we had been there three months, we really thought we had the 
best hospital in Genoa, under the management of our excellent 
O.C., who was an R.A.M.C. regular of 20 years services and the 
whole thing went just like clockwork. 

On two occasions I was asked to send Australian Nurses to the 
forward B.C.C.S's. and whilst there one was awarded the A.R.R.C. 
All the patients were English boys, either wounded or sick, 
sometimes we were busy, sometimes not. We had a very bad 
time of the Influenza in January and again towards the end of 
the year, in November. 

After the Armistice was signed, we took in about 250 Austrians. 
They were very good boys and gave us no trouble. 
As one marked thing, practically the whole time we were at 
Genoa, a year and 2 months, not once did I have a complaint 
from the Sisters about the patients and only on one or two 
occasions was there any trouble between the Sisters and the 
Orderlies. The whole of the personnel tried to do their very 
best to help each other. 

The staff in their spare time had a great deal to interest them 
in the way of climbing mountains, walks, visiting the various 
places of interest around the town, which is a wonderful place. 
After the Armistice was signed, leave was given for the Sisters 
who wished to visit Rome and all the principal towns of Italy, 
about 25 availed themselves of this great privilege. Apart 
from the 35 Australian Sisters, I had 5 English V.A.D's. sent 
by Miss McCarthy and I have nothing but good to say of them. 
About a fortnight after the Armistice was signed, when the work 
was lessening, the Sisters gave the Officers a dinner and then 
the Officers gave the Sisters a dinner. They were both most 
enjoyable. 

On the 23rd December, our last patients were sent away and we 
felt as if we were a ship without a rudder. They were most 
excellent patients, so appreciative of everything that was done 
for them and they thought there was noone like the Australian 
Sisters. When the boys passed from the Convalescent Camp, 
past the hospital, they always used to cheer us. 

On the 3rd January 1919, the D.M.S. and A.D.M.S. Italy gave a 
large dance to all the nurses in the No. 11 General Hospital, 
which was then empty, there were about 500 guests present. 
On the 15th January, the first half of the unit left Genoa 
and on the 16th the second half left and we joined at Le Havre 
and crossed the channel together. I was sent straight from 
Waterloo Station to Southall as Matron and my staff to No. 3 
A.A.H., Dartford. No. 2 A.A.H. Southall is a hospital for 
Australian soldiers, but a great number have now been sent 
home and the others expect to go shortly. 

The Sisters' work was absolutely excellent at all times. 
As our Adjutant writing to me after we had left said, he 
thought he knew a lot about Nurses but he never found a staff 
so excellent at work and jovial at play as the Australian 
Sisters at 38th Stationary.

110 
Spare Copy/34 20 

INTERVIEW WITH MATRON E. S. DAVIDSON ON 4.4.19. 

I left Melbourne with the 1st Contingent on October 20th 1914 
on the troopship "SHROPSHIRE" and landed in Egypt on December 5th 
1914 and proceeded with it to Cairo and was detailed for duty at 
the New Zealand Hospital at Abbassia. Miss Conyers, the present 
Matron in Chief and Miss Finlay were on the troopship "Shropshire". 
In the Hospital, the O.C. was an R.A.M.C. with the Egyptian Army 
and the Matron was a Q.A. regular and we had New Zealand patients 
with a few New Zealand orderlies and a few 'gypos'. In four days 
time we were reinforced with 4 Queensland nurses, We were 
billeted at the Heliopolis House Hotel, a good 2 ½ miles away and 
rode on a tram to and from the hospital. I had charge of the 
Acute Pneumonia ward and during the 4 ½ months I was there, I had 
something like 60 cases of Pneumonia, and until the "Kyarra" came 
and we had reinforcements, I was alone in this ward with only 
orderlies. 

At the end of March, I was transferred to Mena House. 
(No. 2 A.G.H) and was at this hospital when the first wounded 
arrived from Gallipoli (May 1915). At the end of May, Mena 
House closed and I went with the unit to Gezireh Palace. On 
the 6th August I returned to Mena as acting Matron with seven 
Sisters. It was then a convalescent depot but was increased to 
a General Hospital of 600 beds. 

On 1st February 1916 I was transferred to the 3rd 
Auxiliary Hospital (Sporting Club) Heliopolis, a large hospital 
of 500 beds and we had mostly semi-convalescents. We had one 
big dressing room, which, when in full working order, put 
through something like 1,000 dressings per day. The tennis- 
courts at this hospital were roofed over and screened round and 
when the number of beds in the hospital were increased, at the 
time of evacuation of Gallipoli, 500 beds were put into each 
Pavilion (2) and it was just one sea of beds. The hospital 
accomodation was then brought up to 1,700 but fortunately was 
not needed. 

About the middle of March, I and my nursing staff were 
moved out of No. 3 Auxiliary Hospital and No. 2 A.G.H. took 
position temporarily. I then was sent to the Anzac Hotel in 
Cairo to see about equipping the beds and arranging for the bed 
linen and then arranged and put up 500 beds. About the 
middle of April I returned as Matron to the Sporting Club and 
found there an entirely new staff of nurses and stayed there 
until June 24th, when the Sporting Club was closed and on 
July 7th I and 45 nurses left Egypt for England. We were 
billeted at Harefield for a while and then I was posted as 
Secretary to the Matron-in-Chief in London and stayed with her 
until the middle of February 1917, when I was transferred to 
No. 2 A.G.H. again, this time in France. I stayed about 10 
days and then went to a Casualty Clearing Station. This C.CS. 
was composed of huts and tents and was the nearest C.C.S. to 
the firing line. The staff consisted of 6 nurses and there I took 
charge of a ward (huts) as well as administration duties. The 
administrative duties were very slight as I only had these 6 
nurses to take charge of. At the latter end of May, my staff was 
increased to 20 and preparations generally were made for the 
Messines push. During the first 18 hours that wounded were 
received from the Messines push, 2,800 were admitted to the 
hospital, and 4 trains with 500 patients on each went out in 24 
hours. While I was at the C.C.S., we were constantly shelled and 
bombed. Once a shell came on a tent, but fortunately did not 
 

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explode until it had embedded itself in the ground. We were 
being shelled from Lille and the cause of our getting these 
shells was, that an observation balloon was on top of us and 
the boches shelled this and the shells dropped on us, and these 
shells came uncomfortably close. One piece of shell weighing 
58 lbs. came down on the Sisters' Quarters one evening. 

On the 14th July, I was transferred to the 38th British 
Stationary Hospital at Calais where the medical personnel were 
R.A.M.C., except the Sisters, who were Australians. When I 
arrived, the camp was under canvas and the huts for the patients 
and the Sisters' quarters were being built. My staff was 
increased daily by twos and threes until it reached its full 
number, 35. While we were still under canvas, we had the honour 
of entertaining the Matron-in-Chief A.I.F. and the Matron-in- 
Chief B.E.F. Fortunately for them they came the night they 
did, as two nights after we were blown out. At one o'clock in 
the morning the first tent came down and then by morning 3 or 
4 others were down and the remainder were in such as state that 
they could not be used. The Sisters' huts were the first huts 
to be completed at the hospital, the sisters always being 
considered next to the patients, patients first, nursing sisters 
next, and that was the general thing throughout the whole time 
I was with the 38th Stationary Hospital. Although the Sisters' 
huts were not quite completed, the O.C. instructed that we 
should move into them, which we did, going right through the mud 
which frequently came over the top of our gum boots. With care 
the patients' marquees were kept over them. When the moon began 
to get bright, the boche would come over every night and we had 
as many as ten nights in succession. At first we had no 
protection at all and the Sisters would make dug-outs for 
themselves by getting under their beds and putting all their 
trunks on top, but afterwards beautiful dug-outs were built. 
Just as they were completed, the unit was ordered to be ready 
to move in 48 hours. Evidently the luck was on our side, 
because very shortly after we left a bomb fell almost on the 
Sisters' dug-out and blew one end of it out. The whole unit was 
ready to move and as it was undecided where we were to go we 
were given leave from 4th November to 15th November 1917 and 
then were called suddenly back to France to proceed to Italy 
and we went down on a hospital train which took 60 English 
V.A.D's and Sisters, and I being the only Matron was put in 
charge of the lot. The only causality that occurred on the journey 
was the loss of one V.A.D. She disappeared. By a strange 
coincidence her name was 'Bolter'. As the staff on the train 
down received no instructions until 4 o'clock and we were to 
board the train at 6, they had made no preparations at all. 
After reporting at Boulogne from England a mistake was made as 
regards myself and the Matron-in-Chief's orders were that I should 
proceed by car to Abbeville, instead of which, I was sent by car 
to Calais and then had to report on the 11.6 train back to 
Abbeville. The trip on the train to Italy was interesting and we 
arrived at Genoa on Monday at 8 o'clock and were taken to the 
hospital, Corso Torino. The hospital was a large boys school and 
its owner was Christopholo Colombo. We were all accommodated in 
this hospital, the nurses, the personnel of the hospital, about 
50 R.E's. who were doing repairs and alterations. At night it 
was almost impossible to walk about as the man was sleeping 
along the corridoors. The after we arrived we received our 
first equipment belonging to the Italian Medical Services, our 
own equipment had not arrived. The patients were English tommies

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Here again the Sisters were the first to be considered. 
They were the first people to be billeted. We stayed in one 
of the principal streets, we had our own kitchen and mess 
rooms and our own English servants - it was a mile and a 
quarter from the hospital and transport was provided, and 
with a few exceptions, the Sisters never had to walk to and 
from the hospital. It was the Imperial Hotel which was 
beautifully furnished, and a portion of it had been commandeered 
by the Government. We finally got settled at the hospital 
after we had got the Italian equipment out and our own in, 
which was quite a work of art. We got up 520 beds and after 
we had been there three months, we really thought we had the 
best hospital in Genoa, under the management of our excellent 
O.C., who was an R.A.M.C. regular of 20 years services and the 
whole thing went just like clockwork. 

On two occasions I was asked to send Australian Nurses to the 
forward B.C.C.S's. and whilst there one was awarded the A.R.R.C. 
All the patients were English boys, either wounded or sick, 
sometimes we were busy, sometimes not. We had a very bad 
time of the Influenza in January and again towards the end of 
the year, in November. 

After the Armistice was signed, we took in about 250 Austrians. 
They were very good boys and gave us no trouble. 
As one marked thing, practically the whole time we were at 
Genoa, a year and 2 months, not once did I have a complaint 
from the Sisters about the patients and only on one or two 
occasions was there any trouble between the Sisters and the 
Orderlies. The whole of the personnel tried to do their very 
best to help each other. 

The staff in their spare time had a great deal to interest them 
in the way of climbing mountains, walks, visiting the various 
places of interest around the town, which is a wonderful place. 
After the Armistice was signed, leave was given for the Sisters 
who wished to visit Rome and all the principal towns of Italy, 
about 25 availed themselves of this great privilege. Apart 
from the 35 Australian Sisters, I had 5 English V.A.D's. sent 
by Miss McCarthy and I have nothing but good to say of them. 
About a fortnight after the Armistice was signed, when the work 
was lessening, the Sisters gave the Officers a dinner and then 
the Officers gave the Sisters a dinner. They were both most enjoyable. 

On the 23rd December, our last patients were sent away and we 
felt as if we were a ship without a rudder. They were most 
excellent patients, so appreciative of everything that was done 
for them and they thought there was noone like the Australian 
Sisters. When the boys passed from the Convalescent Camp, 
past the hospital, they always used to cheer us. 

On the 3rd January 1919, the D.M.S. and A.D.M.S. Italy gave a 
large dance to all the nurses in the No. 11 General Hospital, 
which was then empty, there were about 500 guests present. 
On the 15th January, the first half of the unit left Genoa 
and on the 16th the second half left and we joined at Le Havre 
and crossed the channel together. I was sent straight from 
Waterloo Station to Southall as Matron and my staff to No. 3 
A.A.H., Dartford. No. 2 A.A.H. Southall is a hospital for 
Australian soldiers, but a great number have now been sent 
home and the others expect to go shortly. 

The Sisters' work was absolutely excellent at all times. 
As our Adjutant writing to me after we had left said, he 
thought he knew a lot about Nurses but he never found a staff 
so excellent at work and jovial at play as the Australian 
Sisters at 38th Stationary.