Researching Nurses

Australian women could only serve overseas if they joined the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS).  In NSW 513 women (out of 2861 women nationally) enlisted.[1]  Another 129 Australian nurses served in Queen Alexandria’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, a British nursing unit that recruited from around the Empire.  During World War One Australian nurses served in Egypt, Lemnos, England, France, Belgium, Greece, Salonika, Palestine, Mesopotamia and India.

AANS Service records

Nursing service records are available through the NAA Mapping our Anzacs website.  Name search their index or consult the list of Doctors and Nurses.   These service records have been digitised.

Australian War Memorial records

Nurses who served in the AANS should also be listed in First World War Nominal Roll and First World War Embarkation Roll.

QAIMNS Service records

These records can be accessed through the UK National Archives website.  More details about nurses and nursing in the First World War and a history of the QAIMNS can be found on their website.

Other records

A Land Fit for Heroes? website includes the soldier settler story of Nellie Laffin (nee Pike), a Staff Nurse whoe served with the 3rd AGH and 1st AAH AANS.

State Library NSW holds over 500 World War One diaries and letters.  Many of the diaries have been transcribed so that you can more easily read the handwritten entries.

References

[1] New South Wales and the Great War 1914 to 1918: A Report commissioned by the New
South Wales Centenary of Anzac Commemoration Committee, Brad Manera, 2011, p.8.

Related

• Researching NSW Soldiers and Nurses who died