12 replies to this topic

[Sue Light]

Can anyone point me in the direction of an 'official' figure for the number of members of the Australian Army Nursing Service who received either class of the Royal Red Cross for work during the Great War.  By 'official' I mean any reference in a book or on the web that has been arrived at by some process of research, and considered accurate.  I'm not interested (in this context!) of Australian women who received their awards as members of QAIMNS Reserve, or other nursing service, though their might be some cross-over of course.

Sue

[BJay]

Hi Sue

According to 'The Australian Army Medical Services' by Col A G Butler, D.S.O., V.D. etc....  there were 42 R.R.C.s awarded to the Australian Army Nursing Services, A.I.F.

If that's what you are after then let me know and I will email you a copy of what I have.

Barbara

[Sue Light]

Thanks Barbara - that's fine for now.  I have my own version of the numbers, but am just having a wander around the various sources and figures to get an idea of what's out there.  That number of 42 is way out, but these variations in reporting are what I'm interested in at present for all countries, not only the Australians. The Canadians are on my agenda as well

Regards
Sue

[ForeignGong]

Hi Sue
The AWM site states RRC 46 & ARRC 135 for WW1 for Australian Army Nursing Service

Peter

[Sue Light]

Thanks Peter - that's looking good!  Maybe Barbara's figure was actually referring just to the RRCs.

Sue

[BJay]

Yes it was.

The medals are spread out over 6 military districts - which means nothing to me, but in case it helps:-

1st = 6
2nd = 15
3rd = 17
4th = 3
5th = 1
6th = 0

I've had another look now and there is 1 Bar to R.R.C. listed under 3rd Military District  and 138 A.R.R.C. listed under


1st = 16
2nd = 45
3rd = 51
4th = 13
5th = 10
6th = 3

I hope that all makes sense to you and helps

Barbara

[ForeignGong]

Hi Barbara
The 6 Districts are

1st   Queensland
2nd New South Wales
3rd   Victoria
4th   South Australia
5th Western Australia
6th Tasmania

Peter

[BJay]

That's great Peter, I'll keep a copy of that.  I don't study nurses or the Australian Army Medical Corps but the different districts are obviously worth knowing.

Thanks

Barbara

[Sue Light]

Thanks Peter.  One query that springs to mind is why are they divided into districts.  All of these women were awarded the decoration for work with the British Expeditionary Force outside of Australia, so are the districts related to their home addresses, or what else?  I know from the RRC Register that if they weren't invested by the King while in the UK, or possibly in Egypt, and had returned to Australia, then they were decorated by the Governor-General or the Governor of their individual state, so did that relate to home address as well?

Sue

[KateH]

Greetings from down under!

The military district relates to the place where the AANS nurse enlisted. Generally, nurses from Sydney NSW enlisted in 2MD (the NSW military district). However, there are quite a few nurses who were working interstate who enlisted from that state so it is possible for a NSW born and trained nurse to have enlisted in, say, 5MD (Western Australia) and her decoration would be counted against that total.

This division into military districts should be seen in the context that Federation of the six Australian states had only happened in 1901 and the military had been state based until that time; the states competed for honours thus the separate reporting (and they still do!)

There is a website that lists all RRC received by Australians - http://www.womenaust...onours/rrc.html
and
http://www.womenaust...nours/arrc.html

cheers

Kirsty

[Sue Light]

Thanks Kirsty for the explanation - and that was the web page that I've seen before but couldn't find.  I'm sitting here submerged by figures for each individual nursing service (more than 50 of them), and there are some obvious oddities when it's all down in black and white, particularly in relation to a comparison of the number of awards to Australians and Canadians relevant to the number of each who served.  I suspect that I'm seeing some bias somewhere, probably done in the name of diplomacy

Sue

[Muzz]

Is there a relative easy way to find out why they received their awards?

[Sue Light]

During the Great War there were no citations except in a tiny proportion of cases - almost all are simply given in lists in the London Gazette headed 'for services in connection with the war.'  The women were usually recommended by a senior member of the nursing staff for loyal and efficient service over a period of time and not for any individual act.  These recommendations were then passed via the Director of Medical Services to the War Office for vetting, who invariably they cut the lists down. Do you have someone in mind?  I have most, if not quite all of the London Gazette cuttings and can check.

Sue