Kathleen Adele Brennan and the Australian Army Nursing Service

Honouring the Nursing Sisters

Kathleen Adele Brennan, photograph from The National Archives of Australia

When I first started compiling the data for Global War Graves Leicester, I was surprised to find an Australian nursing sister buried in the Leicester cemetery. What was more intriguing was how she was buried with “full military honours”. This sparked some questions: Was this any special designation for nurses? What was their experience in the war, and what commemorations did they receive?

Of the twenty-five nursing sisters who died while serving with the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), all were honoured postmortem on the Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll, standard practice for any Australian who died for the war effort. While it was unclear whether all nurses were “buried with full military honours”, this designation was awarded to a number of nurses who perished under various conditions: Nellie Spindler, a Yorkshire nurse, died by shellfire at Passchendaele; Audrey Heritage was reported to have “remained on duty when so many were stricken” before contracting disease herself; Louisa Bicknell, like Kathleen Adele Brennan and Audrey Heritage, died from illness incurred during her service. Such commemoration reflects the committed service of the nursing sisters, which is sometimes relegated to the background in narratives of the war. 

AANS: International Operations and Challenges

1934 picture of a group of Australian nurses who served in the Gallipoli campaign, photograph from the Australian War Memorial

However, similar means of commemoration for nurses and soldiers does not reveal the whole story, in particular nurses’ varied experiences. For instance, the AANS went through unique challenges that stemmed not only from their inexperience but also from new conditions brought on by the war, such as trench fever (transmitted by lice in the trenches), previously unseen wounds from new developments in artillery, and severe psychological trauma.

Additionally, the AANS--truly global in their deployment--faced challenging climatic conditions in the different geographic regions in which they operated. In Gallipoli, for instance, there were shortages of food, little protection from the cold and frequent gales. Often, there were not enough nurses; at the No. 2 Australian Stationary, there were 25 nurses for 840 patients days after the arrival of the AANS. As a member of the AANS dispatched to Gallipoli, Sister Nellie Morrice further suggested that officers deemed the AANS inexperienced and their presence unnecessary in spite of the obvious demand for medical aid. Furthermore, in India, where there was a sizable population of 320 AANS members by 1918, climate conditions proved to be near fatal as nurses treated foreign diseases in temperatures that peaked at 51 degrees Celsius.

The Australian Army Nursing Service truly had a global reach, engaged in almost every theatre of the First World War. Nursing was a challenging, sometimes fatal endeavour. Today, the sacrifices of the AANS are honoured in cemeteries all over the world; cemeteries like Leicester’s at Welford Road.

- Enshia

Sources

Butler, Janet. “Nursing Gallipoli: Identity and the Challenge of Experience.” Journal of Australian Studies, vol. 27, no. 78, 2003, pp. 47–57., doi:10.1080/14443050309387870. 

Hamilton, Robyn. “First Death of an Australian Nurse.” Queenslands World War 1 Centenary, blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/ww1/2015/06/29/first-death-of-an-australian-nurse/. 

Wadman, Ashleigh. “Nursing for the British Raj.” Australian War Memorial, 28 Oct. 2014, www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/nursing-british-raj. 

Williams, Shirley. “World War One: The Many Battles Faced by WW1's Nurses.” BBC News, BBC, 2 Apr. 2014, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26838077. 

Wynn, Stephen, and Tanya Wynn. Women in the Great War. Pen & Sword Military, an Imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2017.