Nurses Narratives Agnes Katherine Isambert (part 2)

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their money - I felt very hurt as not one of the others
raised a dissenting voice & I, meeting one of the Chaplains
told him of it, some men were sitting nearby who said
'Yes' it was quite true that the men in the decks thought
it was thru me that they were not paid. How they came
to that conclusion, I don't know & later forget all about it.
at all other times we all have been treated with the
greatest courtesy by all ranks, no digger however
drunk, whether met in the streets of Australia or elsewhere
will ever treat a Sister in any way than that
of great respect. Officers have on all troopships on
which fresh fruit cannot be got for the men, except at
ports & this means every ship, very kindly helped
me by filling their pockets with that luxury, also
nuts & cakes if any are provided, often doing without
themselves to carry it away from saloon tables. Even
the D.C. of some ships have lent me this assistance, but the
Senior Medical Officers were never guilty of it. If officers
requiring dressings came late to the Dressing Stations
to have it done, they knew if their pockets were filled
the would be let off lightly.
The men get a great deal of stew on board ship, served
up as beef steak pie, irish stew etc, even chops for breakfast 
is more often stewed than fried & rabbit is always
stewed, so it is not to be wondered at that they get

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tired of it & of the dried prunes & apricots so often
supplied them, but on some ships on which I had access
to the galleys, I saw very nice roasts of beef & legs of
mutton cooked for them & I must confess I heard
just as many complaints on these ships as I did
on others where I could not get to the galleys & saw see
what they got.
Except on three occasions there was no ship doctor on board & we
were called upon to attend the seamen & other ranks who became
ill. They always proved tractable & grateful for what was done
for them.
I must not finish without first giving thanks to the various
Ships Captains & officers with whom we came in contact with
for their ever ready help in improvising wards & necessary
conveniences & in making as far as lay in their powers things
that rendered our work on board ship much easier.
I am enclosing a snapshot of the Marathon on which we were
travelling which left Sydney in May 1917. This snapshot was
taken from one of other ships in the convoy. The hospital as
before stated is situated over the propellers & you can imagine
when looking at it, what the patients felt like & what it is
like to attend to the sick under these conditions & then say as
many do, that transport duty is easy.
As I write many things come to my memory, whether useful or
not to you I cannot say, but trust that a good deal of it will

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be what you require.
In speaking of the Sisters, I have omitted to mention about uniform.
In the tropics, I have always allowed them to go on duty without
their capes, but always insisted that they should be worn at dinner
& that when going out they should be properly dressed in their
outdoor dress. With my permanent staff I have had no trouble
but with Sisters attached for duty or returning as invalids have had
at times a good deal, mostly thru the wearing of white blouses with low
necks under their coats. This abuse of the wearing of uniform & the
getting them made in various styles, I have noticed, in England &
Australia a great deal, even the most strict Matron cannot stop
it, as they wear fronts over the blouses until out of sight &
then again many carry pretty mufti frocks out in small suit
cases & change into them at the large Railway Stations.
I think it would be better if the Sisters were allowed to wear mufti
if they choose going out on ordinary occasions, but that it should
be made compulsory to wear uniform properly at on all special
occasions, a severe punishment, such as fines being inflicted if found
on these special occasions to be not properly dressed in uniform.
I remember one Sister leaving the Steamer at Melbourne with a
low neck dress & turn down collar, in spite of the fact that she
had been spoken to by Misses Conifers & Richardson Matrons in 
Chief, Miss Hill, Principal Matron & myself.
While doing Transport duty one's shore leave or holidays is
very erratic. We have arrived in England after over a 9 weeks

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journey, to spend a weekend there, then spending back
to Australia where we had about the same kind time. In
England on all other occasions we have had one two weeks
leave, subject to recall at any time & in Australia have been
given orders as soon as we arrived that we were to be ready
to leave at a very short notice & so could not get away any
distance. This in Australia is called holidays & is deducted out of 
our Gratuity leave when being finalised.
Col Giblin told us when travelling out on the Benalla that it was
he who was responsible for sending us back from England the first time with
only a week end rest from the ship & often laughed over it.
Sometime they give us in Brisbane a weeks notice, before
leaving & on others only a few days, but on the last occasion
when the Victorian part of my staff received their orders to
proceed to Sydney for embarkation & wired me to that effect
I rang up the Principal Matron & The P.M.D's office & told them
about it. I was assured as I was on duty I would get a few days
off before I left & more of that kind of talk. This took place as late
as 11.a.m., yet the same afternoon between 4 & 5pm I was
informed by the Principal Matron, that I was leaving on Monday
morning by the mail train which leaves about 5 am & would be
relieved from duty that evening. I was enabled to leave the
hospital about 7 am. This was Saturday & on the next day
I had to go to Kangaroo Point Military Hospital for my train
& meal warrants & then to the station to book the sleepers 

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after which I returned home & had to turn around a do my
weeks washing & ironing, a kindly neighbour helping me.
This was the only occasion on which I had to book our sleepers
etc. & on this occasion I was not given a nominal roll which had
to be made up in Sydney. On other occasions the warrants etc
were given me at the P.M.N office after waiting there from
two to three hours, having arrived the at the time appointed
by them.
In the P.M.D's Office in Sydney, Mr Sanderson & others has
always shown us great courtesy & helped us  greatly in
many ways. The Pay office in Sydney was not as keen for on
one occasion when we did not get to our home port. I made
one allotment payable to the Commonwealth Bank in Brisbane
& the six months elapsed before I returned, not one penny
was paid to my account & only after repeated urgent telegrams
were sent from Brisbane, came the reply, that I had not
made any allotment. It however was entered in my paybook
& after filling in another form was paid into the Bank by
the Queensland Pay Office.
Miss Conifers in England & Miss Richardson in Melbourne
Matrons in chief always meets us at the end of our journeys, taking
a very kindly interest in all our happenings & seeing to our 
comfort & was always looked on by me as one of the bright spots
in our wanderings
I will now post this quickly lest my pen & thoughts wander on more
A. K Isambert
 

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Tho in the A.A.N.S since March 1904, I was not allowed
owing to my rank of Matron, to go with the troopships which left
Brisbane in Oct 1914, tho I was willing to sink my rank. So
my dissapointment was great. However by sinking my rank
I got away with the Staff of No 1 a.G.H. which left Brisbane on
the then hospital ship Kyarra on Nov 21^st 1914 & writing of it
now brings back with it many memories of all kinds
The Queensland compliment consisting of 9 Sisters & 16 Staff
nurses were all " Sworn in'' on Nov 15^th - much time was spent
in attending lectures etc.
We embarked at 3 pm. the ship being berthed at Petries
Bight & received a great "Send off"  by the people of Brisbane
friends were allowed on the wharf which soon became densely
packed. The Pipen band playing some cheering airs
including 'Home Sweet Home". Lady Helen Munro Ferguson
came on board & presented me as Senior Sister with a
beautiful basket of flowers another of sweets & in the mean
time the Sisters were assembled & presented to her, when
she spoke some cheering words to each of us. Wishing God
Speed & a safe return. Ribbons were thrown from our friends
as the ship was leaving & presented quite a gay appearance,
cheers given & fairwells shouted as we steamed out. none
of us appeared depressed or sad & if one friends felt so
they kept it from us until we were out of sight.
Perhaps we were too tired & excited at leaving & did not

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realise all that was to happen & the changes that were
to take place before we returned to our home land again
The of us never returned, but was laid to rest in Cairo.
after dinner fewed of us remained up any length of time &
next morning a good many were seasick & some were
suffering from the effects of vaccination had very sore
arms. Some kind ladies of Sandgate had sent on
Smelling Salts which was much appreciated by those
inclined to be seasick.
With us were Majors Jackson, McLean, Capt Foxton,
alison a.M.C. Capt Sabius Quartermaster & a number of
orderlies. We had choppy seas until we got into Sydney
when we berthed at the Orient wharf in Sy late in the
afternoon of Nov 23^rd. It was an awful wet night, in spite
of which most of the Sisters went ashore to sleep. 7 only
remaining on board. Cooking was done here & stores taken on.
Col Ramsay Smith came on board on Nov 24^th when I
met him & from that time until he left Egypt never got
over the feeling of nervousness he inspired me with.
On the following day, The New South Wales Sisters embarked 
Sister [[Stots?]] in charge, also Col Martin & other
Medical Officers. a.C.O. & more. We left Sydney the
same day at 4pm where a good send off was given, a large
crowd having assembled on the wharf. We ran into very
rough weather which caused a very serious accident in

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the early hours of the 26 three seamen were washed by the
seas breaking over the decks from the [[focastle?]] to the Saloon
deck, one received a fractured femur & a wound penetrating
into his knee joint & another had a large scalp wound &
a lacerated wound of the leg, while a third received some
minor injuries & bruises. The Queensland doctors & Sisters
were called to attend the patients, but later when everybody
was up, new South Wales doctors & Sisters took charge of affairs
a little ill feeling being caused by it. The seaman who had the
severe injuries had his knee operated on & later was put off
at Melbourne. The sea remained very rough & with high
winds until we reached Melbourne. We anchored outside
during the night & arrived at the wharf on the morning of
the 25 inst, where we remained until Dec 5^th.
All nurs Sisters were given shore leave, taking their
turn to come back & do what little duty that was required
of them. a party of about 40 consisting of N.S.W. & Queensland
Sisters went in uniform to one of the theatres. We
looked quite a gay party in our mess dresses.
The South Australians came on board about Dec 1st &
every one admired the orderly manner in which they
embarked. On Dec 5^th the Victorians & Tasmanians
embarked & later on in the day we all had to go onto the
wharf, where after remaining over an hour in the hot
sun we went back to the ship as our names were called
 

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out. We had a very quiet "send off" here, the people ob only
being allowed onto the wharf at the last minute.
We encountered rough weather & there was a lot of sea -
sickness amongst us which lasted until we reached
Fremantle on the 11 inst. Here we were dissapointed at
finding we were anchored in midstream, where coaling
was going on alnight. Some fuss was caused there about
our pay books on the morning of the 12^th, a great number
had not made any allotment & the W. a. Military officer
tried to make us do so, but we held out, acting on the
advice of some of our officers. The W.a. Sisters came away
only drawing their "Field allowance" which we then got
& which was 3/6 per day for Sisters & 2/6 per day for Staff
nurses. This since has been added to our salary & we do not
now get "Field allowance". However we got away about
11-30am & all hastened off to the Post Office, sending &
collecting wires to & from our Home Folk. after which the "Tea
Shops" were well patronised. We who were new to West
Australia thought the roads with its green trees were
very beautiful & wondered why other states did not
plant trees native to the soil on all our roads.
The Red Gum trees in Kings Park were in blossom
& made a brilliant picture. I personally thought
Perth with its gracefully winding river & fine buildings
a very pretty little city
 

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We remained here until Dec 14^th. The West Australian Sisters
in Charge of Sister Walts were on board by 12 noon, but we did
not move off until about 6pm. The delay being caused by the
firemen of the ship being absent.
We now had on board No 1 & 2  Aust Gen. Hospitals of Sisters
Officers & men, also No 1 & 2 Stationary Hosp & were a very crowded
ship, the Sisters' being crowded 3 & 4 in the small cabin, more
in larger cabins which were situated in the second saloon part
of the ship & one could not blame them if their cabins were untidy
& we felt very sorry for them when we got into the tropics.
We all felt very lonely as Australia faded from our sight, but
soon settled down to things. Sports were got up, concerts arranged
& a few lectures given. The heat began to increase & some of the
cabins were very hot indeed. We passed within sight of Cocos
Island of the Emden fame on Dec 20^th & thought it lovely to
see land & trees once again. The intenseley hot, the Sisters & officers
sports started of 21^st, when Sister Butler of Qusland won the egg &
spoon race, on this date something happened to the machinery of the
ship, in consequence of which the ship made very little progress.
Great excitement was caused or Dec 22^nd when smoke was seen
in the distance & at the same time one ship moved out of her
course - immediately rumours went the rounds of the Kyarra that
the ship sighted was that of an enemy's & that we were run
ning away from her, as if the poor old Kyarra could run away
from anything. It on proved to be a compass test on our