Diary of Alice Ross-King, 1915 - Part 5

114
April  24 SATURDAY [114-251]  4th Month 1915

Been on Emergency duty  
all day. a note from
 x under the carpet this a.m. 
We have a little post office 
Its the 3^rd step under the carpet 
on the stairs. Its a great way 
of  communication. He Is going 
a little bit too fast though - 
Or else it is that I don't 
like him enough to be playmates.  
Sent to med 9.1
this afternoon just to help. 
Ed. Watts on by herself & 
13 admissions. All very 
sick. One of them turned 
out to be measles & had
to be transferred at once 
& a couple of them pneumonia
& one ? small pox.
no news of Frank yet. 
Poor little Claire Green 
has lost her mother. It's
very terrible - after getting 
the cable announcing the 
death letters from the 
mother still kept coming 
to hand. Miss Bell was 
such a brute to her. Wd 
not give her anytime off duty
altho she had a nurse to 
spare & went round frowning 
at her. Miss B. is intolerable I

115
1915 30 Days  25 Sunday—3 aft Easter [115-250] April
St. Mark, Evan.

Still on Emergency. Off this afternoon.  
Went with Kendal Wilson,
Dalrymple, Buttles, Watt, O'Dwyer 
& Craig out to Helliwyn at the
invitation of the 2^nd Light Horse 
Officers. We Charle requisitioned 
of a Motor ambulance. The drive is 
beautiful - 23 miles from Heliopolis.
For a long distance one goes along 
the Nile. Out through old Cairo
& Maadi. Then to Hellios which 
is right out in the desert & is
built round some sulphur 
springs. The road is beautiful 
The Light H were only on Treck 
there for 3 days. There were about 
18 men of the mess. We had tea 
at the big Paleace Hotel there 
Then went down to the lines to 
see the beautiful horses. I struck 
a man who seemed very interesting 
has been a pearlshell fisher in 
the Queensland waters for 
some time & been through the Boer 
War. He hung on to me rather - is 
going to take me out riding. Brought 
us into town & to the amusement 
of others asked me to go to picture 
show in front of them all. Then 
took Watt & I off to Coffee on 
the Hotel Piazza. Is anxious to 
call as soon as they return to Heliopolis 

116
April 26 MONDAY (116-249)  4th Month 1915

On Emergency all day. 
Nothing special doing. 
australian mail in - 
nothing for me except
an argus.
Met X on the Roof. 
Kissed him but did not 
mean to do it. Wont let 
him do it again.
200 left for aust. 
this a.m. Invalided 
home. 

117
1915 30 Days 27. TUESDAY (1I7-248) April 

Emergency all the morning. 
Went into town - bought a 
few necessaries & had 
my hair shampooed. 
Visited Miss Clinch for 
Supper. Met there a Ceylon 
planter aged about 21 engaged
to a missionary girl of 25.
a very nice girl & boy.
Had prayers & some 
beautiful singing. But 
the place was too full of
fleas to enjoy anything. 
These missionary folk 
teach the native children 
English & the Bible in 
the day time & the kids 
evidently leave their little 
fleas behind. There is 
a Miss Kent who is nurse 
to the Children of Mr 
Swan. She has a beautiful 
contralto voice. Dont 
like the girl much. 
When ever we go out we 
hear such a lot of the 
evil doings of the Australians.  
People are so rude 
I think. Came back 
to find that all leave 
is stopped tomorrow.
Sick coming in from 
Lemnos.  

[*In war time There is a steady flow of admission 
wounded & sick. Staff is sufficient to cope with 
this. The staff have regular hours of duty & 
recreation. During Battle rushes everyone works.*]
118
April 28 WEDNESDAY (118-247)  4th Month 1915

It is 10 days since I touched 
this book. What days!
200 sick from Lemnos came 
in on this Wednesday & very 
sick they were. I was not 
put on duty that night.
On Thursday midday I was 
ordered to Luna Park to set 
up a Convalescent Stations. 
Sister Heath to be in Charge 
then myself & 2 staff nurses 
for day & two for night duty. 
They were S. Nicolls, Jess Thomas 
& M Leach. The last two on [[high?]]
duty. We arrived there (3 of 
us) to find the skating rink 
with 500 arab beds in it 
- quite unfurnished. The 
arab beds are made of cane
 & cost only 7pt - each. (1/4) 
They are exactly like chicken 
coops & are terrible things 
to sweep & clean under. 
The skating rink has a 
wide balcony gallery around 
it & this too was filled 
with these beds. Capt. 
cker was to be officer
 

119
1915 30 Days 29 THURSDAY (119-246) April
2h 19m P.M. (Greenwich)

later before I 
finish work. But he is always very 
nice to me in every way.
Well we Sisters arrived about 
2.30 P.M. & the patients started
to arrive at the same time. Med
went up stairs to Sister Nicols. Surgical 
on the ground floor. by 4.30 
we had 300 patients. They were 
all convalocient from the Palace 
a great number of them were stretcher
cases & some had only been 
operated on a few days previously
The work of getting their beds 

120
April 30 FRIDAY (120 -245] 4th Month 1915

made & assigned - keeping 
their diet sheets etc was almost 
overpowering. at 4.30 
wounded commenced to arrive.
I shall never forget the 
shock when we saw the men 
arrive covered in blood 
most of them with half their 
uniform shot or torn away.
We found then that 700 
badly wounded had arrived 
all the cases who could 
walk were sent down to 
us. by night we had over 
500 patients & only 3 
nurses & two orderlies to 
cope with the work. The 
meals had to be got & the 
wounded were clamouring 
to be dressed. They had been 
wounded on Sunday & 
had not been dressed since.
We had no guard to keep 
order - the arabs were 
crowding round the door & 
when tea time came the 
men rushed the barriers 
& those who were strongest 
got the most tea. It was 
a wild beast show. Men 
went to bed with out 
any nourishment at all

121
1915 31 Days  1 SATURDAY (121-244)  May

SS. Philip and James.
Holiday, Stock Exchange

We had a new Corporal in 
charge of the Orderly work 
who had only arrived with 
reinforcements the day before,
& was quite new to Egypt 
& the work. He could not 
keep control either of the 
Arabs or the men. none 
of the men got dressed that 
night. There was no 
pause in the admissions,
they kept coming in 7 at 
a time  Soon all our beds 
were full & new ones were 
being brought in & put in 
every available corner. There 
was no pack store & the men 
had to put their kits under 
the beds. Most of the kits were 
covered & stiff with blood & 
were crawling with lice.
The wounded had not had 
baths for 6 weeks. We only 
had provision for bathing 
them 3 at a time. Our order
lies worked like slaves 
& the new Corporal worked 
too but was quite unable 
to meet with the rush. We 
could get very little help out 
of the convalacient patients 
they were too keen on 

122
May 2 Sunday—4 aft Easter (122-243] 5th Month 1915

hearing the war news from the 
wounded. This is still Thursdays
doings. On Friday morning 
we arrived to find the place 
in a turmoil. They had 
rushed the food at breakfast 
time & the temper of the wd 
was very ugly. The men 
were hanging out on the 
street buying from the natives.
Capt Flecker  quite useless
& the  out of

Senior Officer 
Maj Brown

duty men & sorted out the 
diets & got a grip of things 
generally. Soon the ward 
began to have some order.
He discharged 300 patients to Conval-
acient Camp. By this time we had 
780 patients. all pretty sick. and 
the place had become an overflow Hospital 

123
1915 31 Days 3 MONDAY (123 -242) May
Bank Holiday, Scotland.
Royal Academy opens 

instead of a convalacient station. That Friday 
I worked from 9 a.m. until 5.30 at nothing 
else but dressings. Sister Heath admin-
strated in general & D. Nicols looked 
after med cases up stairs. I made love to
6 decent boys in the wd & got them helping 
me. two went ahead & undid bandages etc 
4 bandaged the cases after I had dressed
them. I must have done 400 dressings 
that day, no pause for refreshments.
These wounded men had been injured during 
the landing, now on Friday night others 
who had been on land since from Sunday 
untill Tuesday arrived. amongst them 
some of the 13^th men. I can get no news
of Frank. I'm longing & longing to know
about him too. We are all suffering from 
shock. The wounds are terrible. The 
boys are such bricks about it too.
They tell terrible tales of the cruelty of 
the Turks.  a  party was found and a 
 
I'm praying for him & praying for him. 
On Saturday Capt. X brought along 
5 regimental Doctors from the light 
Horse lines. They did dressings
with me all day. I made 4 dressing 
stations. Furnished each
with one Dr. & two bandagers 
& I worked myself at another 
station. We got through 800 
dressings - attended to them properly 
extracted a few bullets. Some of 

124
May 4 TUESDAY (124-241)  5th Month 1915

injuries will mean amputation of the 
limbs most wounds fly blown Some of the Light Horse boys 
came along in their time off & 
lent a hand. Two in particular gave
up their whole days to making 
beds & helping me generally. They
were invaluable. By this time we 
had really very ill cases. We 
could not nurse them. They were 
lying there in misery & some so 
weak & miserable the tears were 
flowing. The flies swarmed 
over them & the heat was suffocating 
& we could not get enough food 
for them. I went to bed heartbroken. 
Cases that were operated on that 
day had been sent down there.
Terribly ill they were & we could 
not get near them. Next day 23
Australian nurses who were on                      
their way to Suez England were intercepted
at Suez & brought to Luna. It 
took them a little time to get 
their bearings. They received 
a shock when they saw the lice 
etc. about the lads & found that 
we had to use the same pajama
& sheets a second time for the 
men. But they duffed in well 
& soon got things a bit better.
That Monday afternoon we army 
Sisters were recalled to the 
Palace. Leaving Luna Park to Capt. 
"X" & the 23 new nurses.
 

Picric Acid dressings
125
1915 31 Days 5 WEDNESDAY (125-240) May 

In 4 days we had put through over 
1000 patients. It was chaos but
that we were able to do it at all 
was wonderful. The administration,
after the first Two days, was 
good. Every body got a certain amt
of food. all had their dressings 
done & their bed made & a wash. 
a few got special treatment. We  
left Luna Park with 1200 equipped  
beds. We had gone to it quite bare 
4 days previously. We had to cope  
with the arabs, the flies, the heat, &  
the armed Guard who wd not do  
their duty well. We were working  
long hours without even time for  
lunch in the morning or afternoon  
tea & we were very exhausted on  
our return to the Palace. We got back  
there at 2 P.M. & I was sent straight  
to Surgical 10. They have terrible cases  
in the main Hospital. Legs & arms 
off. One man in 10 with his jaw &  
part of neck blown away - they have
to nasal feed him. Many amputations 
great big [slughing?] wounds. I was 
in 10 Monday afternoon & Tuesday  
morning. Tuesday midday went to  
a.I They have all wounded there,  
altho it is medical wds. 3 head cases  
going to die. Two spinal cases - without  
a hope. Such numbers of the men have  
injured backs. & such lots of the cases  
have cerebral abscesses. Oh they  
are bonny boys too some of them.
There is an Officers wd subjoined
 

126
May  6 THURSDAY (126-239) 5th Month 1915
King's Accession, 1910.
Waxing Gibbous 5h 23m A.M. (Greenwich)   

to "ai" These officers are disgusting.  
They will not attempt to do a thing  
for themselves altho only slightly  
injured. In the general officers
wds the boys are bricks. But  
these 3 are behaving very badly.
One is a new Zealander. Wednesday
I was put on the theatre  
staff. Where I still am. Baker  
has broken down with the stress.  
& I am taking her place. When  
told to go to the theatre I  
nearly fell down. In the reg
wds the Sisters have been working
hard but have been getting  
some time off each day &  
their regular meals. I had 
not. and the strain of going  
to new wds. each day had  
nearly knocked me out. Duglas
is in charge of the theatre.
She is a Melb. Hosp. girl. a  
capable nurse & a fine woman 
She saw what was up & packed  
me off duty for 6 hrs. I could  
not look or speak to anybody  
without crying.       Four of  
us are running the theatre.  
Sisters andrews, Kendall &
myself - We do a 15 hr duty  
each. My run is from 3 P.M.  
until 6 A.M. That leaves 3 of
  
127
1915 31 Days  7 FRIDAY [127-238)  May 
  
us always in the theatre except  
after 9 P.M. (I want to remember how these  
hrs. are worked. Ken is staff nurse -  
she comes on from am untill 9 pm.  
Douglas from 9a.m. untill 12 p.m. 
andrews, from 12 midday untill  3 a.m.  
I am from 3p.m. untill 6 a.m.)
Ops are mostly done in the afternoon & night  
we have 3 tables going at once.
We each take our own ops complete.  
The wd sister does not come into the theatre 
Estelle Keogh's brother is one of the theatre  
orderlies at present. Capt.Flecker is  
anaesthetist. McLean principal Surgeon
Capt Sutherland 2^nd Tait 3^rd Colonel  
Downes does the officers.
Friday we had a big day. Every surgeon  
in the place had a go. Capt Buchanales  
from queensland. Tait made an  
awful mess of a couple of cases. 3 
cases we had to give intravenous  
on the table to. Two of them died.  
Capt [[Inna?]] Muirhead is off to the  
Dardenelles. The light horse are  
being dismounted & sent as  
Infantry. Saddlier came round  
to say Good bye. He is funking  
it badly. Hinton also came round  
wanted me to go out with him. I have  
no time for affairs of that sort just  
now. a train load of 90 wounded 
arrived last Frid night. We were op untill
1 a.m.
 

128
May  8 SATURDAY (128-237)  5th Month 1915  
  
Received a card from Frank  
today. It is only an army Service  
Card dated 19^th April. anything  
might have happened since.
13 operations today. One arm  
amputated. Young Tate is  
doing a great deal of work  
but I'm afraid some of it  
should be better done. The
new arrivals tell us that  
the Australians cannot make  
much headway because  
they have not got enough  
men but that they will  
not give back an inch.  
Meet X on the roof each  
night & we yarn over  
the days work. He is al-
ways very gentle & nice  
to me. I have never  
had a middle aged man  
Friend before. It's restful.  
Mayor McLean & Cap Sutherland
are both side tracked  
with septic fingers - It's  
giving the younger men a  
show. Capt Singles is  
doing a bit of work.
The Light Horse went away  
tonight on foot. The  
Arabs here are getting very  
cheeky since the troops went 
 

Just heard that Capt. Hore has volunteered as a private & gone        
with the Infantry. He was Capt. in a D.C but could not bear      
to be left behind

129 
1915 31 Days 9 Rogation Sunday (129-236) May
Proclamation, King George V.
Half Quarter Day 

Fresh arrival of wounded  
tonight. I got to bed after a  
trying day at 10.30 p.m. was  
hauled out for an immediate at   
1.30 getting to bed again at 4  a.m.  
The case was a very bad arm -  
beginning to gangrene. We got the bullet 
& drained with over 20 incisions.  
Capt Forbes operated. I like his  
work. Tait went in after a torn Brachia 
in the afternoon. He lets the patient  
haemorrhage far too much & has  
already lost a few cases which shd 
have been saved. These men brt 
in last night have been 8 days fighting  
The say the aust:  are being driven back 
we are only 4 miles in. The British &  
French are driving The Turks on to the  
Australians. One boy was wounded  
on Sunday and lay on the Battlefield untill  
Wednesday amongst the dead before  
being picked up. They saw Turks come  
round & kill wounded. Our men are  
fighting well but lack discipline - In  
the first rush they were ordered to take  
4 trenches from the Turks. They  
took the 4 & then went on taking them  
the consequence was that in the 12th trench  
a bomb from the Queen Elizabeth fell -  
killed about 100 of them. Of course they  
were not able to hold all the trenches taken  
& were driven back with great loss. The men  
say they can see the Germans forcing the Turks [[?]].
 

130
May 10 MONDAY (130-235)  5th Month 1915
Rogation Day        
    
I went on early today. 12 ops between  
2 p.m. & 7 o.c.  Got to bed about
11.30 & hauled out for an  
arm amputation at 12 p.m.  
Capt Sutherland operated. In  
the afternoon Prof Watson  
attempted to tie the Carotid of  
a chap with a broken neck  
but he died the same day.  
about 90 wounded [adm?] 
last night. They tell a more  
cheerful story as far as  
progress is concerned. It  
seems that the Australians are  
well entrenched. a Leut  
Mathews went mad with  
the horrors of it all. He jumped  
up shouting & immediately  
was killed by the Turks.  
It seems that Mathews had  
a friend in a Major.  a Party  
of Turks dressed like  
Aust. officers came up &  
asked if there was  
a Colonel or a Major present  
That he was wanted for some  
orders close to. This unsuspect-
ing Major went out & the  
turks strangled him.  
They say that the dead from  
the first battle are still  
unburied. 

131
1915 31 Days 11 TUESDAY (131-234) May
Rogation Day 
  
Went into Cairo yesterday a.M. met  
Sergeant Elliot the quartermaster's
assistant accidently. He came  
in with me. He is an American who  
came to Melb. with the J. C. Williamson  
revival & was on the stage with
Oscar ache. Rather an interesting  
boy to talk to but rather [[com?]]. has
a nice appearance & a little motor 
car. Heard from a man of the 13^th  
that Frank was alright a week  
ago. Crow is wounded & brought  
up here some where. The Sultan  
has given a palace as Helhom  
for the use of Conval. Soldiers.  
His quartermaster has been sent  
over to it. 20 of our own Boys  
& 120 wounded Tommies were  
brought in last night. The English  
soldier is a very poor class. all  
our men are mad to get back  
to the fighting again - but one  
never hears the Tommy say  
so.  I was terribly tired  
tonight.  
Got a Couple of papers  
from Melb.
 

132
May  12 WEDNESDAY (132-233) 5th Month 1915
Rogation Day 
  
Mail day - Only one short  
letter from mother & one 
from Jim Thwaites. We  
had 13 ops before 1 P.M. &  
3 in the afternoon. Two  
train loads of Tommies  
about 400 in all came in  
yesterday. Some of them very  
badly injured. They are so  
different to our men & do  
not bear pain well at all.  
a crowd of orderlies  
have volunteered from the  
army Service Corps. This  
will make our work  
much easier  .  I hear  
that Lieut Barton is [adm?]  
to Hospital   .   I'm dying  
to go & find out some  
news of Frank but  
can scarcely screw up  
my courage into doing  
so.
 

133
1915 31 Days  13 THURSDAY [133-232) May
Ascension Day 
  
The Sultan visited hospitals  
this a.m. I did not get up  
to see him. They say he can  
not speak English at all  
but seemed very pleased  
with everything. The Generals  
who were to escort him round  
were late & the poor old  
Sultan sat in The Patients 
lounge with his own 
court waiting for quite 
20 minutes. I went down  
& saw Lieut Barton. He 
is a nice boy & seemed  
pleased to see me. He  
was very nervous.  
He said that Frank  
is all right but that  
Crow was killed. But  
somehow I don't think Crow  
is dead. He states that  
17 out of the 32 officers of the  
13^th are dea wounded or  
missing. My little  
minutes with X at the  
end of the day are very  
pleasant.     We sit on the  
roof under the great big  
stars in the lovely cool  
night.       He is a dear  
restful middle aged thing,  
& I think I can trust him.

134
May  14 FRIDAY (134-231) 5th Month 1915
3h 3lm A.M. (Greenwich) 
  
I went into Cairo with S. Andrews  
this a.m. It is very hot today.
Called at the Australian Base  
Depot to find out list of wounded. 
They say it is impossible  
yet. We were treated very  
graciously. The Major in charge  
taking us into his private  
office & making a great fuss
of us. He says that the  
Australians are doing 
wonderful work & it is  
only later when the History  
of the war is written that  
we shall know what they  
are doing.
We did a very big Lamanectomy  
this afternoon. Capt. Sutherland
operating with Claude assisting  
The man was awfully bad, bleeding  
from nose all the time. Capt S 
found the leision but nothing  
could be done.   There are  
1400 patients at Luna Park.  
22 nurses from our staff were  
asked for Alexandria - X  
was very keen on getting me  
back to Luna. I'd like to  
go too. Don't know yet if  
the 22 are to be sent to a 
though. The heat is very  
great to day. 
 

135
1915 31 Days 15 SATURDAY (135-230) May
Scottish Quarter Day (Whitsunday) 
  
On Saturday nothing in particular 
happened.  Dr. Golstien  
who used to play tennis at  
Austin with Kelloway & others  
arrived as reinforcement. 
He did not recognize me.  
The 22 nurses are not being  
sent to Alexandria. Had a nice  
chat in the evening with X. He  
is fearfully tired. He had been  
hauled out of bed the night before  
because the Guard at Luna was  
drunk & had to be placed  
under arrest did not get back 
until 1.30 a.m.    On Sunday  
I changed hours with Ken  
& went on duty in the a.m  
untill 2 in the afternoon  
so as to go out with Capt Sabine.
He is always very nice to me  
& told me I could bring  
a friend - so I took Paton -
Chiefly because I don't like her  
very much we met Capt
Sabine at 3.30 p.m. It had 
to be out side as Officers & Sisters  
on the staff are not supposed to  
go out together. an Egyptian  
Gentleman - an educated nice  
man joined the party. It was  
his motor car we used & he was  
able to show us round far  
better than we could have seen
 

The Zoo Gardens made by the Father of the last [[Kashir?]]  
who had over 100 ladies in his Harem there.
136
May 16 Sunday aft Ascension (136-229) 5th Month 1915 

for ourselves. It. was so restful  
& cool in the big motor. We drove
along the beautiful roads & got  
to the zoo about 4.30 went round  
it & took some snaps. Had afternoon  
tea at a beautiful spot under big  
trees in the middle of the Lake. Our  
Egyptian telling us bits of history of  
the place all the time. We saw the Black  
Pipers. They are boys from the Conservatorium 
of Music who earn enough  
for their musical education by  
forming a band of Bag Pipers  
& playing in parks etc. on Holidays  
they are all native Egyptians, some of  
them high Class lads but poor. after  
the Zoo we went to old Cairo. Saw the Coptic Church 
& Museum 1400 years old & went over the  
old palace where the ancient King used  
to sit & watch the Caravans come 
into Egypt. Old Cairo is almost  
buried - in fact holes are dug in the earth  
showing the top of the doorways of  
the ground floors of the old houses.  
The pallace itself was built on  
a hill like the Citadel & the only road  
into Cairo passed below it - but now its  
main door can be seen some 15ft  
below the level of the outside Cairo.  
afterwards we drove along the Nile Markets.  
Kitchner made this market. The Fellaheen 
sends his grain down in big sailing boat,  
all stored loose on the floor of boat not  
in bags at all - These boats tie up at what  
used to be a slippery bank where the
 

137 
1915 31 Days  17 MONDAY [137-228) May 

buyer was totally at the mercy of the merchantman  
but which is now properly tiled & has Government
weighing scales at intervals of  
about 15 ft apart all along the Bank. This  
goes on for about 3 miles along the nile  
The fellaheen arrives with his boat-load of 
grain & puts across a little landing board  
& he stays there untill all his grain is sold 
sometimes he stays there 12 months - & he  
can sell his grain by the bushel or pound if  
he likes - no Tax is on him for the river  
frontage - that is borne by the Council.  
In days before Kitchner the uneducated Fellaheen  
had to sell his grain to the big merchant-
man because he had no other way of disposing 
of it - & the merchant robbed The  
Fellaheen & then held back the grain & made  
the civilians pay through the neck for it.  
The evening finished with a very nice
Table de Hote at Sault where we had the  
nicest ice cream I have ever tasted.  
Must not forget the old Cairo fleas. I caught  
dozens of them after my return. Saw 4 at  
one time walking on the outside of my  
white dress & loads of them all over my  
white stockings.
  
We had a death in theatre  
Monday afternoon - man 
named Binning -  
nearest of Kin South aust. 
Had hemorrhage 
Major McLean operated. 
The lamenectomy died  
to day also.