Australian Nurses in World War 1
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KAIGHIN, Beryl Magnay

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Born 1890 in Victoria
Daughter of William henry KAIGHIN and Amy Jefferson nee MAGNAY
Married Tom BASSETT
Died 12 June 1976 in New Zealand

Now Mrs. Tom Bassett, and a resident of New Zealand, was a graduate of the Melbourne High School.  She 
then became a junior teacher, and an instructress in cookery at various metropolitan schools, at Benalla, 
and at  Hamilton.  She obtained leave to go with the AIF on the 15th August, 1917 and was appointed by 
the Red Cross Central Council to the charge of the Red Cross Kitchen at No 14 Australian General Hospital, 
Cairo, and afterwards at Port Said.   She returned in December 1918 with an excellent record o f service.  
Her care and skill had largely contributed to the comfort of wounded and sick Australians in Egypt.  She is a daughter of the late William H Kaighin, formerly head teacher at Oxely, Victoria.

Education Department Records of War Service of Victorians

MISS BERYL KAIGHIN, only daughter of Mrs W. H. Kaighin, formerly of Wandiligong, who is in charge of a cooking station with the A.I.F. in Palestine, writing to Mrs J. Duncan, of Wandilieoug, states that on one occasion,"Trooper M. J. Brogan, of Bright, callfd at the station, but unfortunately she happened to be away at the time.

Alpine Observer and North Eastern Herald Friday 30 August 1918 page 3


KAVANAGH, Ellen Margaret

Sister
AANS

Born 09 February 1885 at Burrowa, NSW
​Daughter of Denis KAVANAGH
Sister of Marion Ann MURPHY
Aged 32 years
Enlisted 10 May 1917
Embarked 12 June 1917 from Melbourne per 'Mooltan'
Served  in Salonika
Returned to Australia per 'Wiltshire' 03 October 1918
Appointment terminated 01 March 1919 as Medically unfit
Resided Rosemont Military Hospital
Died 04 November 1944 in Brisbane, Qld.
Buried 06 November 1944 Toowong Cemetery 7A 29 14A
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​Death of Sister E. M. Kavanagh
Sister Ellen M. Kavanagh, a senior sister at the Repatriation General Hospital, Rosemount, Windsor, died in a private hospital in Brisbane on
Saturday night.
She was the daughter of the late Mr Denis Kavanagh, and was born in Burrowa, NSW, on February 06 1885. During the 1914-18 war she
saw service abroad with the Australian Army Nursing Service, and for 18 months was stationed at Salonika, from where she was invalided home.
On her return to Australia in 1918 the late Sister Kavanagh was appointed to the stall of the Randwick Military Hospital. She later joined the nursing staff of the Repatriation Commission in New South Wales.
In March 1933, she was transferred to Rosemount Hospital, Brisbane, where she has been a senior sister for some years.

The Telegraph Monday 06 November 1944 page 3

KAY, Flora

Staff Nurse
AANS
1st AGH

Born 1886 at Petersham, NSW
Daughter of Edward Henry KAY and Bridget Agnes nee MURPHY
Of 85 Denison Road, Lewisham, Sydney, NSW
Aged 31 years
Enlisted 01 May 1917
Embarked 09 May 1917 from Melbourne per 'A38'
Served in England and France
Returned to Australia  25 May 1919 per 'Benalla'
Discharged as medically unfit 23 January 1920
Married Edward C NUTT in 1921
Died 19 May 1981 in NSW

KEALY, Margaret

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Staff Nurse
AANS

Born 25 June 1892 at Millicent, SA
Daughter of William Talbot KEALY and Annie nee CURRAN
Of Millicent, SA
Training at Adelaide General Hospital
Appointment Date 05 November 1918
Duty in Victoria to nurse Influenza
Left by Train 18 February 1919
Returned by Train 26 February 1919
Demobilized 17 July 1919
Died not marry
Died 04 July 1974
Buried Millicent Cemetery

Nurse Margaret Kealy, of Millicent, and Nurse Madge McConville, formerly of Robe, who have been on military duty at Keswick Barracks for some time, have volunteered to nurse pneumonic influenza cases in Melbourne. They proceeded to Melbourne on Tues day last. They had previously placed themselves at the disposal of the authorities for service on Torrens Island.

Border Watch Tuesday 25 February 1919 page 3



KEANE, Nellie Alicia

Sister
AANS

Born Ellen Annie KEANE in 1878 in Ballarat, Vic
Daughter of Patrick KEANE and Susan nee FOX
Address 22 Hatham St, Ballarat, Vic
Age 31 years
Enlisted 04 October 1916 in Melbourne
Embarked 26 December 1916 per “Mooltan” at Melbourne
Service in India
Duty on Hospital Ship “Madras” between Hong Kong and Vladivostok
Promoted to Sister 01 October 1918
Returned to Australia per “Benella” 08 October 1919
Appointment Terminated 21 February 1920
Did not marry
Died as Ellen Alicia KEANE 24 January 1965 in Heathcote, Vic.
​Resided East St. Kilda, Vic.

NURSE KEANE ENLISTS.

Ultima, 18th September.The decision of Nurse N. A. Keane, formerly proprietress of the local private hospital, to enlist for service abroad has given much pleasure to her many friends here.  Nurse Keane is a clever and sympathetic nurse, and is particularly skilled in all classes of operation cases, she having had during her stay here many intricate cases pass through her hands under the care of Dr. Jas. Rowan, and never was a failure recorded against her. She has a remarkable fund of womanly sympathy, and those of our unfortunate soldiers who have the good fortune to be placed under her care will be certain of scientific and at the same time sympathetic attention. Nurse Keane is a sister of the well-known Bendigo solicitor, and is a native of Ballarat.

Bendigonian Thursday 21 September 1916 page 9

KEAREY, Elizabeth

Sister
AANS

Born 1882 in St. Leonards, Sydney, NSW
Daughter of James Joseph KEAREY and Ellen nee DOHERTY
Of 'Valrosa' Darley Road, Randwick, NSW
Enlisted 21 October 1914
Aged 36 years
Embarked 28 November 1914 from Sydney per 'Kyarra'
Served in France, Egypt and England
Enlisted 05 February 1916 at Cairo, Egypt
Returned to Australia 27 September 1917 for Nursing duties
Appointment terminated 14 January 1919
Did not marry
Died 17 January 1968 at Lady Davidson Hospital, Turramurra, NSW
​Late of North Manly, NSW
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She served in Egypt with No. 2 Australian General Hospital, and near the end of the war was attached  to No. 7 sea transport section.

Miss Kearey, of New South Wales, is assistant matron of the Prince of Wales Military Hospital at Randwick and served for the four years of the war in Egypt, France and England.

Busy Head of Army Nursing Service

ONE of the busiest women in Sydney since the outbreak of war has been Matron E. Kearey, head of the Australian Army Nursing Service.

Although there has been no official call up of nurses, Matron Kearey has been in attendance at Victoria Barracks to supervise the enrolling of nurses who have flocked to put their names down for war service.

Matron Kearey had a distinguished nursing service record in the last war. She served with the Australian army nurses both in France and Egypt, and on her return to Sydney she was appointed to the nursing staff at Randwick Military Hospital. At the time of the Coronation she accompanied the Australian contingent to England.

For the past 18 months she has been matron at the Lady Davidson Home for Returned Soldiers.

The Women's Weekly Saturday 23 September 1939 page 45

MATRON KEARY RETIRES
29 Years' Service

For Soldiers


The principal matron of the Australian Army Nursing Service in New South Wales, Miss Elizabeth Kearey, will retire from the Army on October 22, after 29 years' service.

Immediately after leaving the A.A.N.S., Matron Kearey will join the staff of the Man-power Directorate, where she will be associated with Matron Dickson, matron advising man-power authorities, on general nursing and hospital problems.

Matron Kearey. who trained at St. Vincent's Hospital, has had a distinguished career, most of it spent in the service of men of the A.I.F.  She enlisted in November, 1914, and left Australia with the first A.G.H. She served in Egypt. France, and England, and after bringing wounded from England in 1917 served another term overseas before returning to Australia in January, 1919.

Principal matron in New South Wales since 1936. Matron Kearey was called up again for active service on October 16, 1939. She represented the New South Wales Army nursesat, the Coronation ceremonies in London.

Matron Kearey's life has been devoted to soldiers, and she is an honoured member of the Returned Soldiers' League.

Late yesterday afternoon, Matron Kearey was guest of honour at an informal farewell party at the officers'
mess at Victoria Barracks.

Successor to Matron Kearey is the former principal matron of the Northern Territory. Miss Edith McQuade.

The Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 09 October 1943 page 11

KEATING, Mary Gertrude

Staff Nurse/Sister 
AANS

Born 1888 in Dunolly, Vic
Daughter of Richard Joseph KEATING and Mary Josephine nee MACKAY
Address “Ione” 33 Mary St., Kew, Vic
Aged 27 years
Enlisted 22 August 1916
Embarked 22 August 1916 at Melbourne per “Mooltan”
Service in India and England
Promoted to Sister 15 June 1917
Returned to Australia 26 January 1920 per “Friedrichsruh” On Duty
Appointment Terminated 30 May 1920
After the war she work in Namanula Hospital, Rabaul.  
She married Thomas William Murphy there.  
She died in NSW 23 November 1974
Late of Five Dock, NSW

Punch Thursday 31 August 1916 page 21
Punch Thursday 17 February 1916 page 17
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KEEL, Adelaide Gertrude

Nurse
VAD

Born 1889 in Malvern, Vic.
Daughter of Edward John KEELE and Maria Gertrude nee PAPPIN
Served in England
Embarked for Australia to Adelaide 09 July 1919 per 'Friederichsruhe'
Did not marry
Died 18 August 1967 at Lockleys, SA
Aged 78 years
Buried Cheltenham Cemetery Section P Drive C Path 2 63N
No Headstone

KEEN, Elizabeth Mabel aka Lilly

Sister
AANS
1st AGH

Born 1883 in Petersham, NSW
Daughter of Charles Manton KEEN and Elizabeth nee EDMONDSON
Sister of Florence Ada CAUSDELL
Of Hawaii off Bayswater Road, Darlinghurst, NSW
Enlisted 24 July 1915
Embarked 31 July 1915
Served in England
Returned to Australia per 'Kanowna' 28 October 1916
Discharged as medically unfit 05 April 1917 with Mitral incompetence
Did not marry
Died 24 December 1924 at Coast Hospital, NSW
Late of Burwood, NSW

KEENAN, Mary

Sister
AANS
1st AGH

Born 1885 at Molong near Orange, NSW
Daughter of Thomas Joseph KEENAN and Nora/Honora Mary nee LACEY
Of 'Biamble', Merrygoen, NSW
Trained at St. Vincent's Hospital 1906-1909
Employed at Metropolitan Private Hospital and Garrison Hospital, Sydney
Aged 30 years
Enlisted 04 June 1915
Embarked 16 June 1915
Served in Egypt, France and London
She was awarded the Royal Red Cross, second class in error-her name got mixed up with M Veenan/Veeman.
Returned to Australia 13 October 1919 per 'Anchises'
Appointment terminated 12 December 1919
Did not marry
Died 26 May 1955 in North Sydney, NSW
Resided Wollstonecraft, NSW in 1950
Funeral service held at St. Joseph's Church, Orange
Buried Orange Cemetery

KEITH, Helen Maude

Sister
AANS

2nd AGH

Born 1870 in New Zealand
Daughter of William Keith and Euphemia Hardy PATTERSON nee AITKEN
Sister of Henrietta HULME
Of Main Road, Moonah, Hobart, Tas.
Her older sister Alice served in the NZANS
Aged 37 years
Enlisted 19 October 1915 in Sydney, NSW
Embarked 11 November 1915
Served in London and France
Returned to Australia 14 September 1919 per 'Valencia'
Appointment terminated 02 January 1920
Did not marry
Died 21 November 1937 in a private hospital, Sydney, NSW
Late of Wollongong, NSW
Buried Northern Suburbs Crematorium
The whole of her estate was passed to Henrietta HULME

www.awm.gov.au
P10300.009
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Awarded Royal Red Cross 2nd Class
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 20 November 1919
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 1726, position 6
Date of London Gazette: 31 July 1919
Location in London Gazette: Page 9829, position 1

TROPHIES FROM EGYPT.

Sister Keith, of the Australian Army  Nursing Service, has sent to her sister, Mrs. Miller, of McPherson-street, a fine collection of work in beads and leather which she collected in Egypt.  Included in the articles is a beautiful
diamond-backed snake made of beads, the work of a Turkish prisoner.

The Horsham Times Tuesday 16 January 1917 page 3
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KELLAWAY, Sarah (Sally)

Sister
AANS

Born Emerald, Qld.
Daughter of John England KELLAWAY and Bridget nee BRENNAN
Of Victoria Parade, Rockhampton, Qld.
Aged 27 years
Enlisted 16 November 1916
Embarked 26 May 1917 from Sydney per 'Khira'
Served in India and Egypt
Returned to Australia 02 February 1920 per 'Borda'
Appointment terminated 12 March 1920
Died 1974 in Queensland
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The engagement is announced of Sister Sallie Kellaway (of Rockhampton, Queensland, late of Rosemount and Kangaroo Point Military Hospitals) to Captain Alfred B. Giband (of the 2nd Leicestershire Regiment, Alexandria, Egypt).

The Queenslander Saturday 08 March 1919 page 15
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FIVE YEARS IN INDIA
Thermometers and Taj Mahal
QUEENSLAND NURSE'S VARIETY


Queensland nurses with wanderlust in their veins willenvy the experience of Miss Sallie Kellaway, a former Longreach girl, who recently completed 5 years' nursing in India  and next month will leave Brisbane once more to return to England.  According to Miss Kellaway, most Australian nurses who go to India get on well and have no difficulty in finding positions, but she says that it is wise to have one's return  fare to Australia before leaving home.

MISS KELLAWAY'S travels began during the war, when she  completed her training in Longreach and went out to Egypt to nurse. From there she continued to England, and spent 12 months touring Great Britain before she returned  to Brisbane.  Eight years ago, having given up her position on the staff of the Rosemount Hospital, she set off overseas  again, going first to England to visit relatives. She also spent a holiday in Gibraltar and went from there to Spain, where she was nursing for six months.  

Left for India.  
The Queenslander's next move was further afield, for she joined Lady  Mlnto's India Nursing Association.  This association was formed by Lady Minto some time ago, when she realised how hard pressed tea planters were for nurses and its members now staff various hospitals in India and are stationed In bungalows in Assam, ready to attend any cases of sickness on the plantations in the surrounding country.  Miss Kellaway was first stationed at a nursing home in Simla, where she spent 18 months. Simla she described as a 'seething mass of gaiety' in its season and the nurses participated in the balls and other festivities.  The attractions also included riding and winter sports. Her next move was to India's capital, Delhi, where she remained for eight months. 'It's a glorious place,' she said, 'and 'Old Delhi' is full of mystery and fascination'.  

Taj Mahal by Moonlight 
Miss Kellaway visited Agra and saw the Taj Mahal four times.  One of these occasions was at sunrise but she considered it most  inspiring in the moonlight. Numbers of tourists sat In the dark waiting for the moon to rise and as the silver light flowed over the marble mausoleum, the beauty of the scene was  breath-taking— but there always seemed to be an American in the throng who provided an anti-climax with his 'O Boy, O Boy, O Boy, will you Just look at that?'  The next four years were spent by Miss Kellaway In Assam, which she considered most interesting of all and not unlike Queensland with its wide open spaces, Jacaranda, frangipani  and poinsettia grew luxuriantly,  but the heat proved more exhausting than Queensland's. Miss Kellaway was stationed successively at Silchar, Dibrugarh, Tezpur, and Shillong, living in bungalows with three or four other nurses.  

Ample Diversion 
As long as they were not 'first on  call' for the next case, the  nurses' time was practically their own and there was ample diversion.For instance, in Shillong, a delightful place 6000 ft high and clothed with pine woods, gardening was popular with everybody and as soon as the monsoon season was over the residents went what Miss Kellaway described  as 'garden-mad.' 'We were  all so eager for early flowers that often we did our planting too early and another downpour would come and 
bang would go our seeds!'  Picnics were a favourite recreation and the clear hill streams with their lovely 
waterfalls provided ideal bathing pools. Every plantation had it own golf course and there were tennis and 
bridge every day.  One of the most memorable sights that Miss Kellaway saw in Assam was sunrise on 
Darjecling, with Mt. Everest like two little points in the far  background. She saw the spectacle from Tiger Hill, 
rising at 2.30 a.m. to make the journey, which was particularly  eerie as the accompanying  natives sang and 
yelled all the way.  'I thought they must have been roaring drunk, but I discovered that the noise was just their 
way of shooing devils and tigers". said the nurse. Accompanied by four friends,  she also did a five day trek 
from the foot of Mt Darjeeling during one  of her leaves.

Opening for Australians
Speaking of her cases, Miss Kellaway said that malaria and dysentery were the most usual Illnesses.  She spoke highly of the way in which nurses were treated In India and said that Australians seemed particularly adaptable to the conditions  there, while apart from the positions available in India Itself, there were frequently chances of other work,such as accompanying a tea planter's wife and young family on a voyage home to England. Miss Kellaway, who is staying at New Farm with her sister (Miss A. Kellaway), is planning to leave for England on June 14, and in London she will probably sign a contract with the Nursing Association for another five years in India.

Miss Kellaway (right) and another nurse from Brisbane, Miss Grace Homewood, photographed at Jalpaiguri.  

Sunday Mail Brisbane Sunday 17 May 1936 page 24

WIDE EXPERIENCES
OF SISTER SALLY KELLAWAY.


"Patients who come under the care of Sister Sally Kellaway, now in Brisbane on furlough after more than 5 years in India, will have the benefits of the skill which wide experience brings. Formerly a Longreach (Q.) girl, she went to Egypt to nurse during the war. From there she went to England for a year before returning to spend a period a Rosemount Repat. Hospital. Brisbane.

"Eight years ago she went again to England, then to Gibraltar and onto Spain, continuing her nursing work. Sister's next move was to join Lady Minto's India Nursing Association, members of which staff, Indian hospitals and Assam bungalows, attending the sick. She spent 18 months at Simla, then eight months at Delhi and the next four
years in Assam."

"J.C." writing in the Women's Mirror, has the foregoing to say of one of the most popular nurses trained at the Longreach Hospital.  It was in the early days of the Longreach Hospital being established as a training centre that Sister Kellaway was on the staff, and she was the second fully certificated nurse to complete her training at the Hospital. She then accepted an appointment at Isisford Hospital as a Staff Nurse and from there went to the Emerald Hospital as Matron. It was from Emerald that she was accepted for service with the A.I.F. abroad.

Longreach Leader Saturday 27 June 1936 page 11

Sister Sally Kellaway

Nurses trained at the Longreach Hospital have achieved distinction in wider spheres. A notable case is that of Sister Sally Kellaway, who went to Egypt as a nurse during the last war. From there she went to England for a year before returning to spend a period at the Rosemount Repatriation Hospital in Brisbane. In 1928 she went to England again, then to Gibraltar and on to Spain. Sister Kellaway's next move was to join Lady Minto's India Nursing Association (the members of which staff Indian hospitals and Assam bungalows, attending the sick), and she spent several years in India. A writer in the "Women's Mirror" describes Sister Kellaway as one of the most popular nurses trained at the Longreach Hospital. In the early days of the Longreach Hospital being established as a training centre Sister Kellaway was on the staff, and she was the second fully certificated nurse to complete her training at the hospital. She then accepted an appointment at the Alsford Hospital as a staff nurse, and from there went to the Emerald Hospital as Matron. It was from Emerald that she was accepted for service with the A.I.F. abroad.

The Longreach Leader Wednesday 09 December 1942 page 5

KELLETT, Adelaide Maud

Matron
AANS
25th B.G. Hospital

Born Bathurst, NSW
Daughter of Mrs. C H KELLETT
Of Sydney Hospital, Macquarie St., Sydney, NSW
Aged 41 years
Enlisted 21 September 1914 at Cairo, Egypt
Embarked 05 December 1914 per 'Kyarra'
Served in England and France
Returned to Australia 26 October 1919 per 'Kanowna'
Appointment terminated 10 January 1920
Did not marry
Died 12 April 1945 in Waverley, NSW
​Late of Bronte
Buried Northern Suburbs Crematorium
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Mentioned in Despatches
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 21 September 1916
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 2624, position 50
Date of London Gazette: 21 June 1916
Location in London Gazette: Page 6184, position 42

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Awarded Royal Red Cross (1st Class)
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 25 July 1917
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 1544, position 17
Date of London Gazette: 23 February 1917
Location in London Gazette: Page 1948, position 

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Awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 6 October 1919
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 1463, position 27
Date of London Gazette: 3 June 1919
Location in London Gazette: Page 7004, position 5

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Mentioned in Despatches
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 30 October 1919
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 1655, position 27
Date of London Gazette: 11 July 1919
Location in London Gazette: Page 8835, position 64

This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, (MUP), 1983
by Ann M. Mitchell

Adelaide Maud Kellett (1873-1945), hospital matron, was born on 1 September 1873 at Raglan near Bathurst, New South Wales, daughter of Charles Henry Kellett, post office clerk, and his wife Sarah, née McClintock. Maud Kellett entered Sydney Hospital as a probationer in January 1898 and was granted her certificate in September 1901. From October 1910 she was deputy toRose Creal. She joined the Australian Army Nursing Service in 1907 and embarked with 'Nellie' (Ellen Julia) Gould in October 1914, having enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in September. She was theatre sister with the 2nd Australian General Hospital, Cairo, for ten months, served on the hospital ship Gascon during the Gallipoli evacuation, and on return to Egypt became temporary matron of Choubra Military Infectious Hospital. In August 1916 as matron she opened the 2nd Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Southall, England, where work with limbless patients was satisfying and her staff content.

In July 1917 Matron Kellett took charge of the 2400-bed 25th British General Hospital, Hardelot, France, which was mainly under canvas and for skin patients who were otherwise well, and thus hard to manage. Her Australian nurses also resented Royal Army Medical Corps doctors and 'skins' (mostly scabies). Hardelot closed in March 1919 and she helped Colonel A. G. Butler in London to gather personal narratives from Australian nurses awaiting transport home. She returned to Sydney in October having been twice mentioned in dispatches (1916, 1919), awarded the Royal Red Cross, 1st class (1917) and appointed C.B.E. (1919).

Maud Kellett became matron of the 4th A.G.H. (Randwick) and principal matron of the 2nd Military District. In December 1921 she returned to Sydney Hospital, succeeding Rose Creal as matron. The organization of the A.A.N.S. was then under review but her appointment as principal matron was confirmed on 1 January 1924. She retired from that post on 31 August 1929. She was first president of the Returned Army Nursing Sisters' Association, New South Wales (1920).

She had joined the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association in 1903 and was a member of its council from 1920. She was the first nurse to be elected president in 1929-30 and was re-elected in 1933-34, part of 1937, and 1941-42. Among numerous A.T.N.A. duties she was a nominee to the National Council of Women (from 1931), the Nurses' Registration Board (1934-43) and the Australian Nursing Federation. She was honorary treasurer of the A.N.F. from 1930 and president in 1937-45. Her last public duty was to chair a crisis session of the A.N.F. held at Sydney Hospital in November 1943. She was long the dominant force in New South Wales nursing, but her pride suffered when her hospital deputy Elsie Pidgeon was awarded the Florence Nightingale medal by the International Red Cross in 1935. Miss Kellett had to wait two years for similar recognition.

Within Sydney Hospital her brilliance as an administrator was acknowledged. Her memory was superb; she knew all the in-patients and whose responsibility they were. There was no set pattern for her ward rounds — a porter would signal when she left the Nightingale Wing and the entire hospital would stiffen to attention. She commanded respect and not affection. Her rage over trivial lapses was the more cutting for the lisped venom of her alliteratives. Her nurses feared her but they were proud of her as well, and often forgave her tantrums years afterwards, when they recognized the professionalism behind their training. From 1923 Matron Kellett sponsored the first regular reunions of Sydney Hospital nurses.

Short and heavily built, she was vain about her appearance and always beautifully turned out. Her white hair and fine skin were her best features, her eyes were blue. In 1939 she broke an arm and in October 1942 a more serious fall resulted in a fractured femur. In June 1944 she retired. She died in the War Memorial Hospital, Waverley, on 12 April 1945. Maud Kellett was cremated after a funeral service 'full to overflowing' at St James Anglican Church, Sydney; her family memorial is at St Stephen's, Penrith. Her estate, valued for probate at £4958, was left to her sister Daisy. The Sydney Hospital preliminary training school bore the name of Kellett until absorbed into the Lucy Osburn School of Nursing from 1968. The directors also placed a memorial tablet in the hospital chapel. The A.T.N.A. established the A. M. Kellett prize, a badge awarded from 1946 to the nurse obtaining the highest marks in the written section of the registration examination.

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Death of Miss A. M. Kellett

Miss Adelaide Maud Kellett, O.B.E., R.R.C., A.A.N.S., of the 1st A.I.F., member of a well-known Penrith 
family of former years, and .a former matron of Sydney Hospital, died in a private hospital at 
Waverley on 12th inst.  She was the daughter of the late Mr and Mrs Charles Kellett, of Penrith. 
Her father was post mastery at Penrith for many years.

Miss Kellett's distinguished career in the nursing profession is well known.  She was trained at Sydney 
Hospital and was assistant matron there in 1914 when she enlisted for active service. She was 
mentioned in despatches in Egypt and Prance and was awarded the Royal Red Cross and later the C.B.E.; 
and, in 1937, the Florence Nightingale Medal by the International Red Cross Society at Geneva. She was the first nurse to be appointed president of the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association, and was president of the Australian Nursing Federation, the governing body of the state branches of the  A.T.N.A., and the Royal Victorian College of Nursing.

She was formerly matron of the Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, and was also principal matron A.A.N.S. Reserve, 2nd Military District, N.S.W.

Miss Kellett met with an accident in October, 1942, which kept her an invalid, , and last year she retired from her position at Sydney Hospital. 

Deceased leaves three brothers anda sister—Daisey Tremaine (Bronte), Charles Gordon C in America), Marshall Stanley (Bronte), and Lionel Russell (Bondi). One sister (Blanche, Mrs Bert Thorndike) predeceased her.

A service was held at St. James'Church on Friday, after which the funeral proceeded to Northern Suburbs Crematorium.

Nepean Times Thursday 19 April 1945 page 3


KELLICK, Violet Hilda

Sister
AANS

Born 1874 in Sydney, NSW
Daughter of James KELLICK and Sarah Ann nee BOULTON
Of Cowper St., Waverley, NSW
Aged 31 years
Enlisted 19 June 1915
Embarked 14 July 1915
Served on Transport ships 'Wuevic', Willochra', 'Mootan'
Returned to Australia 13 October 1919 per 'Anchises'
Appointment terminated 16 January 1920
Married Robert Marshall GRAY in 1942
Died 20 April 1971 in Gordon, NSW
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KELLIHER, Agnes Eileen

​Staff Nurse
Queen Alexandria Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve


Born 1883 in Sydney, NSW
Daughter of Michael Joseph KELLIHER and Agnes nee COFFEY
Of Narrogin, WA
Enlisted 14 June 1915 in England
Was residing at 32 Empress Avenue, Ilford
Embarked for Egypt 15 June 1915
Returned to England
Home from Egypt on sick leave with Enteric Fever and posted to duty at Mount Vernon Military Hospital, Hampstead 20 May 1916
Resigned 15 June 1916 on expiration of contract
Resided Queen Mary's Hostel, Tavistock Place, London
​Returned to Australia 1917
In 1920 was residing at 225  Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW
Married Edward Watson TOLMAN in 1929
Died 26 February 1964 in Sydney, NSW
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AN AUSTRALIAN IN FRANCE

Sister Agnes Kelliher, who has been nursing in a French hospital for the last twelve months, arrived in Sydney recently. Sister Kelliher is a native of Sydney, but her parents now live at Narrogin, Western Australia. Prior to the war this Australian had taken up nursing in London, after a tour of the Continent.  She took her midwifery degree at the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, and her general at the Addenbrookes, Cambridge.  When the war broke out Sister Kelliher was doing massage work in London. She joined the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Reserve, and put in a year at the No. 17 Hospital, in Egypt. Sister Kelliher speaks in the highest praise of the Red Cross work there.  It was the first time she had seen a Red Cross kitchen attached to a hospital and it was the means of providing all sorts of delicacies for the soldiers. After being invalided to England Sister Kelliher went over to a French hospital with five other nurses. The hospital, which was formerly the Astoria Hotel, was used by the Japanese. When their lease was up Lord and Lady Michelham took over the hospital for the French soldiers. It was staffed by English nurses and French doctors, while French ladies came in to perform Red Cross work. Many head cases were treated at the Michelham, where the famous French brain specialist, Dr. de Martel, was attached to the staff. Later Sister Kelliher had charge of a flat containing 56 beds, 13 of which were reserved for officers.  Warnings were generally given when air-raids were expected, and on these occasions the patients were moved to the basement. Before leaving the hospital the Australian nurse was presented with a diploma signed by the President of the French Republic, as a souvenir of her honorable and courageous conduct. Sister Kelliher was also presented with a silver medal.  She found Paris a changed city. The teashops are closed two days a week, to save sugar, butter and coal. Last Winter was the coldest in Paris for years, and there was such a scarcity of coal that many people died from the effects of the cold.  Restaurants are shut at 9.30.  Returning to England Sister Kelliher applied for transport duty, and came out attached to the A.I.F.

Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW) Sunday 14 October 1917 page 15

Miss Kelliher Returns from Tasmania

Well Known to Sydney as Sister Agnes Kelliher, popular cosmotologist of the Hotel Australia Beauty Salon, Mrs. Tolman has returned from her honeymoon in Tasmania to resume her work as beautifier of a vast number of Sydney's smart women. Mrs. Tolman has a distinguished war record, and, in appreciation of the services which were rendered in France, the French Government bestowed upon her a great Honor when she was presented with the Medaille d'Honeur Militaire - a unique distinction for a woman. When Mrs. Tolman got her discharge she came to Sydney, and opened massage rooms in the Hotel Australia, and today these rooms are used for all kinds, of beauty work, and are the most modern of their kind.

Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW) Sunday 29 October 1929 page 19

BREAKING THE BARRICADES
SYDNEY, October 1. -
An order for the eviction of Mrs Agnes Tolman and her husband, who have barricaded themselves in their room at the Hotel Australia since August was made in the Supreme Court today. Mrs Tolman conducted a beauty parlour at the hotel for many years until February this year, when she was given notice to vacate her room. The management cut off the services in the room in August, the court was told. Mrs Tolman had been  
granted several extensions, but after August she had not moved from her room.  A stay of proceedings for 14 days was granted.

Morning Bulletin Rockhampton Saturday 02 October 1948 page 4

KELLY, Alicia Mary

Sister 
AANS

No 1 General AGH

Born 1885 County Mayo, Ireland
Daughter of Richard and Jane (nee Bell) Kelly
Enlisted 29 March 1915
Embarked 13 April 1915
Appointment terminated 07 August 1918
Married Arthur Rupert CHIPPER a Corporal in the 10th Light Horse AIF 07 August 1918.
Lived at Bullaring and moved to a farm at Narrogin before retiring.
They had no children.
At the outbreak of WWII she returned to nursing and was appointed Matron of the 'Old Women's Home', Woodbridge, Guildforrd.
Died of Pneumonia 16 April 1942 at Midland, Perth, WA
Buried Karrakatta Cemetery Crematorium Rose Gardens 29 0023
Aged 57 years
Resided Bullaring, WA

Photograph Table Talk Thursday 06 January 1910 page 36
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Awarded Military Medal
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 14 February 1918
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 284, position 1
Date of London Gazette: 17 October 1917
Location in London Gazette: Page 10679, position 1

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Awarded Royal Red Cross 2nd Class
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 17 June 1919
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 1009, position 2
Date of London Gazette: 1 January 1918
Location in London Gazette: Page 56, position 1

She was Sister-in-Charge on the voyage home in May 1918 and on arrival at Fremantle the men she had cared for presented her with a silver cup which they had made.
She married Arthur Rupert Chipper on 7/8/1918 in Perth, WA. 
At the outbreak of World War II, despite poor health deriving from her First World War experiences, Mrs Chipper returned to nursing and was appointed Matron of the Old Women's Home, Woodbridge, Guildford, W.A.
Died of pneumonia at Bullaring, W.A. on 16/4/1942, aged 56 years.
Burial - Karrakatta Cemetery and Crematorium, Perth, W.A.
Crematorium Rose Gardens 29, Position 0023

Courtesy of Lyne Richardson


DEATH OF WAR HEROINE

The death of Mrs. Arthur Chipper, of Bullaring (W.A.) recently recalls that she wes a well-known nursing sister in the Great War.  As Sister Kelly, she was decorated by King George V at Buckingham Palace with the royal Red Cross, and she also gained the Croix de Guerre and the Military Medal—an unusual decoration for a nurse. The official account of how she won the M.M. is that Sister Kelly was on duty at one of the casualty clearing stations which was in danger at being demolished by the enemy. All the staff had been ordered to evacuate, but Sister Kelly insisted on remaining. I could not leave my patients, she said, when remonstrated with for remaining behind.

Mrs. Chipper trained at Melbourne Hospital and followed her profession for several years. She sailed from Melbourne when she went overseas with the First A.I.F.

Western Star and Roma Advertiser Friday 22 May 1942 page 3

Read more here

KELLY, Grace Beatrice

Staff Nurse
AANS

Born February 1885 in Hobart, Tasmania
Daughter of Mr. George Edwin KELLY and Alice Eliza nee MITSON
Address 81 Brisbane St, Hobart, Tas
Age 32 years
Training 8 years St Vincent Hospital
Enlisted 10 November 1917 in Tasmania
Embarked 26 November 1917 in Melbourne per “Indarra”
Service in India
Returned to Australia per “City of Cairo” 28 February 1919 Invalided
Appointment Terminated 16 July 1919
Died 23 June 1977 in Hobart, Tas.
Buried Cornelian Bay Cemetery RC ND 58
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KELLY, Elizabeth

Staff Nurse
AANS

Born Rose KELLY 28 April 1887 at Rutherglen, Vic.
She became known as Rose Elizabeth Kelly and Elizabeth and was Bessie to her family.
Daughter of John KELLY and Mary nee KIELY/KELLY
Age 30 years
Training St Vincent’s Hospital
Enlisted 11 July 1917
Embarked 22 December 1917 per “Ulysses”
Service in England
Returned to Australia 07 February 1919 per “Lancashire” On Duty
Appointment terminated 16 April 1919
Did not marry
Died 12 February 1950  Kew Vic.
Resided Kew, Vic.

KELMAN, Linda Jessie

Sister
AANS

Born Parramatta, NSW
Daughter of James Bushy KELMAN and Matilda Emily nee LINDEMAN
Of 'Kirkton' Stanly St., Chatswood, NSW
Aged 32 years
Enlisted 07 June 1917
Embarked 13 September 1917 from Melbourne per 'Runic'
Served in Abbassia Egypt
Returned to Australia 01 September 1919 per 'Burma'
Appointment terminated 01 October 1919
Did not marry
Died 12 July 1949 after a brief illness
Buried Northern Suburbs Crematorium
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Mentioned in despatches
Third Supplement No 31383
London Gazette dated 5th June 1919
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No 113 dated 06 October 1919


KELSON, Octavia Ione

Staff Nurse
AANS
1st A A Hospital

Born 1883 in Melbourne, Vic.
Daughter of Horatio KELSON and Emily Ann nee THORN
Of 78 Royal Parade, Caulfield, Vic.
Aged 33 years
Trained Melbourne Hospital
Enlisted 26 April 1917
Embarked 09 May 1917 from Sydney, NSW
Served in London
Returned to Australia per 'Sardinia' 27 December 1918
Discharged as medically unfit 06 March 1919
Married Cedric DUDLEY
In 1941 residing at 45 Fitzgerald St., South Yarra, Vic.
Died 04 October 1960 in Vic.
​Resided Middle Brighton, Vic.
Cremated 06 October 1960 at Springvale Botanical Cemetery

KEMP, Alice Annie

Sister
AANS
1st Australian General Hospital

Born Maidstone, Kent, England
Daughter of John KEMP and Sarah nee KENYON
Of James St., Cory Estate, Toowoomba, Qld.
Trained at Toowoomba Hospital
Aged 38 years
Enlisted 12 June 1915
Embarked 12 June 1915
Served in France and England
Returned to Australia 14 June 1919 per 'Karagola'
Appointment terminated 15 August 1919
Married Arthur Malcolm THOMSON in 1922
Died 1956 in Vic.
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Awarded Royal Red Cross 2nd Class
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 25 July 1917
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 1544, position 30
Date of London Gazette: 23 February 1917
Location in London Gazette: Page 1952, position 1


KEMP, Elizabeth Sophy/Sophie

Sister
AANS

Born 1883 in Ipswich, Qld.
Daughter of Alfred Alexander KEMP and Sarah nee SOLOMON
Of Clara St., Wynnum, Nth. Brisbane, Qld.
Aged 34 years
Enlisted 02 June 1917
Embarked 09 June 1917 from Sydney per 'Mooltan'
Served in Salonika
Returned to Australia per 'Ceramic' 03 October 1919
Appointment terminated 11 November 1919
Married John James BEVEN
Died 06 September 1959 in Qld.
Buried Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens Columbarium 12 Section 17
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KENDALL, Constance Elizabeth

Staff Nurse
AANS

Born 1890 at Wareham, Dorset, England
Daughter of Walter Humphrey Lomer KENDALL and Susan Frances nee MEAD
Sister to Cecil KENDALL
Age 26 years
Enlisted 20 April 1917
Embarked 09 June 1917 in Melbourne per “Mooltan”
Service in England
Dangerously ill with Pyrexia (Fever) August 1917
Returned to Australia 22 July 1919
Resigned appointment 09 June 1919 due to marriage
Married Dr. Cecil Stanley MOLESWORTH
Died 14 November 1977 in NSW


KENDALL, Eleanor Jane

Sister
AANS

Enlisted 06 November 1914
Embarked 28 November 1914
Discharged as medically unfit 24 April 1918

Photograph Table Talk Newspaper
Punch Thursday 03 December 1914 page 26

Read more here
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Mentioned in despatches
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 18 April 1918
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 845, position 104
Date of London Gazette: 28 December 1917
Location in London Gazette: Page 13568, position 126


KENDELL, Charlotte Eva

Staff Nurse
AANS

Born 26 June 1888 at Minlacowie, SA
Daughter of William KENDELL and Charlotte nee TIECHLEMANN
Trained at Geelong General Hospital
Enlisted 16 July 1915
Embarked 16 July 1915
Served in Egypt at Mena Hospital
Married in Cairo to Lt. James Mark KENNEDY
Son born in London
Husband killed in action 05 November 1916 in France
Returned to Australia 1917
After the war she was a nurse for many years at the Presbyterian Girls College in Geelong.  
She died in 28 April 1970 in Vic.
Resided St. Kilda, Vic.
Cremated 30 April 1970 at Springvale Botanical Cemetery and remains scattered
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KENNEDY, Genevieve Maria

Sister
AANS

Born 01 February 1891 in Bendigo, Vic
Daughter of James Patrick KENNEDY and Elizabeth nee HAYES
NOK, Uncle Mr. John GLEESON 
Age 25 years
Training St Vincent’s Hospital
Enlisted 15 July 1915
Embarked 17 July 1915
Service in Egypt and England 
Transport duty on “Aeneas” and “Euripides”
Appendix and gall stone operation in England November 1916
Promoted to Sister 01 October 1918
Returned to Australia 10 November 1919 per “Mahana”
Appointment terminated 15 February 1920
Married Arsene LE MIEUX in New York, USA in 1930
Returned to Australia
Died 11 September 1964 in Vic.
Resided St. Kilda, Vic.

Photograph Table Talk Thursday 26 August 1915 page 3
Punch Thursday 29 July 1915 page 21
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KENNEDY, Jean

Staff Nurse
AANS

Born Kyneton, Vic.
Daughter of Mrs. Jane KENNEDY
Age 32 years
Training Alfred Hospital, Melbourne
Enlisted 01 June 1915 in Melbourne, Vic
Home service at No5 AGH
Tonsillectomy in January 1916
Medically unfit for o/seas service – Endocarditic (heart disease) and Rheumatic
Embarked however, 05 June 1918 for a return trip per “Kanowna”
Appointment terminated 02 April 1919
Continued at No11 AGH after return
Repatriation contact 26 May 1959
Died 23 July 1965


KENNEDY, Jess Cameron

Staff Nurse
AANS

Born 07 December 1887 in Benara, SA
Daughter of John Cameron KENNEDY and Jessie nee McLEAN
Sister to Mrs. E BRUCE
Age 28 years
Training North Adelaide Private Hospital
Enlisted 04 September 1917 at Keswick, SA
Embarked 13 September 1917 in Melbourne per “Runic”
Service in Egypt and Salonika
Developed an unspecified debility in February 1919
Invalided to Australia 02 April 1919 per “Kildonian Castle”
Medical Discharged 14 June 1919
Repatriation contact 04 December 1958
Did not marry
Died 1959 in Heidelberg, Vic.
Buried Springvale Botanical Cemetery 10 June 1959 Presbyterian Compartment O Section 14 Grave 32


KENNEDY, Jessie Violet Marion

Sister
AANS

Born 08 March 1883 in Muttaburra, Qld.
Daughter of John KENNEDY and Frances Mary Hull nee WILSON
Of 'Carinay' Oxley Street, North Ward, Townsville, Qld.
Enlisted 18 August 1915
Embarked 21 August 1915 per 'Morea' from Sydney, NSW
​Aged 31 years
Served in Egypt, France and England
Awarded Royal Red Cross 2nd Class
Returned to Australia 19 September 1919 oer 'Demosthenes'
Appointment terminated 24 November 1919
Married Edward Norman Stephen BOURKE 15 December 1926
Resided 33 Sefton Avenue, Clayfield, Qld. in 1952
Died 27 July 1974 in Queensland
Aged 91 years
Buried Toowong Cemetery 8-29-4/5

The Week (Brisbane) Friday 15 June 1917 page 20
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Awarded Royal Red Cross 2nd Class
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 25 July 1917
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 1544, position 31
Date of London Gazette: 23 February 1917
Location in London Gazette: Page 1952, position 2

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Bourke- Kennedy
A profusion of shasta daisies and gerberas, with trails of asparagus plumosiss, decorated St. Colomb's Church, Clayfield, on December 15, when the Rev. Morgan Jones celebrated, the marriage of Mr. Edward Norman Stephen Bourke (son of the late Mr. J. A. Bourke, Caboolture) and Miss Jessie Violet Marion Kennedy (youngest daughter of the late Mr. J. Kennedy and of Mrs. Kennedy. London-road, Clayfield). The bride, who was given away by her brother, Mr. N.C.M. Kennedy, wore a gown of ivory  Marocain showing silver panels and godets of georgette. The front panel of the frock and the sleeves were lightly beaded,and the bridal veil of Brussels lace was worn with a circlet of pale pink flowers and orange blossoms, caught at the side with posies. Her shower bouquet was of white agapanthus, lilies, and shasta daisies. The Misses Kennedy (sister of the bride) and Valerie and Claudia McMaster (nieces of the bride) attended as bridesmaids. Miss Kennedy wore a frock of cream Marocain and a hat in tones of pink and blue, and she carried a bouquet at pink carnations and blue waterlilies. The little girls were frocked alike in cornflower blue crepe de Chine, and they also wore white crinoline straw hats, finished with blue, and carried gilt backets filled with blue hydrangea. Mr. F. Bourke (brother of the bridegroom) was best man.  At the conclusion of the ceremony the guests, who were limited to immediate relatives of the bride and bridegroom,were entertained at the National Hotel. The dejeuner was nerved in the lounge, the decorations on the tables being carried out with pink roses and carnations set among puffings of pink and silver tulle.Mrs. A. J. B. McMaster (sister of the bride), who acted as hostess, was frocked in black Marocain, and her hat was o fblack ballibuntle straw. On leaving for the honeymoon, which will be spent on a motor tour, the bride wore a frock of golden brown crepe de Chine, fashioned in bolero style, and a hat to harmonise.

The Queenslander Saturday 25 December 1926


KENNEDY, Josephine Millicent

Sister
AANS

Born 1889 at Maryborough, Vic.
Daughter of James Power KENNEDY and Caroline Louisa nee CROXFORD
Of Burke Street, Maryborough, Vic..
Enlisted 07 October 1915
Served in Egypt, France, Italy and England
Returned to Australia per 'Euripides' 25 April 1919
Appointment terminated 04 July 1919
Family were incorrectly advised that she had been awarded RRC 2nd Class.  This award was in fact received by Jessie Violet Marion KENNEDY.  The Army wrote to the family  'I am directed to express the Minister's deep regret that this inaccuracy has crept in, it is the first of its kind that has occurred, and I trust that it may be my pleasant duty in the near future to intimate that a similar award for conspicuous service has been conferred on your daughter'.
Married Charles McINTOSH
Died October 1976 in Vic.
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Josephine Millicent Kennedy is usually said to have been born on 3rd February, 1889.  However, the registration number of her birth appears inconsistent with a date so early in the year and she may have been born on 10th September.  She was born at the Yorkshire Hotel.  The family tradition of calling members by their second name stuck so fast on Josephine Millicent that her signature was “J. Millicent Kennedy”.  She did her three year nursing training at the Hamilton District Hospital and also worked for a year at the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital in Melbourne.   At the time of enlisting she had completed seven years as a nurse.
Mill enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service on the 7th October, 1915, as a staff nurse.  She embarked from Melbourne on the 12th November, 1915, aboard HMAT A67 Orsova and served in Egypt, England, France and Italy.  She was also in hospital herself on several occasions suffering from the mumps and a badly infected finger.  She was promoted to Sister on the 1st October, 1918.  Mill returned to Australia on the AHT Euripides leaving England on the 3rd March, 1919, and arriving in Australia on the 25th April, 1919.   She was discharged on 4th July, 1919.  Mill received the 1914-1915 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.  In 1923 she had the newly awarded medals sent to her at Numurkah.

During the war her father received a letter advising that Millicent had been awarded the Royal Red Cross, Second Class.  This was followed some months later by a letter apologising for the mistake, as the actual recipient was nurse J.V.M. (Jessie Violet Marion) Kennedy from Muttaburra, Queensland.  The mistake was caused by an amendment made by the Base Records section.

In 1927 Mill married  Charles McIntosh, said to have been a farmer from Ballarat way.  They initially lived in a house next door to “Manhattan” in Burke Street, Maryborough.  At the time of her father's death in 1929 Charles McIntosh gave his address as 13 Johnson Street, Ballarat.  They had one child, Helen, born in 1931.  Subsequently they lived in Jolimont and in about 1951 they moved to 36 Suffolk Street, Surrey Hills.  It was there that Charles McIntosh died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  Shortly afterwards Millicent moved to 13 Station Avenue, McKinnon, a move that had already been planned before Charles' death.  Millicent died in McKinnon aged 87 in October, 1976. 

Courtesy of Philip Kennedy
CHRISTMAS IN EGYPT WITH THE RED CROSS.
SISTER KENNEDY WRITES.

Sister J. Millicent Kennedy, of the No. 1 Australian General Hospital, Heliopolis, Egypt, writes to her father, IMr J. P. Kennedy, J.P., of Maryborough, under date 24th January :Christmas is just over, and I only wish that folk at home could have seen their boys. The wards were beautifully decorated and everyone received a parcel or parcels. The Red Cross Society is simply marvellous. Besides adding to the comfort of the boys to such a great degree, it divides our work in two. We get such a splendid supply of linen  and clothing, all without  that awful" red-tape." Every week some one comes around and takes a list of everything our boys require-toothbrushes and paste, tobacco, cigarettes and matches, hair brushes and combs, and sweets-chocolate being particularly acceptable to our typhoids. They also supply barbers,which is a God-send, writing paper and pencils and everything one can think of --patent foods and all that the Defence department cannot provide. This splendid work has done as much to strengthen our sick boys and to comfort them, and has added much to the joy of our work and lightened it. The lovely supplies of old linen are invaluable. Even very small pieces are acceptable, and we use such quantities.  On Christmas Day I went over to the Atelier (one of our auxiliaries) to see Will Dowling, and things were just as gay there. At both places there was a concert in the afternoon, and, indeed, it extended into the night: at No. 1 anyway. The sisters all got their parcels from Lady Bridges' appeal, not forgetting our lovely little red crosses. They charmed the sisters, who forthwith pinned them on their capes, although I'm afraid it's " not in orders." However, they are still proudly wearing them. The girls from the other State were more surprised than ours. Their States only sent parcels to their own sisters, and we felt kind of "out of it" when the next lot came around. It was not what was in the parcel, although you will see presently that it would have pleased any one, but the excitement of a parcel here is great, and when it is from some unknown well wisher, it makes you want to get in your room alone for a while. We have the same feeling for everyone at home here as we had for every boy at the front when we were home ourselves, a kind of intimate feeling, caused no doubt by the various messages and expressions sent both collectively and individually to us.  Never send anything to the front without some letter in it. If you only saw the disappointment of our boys when they chanced on a tin or parcel (no hospital boys received billies), without a note, and then asked to read the next one, you would know what a message of that kind meant a from Australia. One boy here got a parcel that had been packed by his own mother. Some of the letters were beautiful and some written to make the boys laugh, and they succeeded. They are a merry lot anyway. There is a cousin of Sheehan's here. I pulled a cracker with him on Christmas afternoon. I cannot finish Christmas talk without mentioning our A.M.C. boys, they're splendid. Of course there are exceptions, but they are few and far between. Up late at night often, carrying in stretchers, off duty or on, night or day no orderly goes out if a train is expected in, and in nine cases out of ten this is at night, and there they are--after being on all day--carrying in stretchers until the work is done, often two or three train loads. Never a grumble, the men are carried gently, but patient and bearer are ever ready for a joke.  We have been getting in a number of frost bitten feet lately, this in addition to other troubles, and yet they are performing because they can't go back and face the Turks on their own ground again.  On Christmas eve a number of our orderlies carrolled outside the building, and that after a heavy day. They sang beautifully and moved on short distances al around the palace. It was just lovely and touched us up a bit. A few Victorians were holding a little feast all by ourselves, after hours too--shh! and this started under our window. How we wished the people at home could hear. How it would have cheered them. We are havng wintry weather, rain every few days, and fairly cold too.

Maryborough & Donolly Advertiser Wednesday 01 March 1916 page 5
Punch Thursday 02 December 1915 page 20

KENNEDY, Mary Christina

Staff Nurse
AANS

Born 1884 at Longwarry, Vic.
Daughter of David Thompson KENNEDY and Christina Mary nee HILL
Age 31 years
Training Kyneton Hospital, Vic
Enlisted 10 May 1915
Embarked 18 May 1915
Service Egypt, England, France and on the field
Promoted to Sister 05 May 1917
Resigned appointment in UK 14 December 1918 due to marriage
Married 14 January 1919 Dr. Alfred Fay  MACLURE OBE in St. Pancras, London 1918
Died 23 July 1965 in Qld.
Aged 81 years
Buried Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens Crematorium Columbarium 12 Section 17

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KENNY, Elizabeth

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Staff Nurse
AANS

Born 20 September 1880 at Warialda, NSW
​Daughter of Michael KENNY and Mary nee MOORE
Enlisted 30 May 1915
Embarked 19 December 1916
Appointment terminated 28 March 1919
Did not marry
Died 30 November 1952 at Toowoomba, Qld.
Buried Nobby Cemetery

www.awm.gov.au
P04258.001
 

Elizabeth Kenny (1880-1952), nurse, was born on 20 September 1880 at Warialda, New South Wales, daughter of Michael Kenny, farmer from Ireland, and his native-born wife Mary, née Moore. She received limited education at small primary schools in New South Wales and Queensland. There is no official record of formal training or registration as a nurse. She probably learned by voluntary assistance at a small maternity hospital at Guyra, New South Wales. About 1910 Kenny was a self-appointed nurse, working from the family home at Nobby on the Darling Downs, riding on horseback to give her services, without pay, to any who called her. In 1911 she used hot cloth fomentations on the advice of Aeneas McDonnell, a Toowoomba surgeon, to treat symptomatically puzzling new cases, diagnosed by him telegraphically as infantile paralysis (poliomyelitis). The patients recovered. Kenny then opened a cottage hospital at Clifton.
During World War I, using a letter from McDonnell as evidence of nursing experience, she enlisted on 30 May 1915 and was appointed staff nurse in the Australian Army Nursing Service, serving on troopships bringing wounded home to Australia. On 1 November 1917 she was promoted Sister, a title she used for the rest of her life. Her army service terminated in March 1919. After the war she resumed her home nursing and became the first president of the Nobby chapter of the Country Women's Association. In 1927 she patented the 'Sylvia' ambulance stretcher designed to reduce shock in the transport of injured patients.
In 1932 Sister Kenny established a backyard clinic at Townsville to treat long-term poliomyelitis victims and cerebral palsy patients with hot baths, foments, passive movements, the discarding of braces and callipers and the encouragement of active movements. At a government-sponsored demonstration in Brisbane doctors and masseurs ridiculed her, mainly because they considered her explanations of the lesions at the site of the paralysis were bizarre. Thus began a long controversy at a time when there was no vaccination for poliomyelitis. The strong-willed Kenny, with an obsessional belief in her theory and methods, was opposed by a conservative medical profession whom she mercilessly slated and who considered her recommendation to discard immobilization to be criminal. Despite almost total medical opposition, parental and political pressure with some medical backing resulted in action by the Queensland government which was influenced by Home Secretary E. M. Hanlon and his public service adviser, C. E. Chuter. In 1934 clinics to treat long-term poliomyelitis cases were established in Townsville and later in Brisbane. The Brisbane clinic immediately attracted interstate and overseas patients. Kenny clinics in other Queensland cities and interstate followed.
In 1937 she published in Sydney Infantile Paralysis and Cerebral Diplegia, with a foreword by Herbert Wilkinson, professor of anatomy at the University of Queensland. Grateful parents having paid her fare to England, she was given two wards at Queen Mary's Hospital at Carshalton, Surrey. She shocked English doctors with her recommendations to discard splinting used to prevent deformities and her condemnation of the orthodox treatment of poliomyelitis cases. Returning to Australia, she was greeted with the report of a royal commission of leading Queensland doctors which damned her methods. However, she was given a ward at the Brisbane General Hospital and early cases of the disease to treat. Aubrey Pye, medical superintendent, stated that her patients recovered more quickly and that their limbs were more supple than those treated by the orthodox method. But the medical profession largely ignored her.
In 1940, armed with an introduction to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, signed by six Brisbane doctors and her fare paid by the Queensland government, she arrived in the United States of America. At first most doctors rejected her theories of 'spasm', 'mental alienation', and 'incoordination' by which she explained the disability caused by poliomyelitis. However, orthopaedists Miland Knapp, John Pohl and Wallace Cole arranged for her to be given beds in the Minneapolis General Hospital. Her methods became widely accepted. She began courses for doctors and physiotherapists from many parts of the world. The Sister Kenny Institute was built in Minneapolis in 1942 and other Kenny clinics were established.
Kenny became a heroine in America and was awarded many honours. She accepted numerous invitations to lecture in other countries and received honorary degrees. Her autobiography, And They Shall Walk, written in collaboration with Martha Ostenso, was published in New York in 1943. In 1946 she was eulogized in the film, Sister Kenny. Abraham Fryberg, Queensland director-general of health and medical services, and Thomas Stubbs Brown, orthopaedic specialist, after an overseas visit recommended in 1947 that treatment based on the Kenny method be used in the early stages. They argued, however, that her concept that the disabilities in poliomyelitis were caused by the virus invading peripheral tissues, and not the central nervous system as traditionally taught, was not proven. In 1950 Congress gave her the rare honour of free access to the United States without entry formalities. Despite this success, she remained the centre of bitter controversy, partly because of her intolerance of opposition, and returned to Australia several times with little acclaim.
A big woman, with white hair which she often covered with large hats, Elizabeth Kenny was an imposing figure. She could speak gently to a patient one minute and harshly criticize a doctor the next. She gained basic knowledge as she progressed and, at times, submitted other people's ideas as though they were her own. Although her views on the pathology of the disease were generally not accepted, she made a significant contribution towards the treatment of poliomyelitis and stimulated fresh thinking. Developing Parkinson's disease, she retired to Toowoomba in 1951 and died there of cerebro-vascular disease on 30 November 1952. After a service in the Neil Street Methodist Church, she was buried in Nobby cemetery. Unmarried, she was survived by an adopted daughter. Her estate, valued for probate at £17,117, was left mainly to relatives, but a collection of memorabilia was left to the Kenny Foundation in the United States and a desk and prayer-book, belonging once to Florence Nightingale, were left to the United Nations Organization. Her book, My Battle and Victory, was published posthumously in London in 1955. A bust by L. Randolph is displayed in the Toowoomba City Art Gallery.

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kenny-elizabeth-6934

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Honoured Overseas

SISTER ELIZABETH KENNY, who is expected to retire from active work at her infantile paralysis clinic at Minneapolis, U.S.A., is a strange case of the prophet without honour in his own country." A Royal Commission of Queensland 
doctors rejected the Kenny method of treatment in 1935.  In 1941 after thorough investigation her methods of 
treatment were accepted by the U. S. Medical Association and the Council of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralyois. Sister Kennywas born at Warialda, N.S.W., in 1886 and educated at Guyra. She graduated as a nurse in 
1911 and worked in the bush. Then she served with the A.I.F. from 1914 to 1918. She devoted herself to research 
into the treatment of infantile paralysis, as a result of which clinics were established in Queensland and other 
States and one at St. Mary's Hospital., Surrey,England.  She visited Newcastle in March, 1940, just before she left 
for the United States and would, no doubt, have fulfilled her promise to act as consultant to Newcastle Hospital had her methods not been accepted in America. She was appointed guest instructor to the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1942. The American Congress of Physical Therapy, Chicago, presented her with the Distinguished Service Gold Key. Her many books include her life story, "And They Shall Walk."

Newcastle Morning Herald & Miner's Advocate Saturday 15 February 1947 page 2

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Controversy aroused interest in polio
Service to mankind by Elizabeth Kenny


SISTER Elizabeth Kenny, who died at her Toowoomba home, Struan, yesterday afternoon, became world famous for her revolutionary claims on poliomyelitis treatment. 

And because ot the controversy the methods stirred she did a service to mankind— by attracting attention to the disease and to methods of treating it.  Argument on the merits of her work will long survive her passing, but none will deny that she had the courage to challenge all opposition. Few women in modern times have lived so turbulent a life.  Much of the battle was of her own making. She was fanatically sure of the right of her claims, and brooked no argument from doctors or anyone else. That sense of mission brought her out of the Queensland bush to become an international figure to have Hollywood make a film of her in her lifetime, to be acclaimed in American polls as an outstanding woman, to get honorary doctorates from universities, and a liberal showering of city keys; to have Congress pass a Bill giving her a permanent visa to the United States, and to have luncheon at the White House with a President.

Born in NSW she was not a native of Queensland. Her birthplace was Warialda, in northern New South Wales. She came up to the Darling Downs with her farming family as a child, the second youngest in a family of nine.  The film of her life gave the impression that she was trained at the Toowoomba Hospital, she was not. She claimed to have been trained at the Scotia Private Hospital in Sydney.

In the First World War, she served on Army hospital ships, making 15 round trips between Australia and Great Britain.  In the years after 1918, she lived quietly as a Queensland country nurse. It was onlywhen she put forward her claim of 'a new concept of the symptoms and treatment of the disease, infantile paralysis' that she became locked in a long quarrel with doctors.  Her work among stricken children at Townsville in 1933-34 brought her to the notice of the Queensland Government. It brought her to Brisbane and financed the establishment of Kenny Clinics at Brisbane and other centres.  Sister Kenny was in conflict with doctors from the start. At a time when the text books were for immobilisation and splinting, she was discarding splints and practising the early and frequent movement of paralysed limbs.  She installed baths in her clinic and applied hydro-therapy — the reducating of patients to the use of their muscles while the limb was in water. Later to ease pain in acute stage of the disease, she introduced the use of foments.  Her severest medical critic said that what was good in her method was not new and what was new could be harmful.

State inquiry The Queensland Government appointed a Royal Commission of doctors to investigate her claims in 1935. They reported against her in 1938, by which time she had visited England in an effort to have her claims recognised there.  Argument was still strong in 1940 when she was invited to America. The Queensland Government voted £300 to assist her passage, and furnished her with introductions.  Until then, Sister Kenny had not accepted any payment for her services.  She had been given travelling facilities through the State, and board and lodging at her Brisbane clinic. Her chief source of revenue was understood to be from royalties on a stretcher she had patented years before.

U.S. acclaim In America she attracted eminent medical support and also strong opposition.  The American people, however, put her on a pedestal as one of the great women of the age. She won a recognition that few women apart from the President's wife could have commanded . In 1942, a year and nine months after she had left Brisbane, the New York Sun named her the outstanding woman of the vear. It was only one of the many distinctions conferred on her by Americans. Her method was given full opportunity at the University of Minnesota. Kenny clinics were opened in several American cities. Kenny Foundations sprang up with the support of notable American figures.  And with the Impetus of what was going on in the United States, the Kenny treatment spread to South America, Canada, Eire, Belgium, Russia, Czecho-Slovakla, Spain, India, and other countries. She was world-famous.

Back to home She returned to Australia five times, but received little acclaim. She came early last year to spend her last days at Toowoomba, not far from the farm at Nobby where she had grown up.  She leased a home in Toowoomba and Australian admirers started a movement to bring trained American nurses to Australia to teach her method — she had claimed that Australian 'so-called Kenny clinics' had departed from her way of treatment.  Age and illness were telling but she was restless.  Six months later she was back in New York on her way to Copenhagen. She was reported then to have described herself to interviews as a woman dying from Parkinson's Disease.  She was back in Australia in October, 1951, left again for America last March, returned in September, to announce: 'My victory is won. The polio virus has been isolated. Scientists will now be able to develop an effective vaccine. Columbia University has dedicated the virus discovery to me in recognition of my work. 'There are doctors in Australia today who denounce her views and methods most strongly. There are others—some of whom were associated with her in her Queensland work — who say she should get credit for her whole approach to the treatment of polio. 

Reject theory But even among those who are ready to give her this credit, there is a refusal to accept her theory about the origin of the disease. Most doctors hold that the polio virus strikes at the central nervous system. The Kenny theory was that it could directly attack muscles and other parts of the body, and could invade the bloodstream. Sister Kenny maintained that it was impossible to administer her treatment without accepting her theory.  Doctors say her theory has not been proved.

Final notes Her last months were spent in preparing notes in further exposition of her claims; in meeting every challenge that came to notice. And she kept a sharp watch on the exchanges. Photostatic copies of articles from oversea Journals regularly reached her desk in the home on Toowoomba Range.  On November 12, a week before she suffered the stroke that caused her death, she wrote to the Editor of The Courier-Mail contesting an opinion contrary to her beliefs, which had been made by an American doctor in a cabled interview, published that day.  'A statement could be supplied, signed by the Assistant Professor of Pediatrics of the University of Minnesota Medical School, giving the names of seven scientists who have proven the Kenny concept to be correct.' she wrote.

No bitterness England has formed a Kenny Foundation International (United Kingdom branch). By forming an Australian branch of the Foundation, Australia could get the help of two orthopaedic surgeons— members of the World Health Organisation—to explain to the medical profession the theory upon which the Kenny treatment is based.'

In these sustained controversies, she professed to have no bitterness towards those who had opposed her down the years. But she lost none of her zeal, none of the conviction that hers was an apostolate role in life, and that she was right.  She was still fighting for her cause when death came to her.

The Courier Mail Monday 01 December 1952 page 3

KENNY, Julia Gertrude

Staff Nurse
AANS

Born Nagambie, Vic.
Daughter of Thomas and Mary KENNY
Sister to Thomas P KENNY
Age 30 years
Training Mooroopna Hospital, Vic
Enlisted 01 June 1917
Embarked 12 June 1917 in Melbourne per “Mooltan”
Service in Salonika and England
Returned to Australia 10 May 1919 per “Wahehe”
Medical check upon return indicated substantial hearing debility
Medical Discharge 13 August 1919
Did not marry
Died 24 October 1922 at Balwyn, Vic.

KENNY- On 24th October 1922, Julia Gertrude, A.A.N.S., dearly beloved daughter of late Thomas and Mary Kenny, Northwood, and loving sister of Jo, 61 St. Vincent place, Albert Park.. R.I.P.
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MISS JULIA GERTRUDE KENNY.
Miss Julia Gertrude Kenny, who died at Balwyn on October 25th, was the daughter of the late Thomas and Mary Kenny, of Wahring, Vic. She 
was educated at the Catholic school, Wahring and afterwards took up the profession of nursing, competing her course of training at the Mooroopna Hospital. For some time she was engaged in private nursing, but soon after the outbreak of the war she enlisted in the A.A.N.S., and was sent to Salonica. For over two years she was on active service with the troops, and then was transferred to the Dartford Military Hospital. England, where she remained for some months. Returning to Australia she had three months' leave, and then resumed nursing at the Caulfleld Military Hospital, where she remained until overtaken by her last illness. Nurse Kenny's loss will be felt very much both by her patients and by her large circle of friends.
R.I.P.

Advocate Thursday 16 November 1922 page 27

KENT, Bertha Mary

Sister
AANS

Born 28 October 1885 at Norwood, SA
Daughter of Richard KENT and Mary Anne nee DISNEY
Sister to Mrs. Ethel BARRATT
Age 31 years
Training Broken Hill District Hospital
Enlisted 07 June 1917
Embarked 14 June 1917 in Adelaide per “Mooltan”
Service in Salonika
Resigned appointment in England 01 April 1919 due to marriage
Married Charles CAMERON
Nursing at St Margaret’s Convalescent Home, Semaphore SA in 1936
Died 26 August 1972 at Eastwood, SA
Resided Eastwood, SA
Aged 87 years
Buried Centennial Park Cemetery Derrick Gardens Path 24 Grave 181 B

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KENT, Bessie Maude

Nurse
AANS

Born 1891 in Burwood, NSW
Daughter of William KENT and Maude nee CALDWELL
Age 26 years
Enlisted 10 May 1917
Embarked 09 June 1917 in Sydney per “Mooltan”
Service in Salonika
1918 was not a good year for Nurse Kent
May - Ptomaine poisoning; June and July - Dysentery; September - Influenza
Returned to Australia 31 May 1919 per “Aeneas” On Duty
Appointment terminated 13 August 1919
Married 21 April 1923 David Andrew COWAN 
Repatriation contact 11 June 1959
Died 21 January 1981 in NSW
COWAN-KENT-April 21, at St James' Church, King street, by Rev. A R. Maclean, David Andrew, eldest son of the late Mr T. Cowan ard Mrs. Cowan, of Oxley Island, Manning River, to Bessie Maude, eldest  daughter of Mr. ans Mrs. W. Kent, of Brighton, Mina Rosa street, Enfield. 

Sydney Morning Herald Friday 25 May 1923 page 10

KENTISH, Winifred Nora

Staff Nurse
AANS

Born Winifred Nora KENTISH 16 January 1888 at Petersburg, SA
Daughter of Frederick and Kate Frances KENTISH
Training at Adelaide General Hospital
Age 29 years
Appointment Date 19 November 1917
Duty at No 7 AGH and No15 AGH
Resigned due to marriage 27 September 1918
Married Robert Ferguson MATHESON
Resided 11 Park St, Unley SA
Her husband died 27 October 1935 at the age of 46 years
Died 15 July 1968 at Daw Park, SA
Aged 80 years
Resided Malvern, SA
Cremated Centennial Park Cemetery


KEOGH, Estelle Venner

Staff Nurse
Queen Alexandra's Imperial Nursing Service Reserve

Born 1892 in Malvern, Vic.
Daughter of Edmund Joseph KEOGH and Helen Beatrice nee MOORE
Of St. Margaret's, 1 York Terrace,  St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, Vic.
Enlisted 18 December 1915
From England 25 May 1916
2 Stationary Hospital - Abbeville 25 May 1916
38 CCS 20 Mary 1917
5 CCS 17 June 1917
61 CCS 23 July 1917
44 CCS 09 August 1917
10 Stationary Hospital 21 August 1917
83 General Hospital 10 October 1917
Resigned at completion of contract 18 December 1917 as her brother urgently required her presence at home.
Left for Australia 29 January 1918
Married George Henry WILKINS MC
Died 03 April 1966 in Sydney, NSW
​Late of Potts Point, NSW
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Weekly Courier 06 June 1918 Insert 2
BROUGHT SOWN BY CUPID
ROMANCE IN MILITARY LIFE


To come safely through' a bombardment of shell fire and then be brought down by an arrow shot from Cupid's bow, is the experience of Miss Estelle Venner Keogh, R.R.C., a Melbourne nurse, who has been on active service for two years.

When she boarded a transport in England, for Australia, some weeks ago, to spend a short furlough with relatives, her heart was fancy free. Last week she left for Tasmania to marry Lieutenant George Wilkins, M.C., of Devonport, whose acquaintance she made on the homeward journey. Lieutenant Wilkins, still suffering from the effects of a severe gas attack and wounds, has not yet been discharged from hospital.
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Awarded Royal Red Cross 1st Class

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Decorated by the King

Miss Keogh was decorated with the Royal Red Cress (1st Class), by The King at Buckingham Palace, at the New Year honours investiture. Later she, with other nurses upon whom honours had been conferred, attended Marlborough House, at the request of Queen Alexandra, who personally congratulated them. 

"When 50 Australian nurses were called for the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Reserve Service, Miss Keogh volunteered. At that time she was on duty at the Base Hospital,
Glenroy, but through being under the age limit the authorities here could not send her on active service. Rather
than lose time she resolved to enlist in the Imperial service.

For some time she was attached to a military hospital at Abbeville, France, and later was entrusted with the responsibility of tending wounded soldiers, who were picked up at various casualty stations and brought in barges
down the Somme to a base hospital. She explained that the worst cases were conveyed in this way, because the barges offered such an easy and comfortable mode of transit. 

Worked on Barges

The barges were fitted up like hospital ships, with top coverings that could be left open when, 
weather permitted. There was accommodation for30 patients, and surgical appointments for 
dealing with emergency operations.
Miss Keogh was engaged in this work for many weeks. Then the winter set in the river rose so 
that the barges were not able to pass under the bridges, and other means of conveyance had 
to be found. 

Later this Australian girl had the good fortune to form one of a surgical team with Major Gordon 
Taylor, a Hartley street specialist, in command.  These teams, comprising a doctor,anaesthetist, 
sister and orderly, visited various casualty stations on relief service after big engagements had 
taken place, remaining on duty for 16 hours at a stretch until the pressure of the work was over.

When Miss Keogh was asked How she won her distinction she blushed 'like a schoolgirl, and murmured something about doing nothing at all. However, a few tactful questions and quiet humouring revealed the fact that she had displayed remarkable courage under a dangerous bombardment.

She was on duty at a clearing station between Ypres and Poperinghewhen the enemy, who had been bombarding the place for some time, began to pour in shells at the rate, of six to the hour. The first shell arrived at 10 a.m., killing a young Canadian nurse whose quarters were only a short distance from the tent in which Miss Keogh was stationed.  Another of her colleagues lost her eye through being hit with a shell splinter. Eventually the order was given to evacuate, and Miss Keogh helped to make the patients' moving as comfortable as possible, staying in the danger zone until the last wounded man was safely away.

After passing through this ordeal nurses and patients were accommodated at St. Omer Convent. In the peace of this tranquil retreat the re-action set in, and the nurse who had faced shell fire without flinching found that ordinary noises, such as the banging of a door, would set all her nerves tingling.

Trainee of Alfred Hospital

After three months' furlough she resigned from the Imperial service, intending to join an Australian nursing unit, after a brief rest in Australia.  Lieutenant Wilkins persuaded her to alter the plan.  Miss Keogh is a daughter of Mrs H. B. Keogh, "St Margaret's" Trained Nurses' Home, St. Kilda road. She trained at the Alfred Hospital.

Lieutenant George Henry Wilkins, M.C., of the 15th (Queensland and Tasmanian) Battalion, saw service in the ranks in Gallipoli, and gained his commission in France, being promoted from company sergeant-major to second-lieutenant on April 6. 1917. He was subsequently promoted a lieutenant, and returned to Australia on the 21st of last month. He is thirty years of age.

The names of many Australian nurses are closely linked with heroic deeds in the present war.

Awards to Australian nurses to date include: Royal Red Cross of the First Class, 19; Royal Red Cross of the Second Class, 60; Military Medal, 5. In addition many have obtained mention in despatches.

Weekly Times Vic. Saturday 13 April 1918 page 10


KEPPEL, Beatrice Emma

Sister
AANS

Born 1890 in Qld.
Daughter of Francis Henry KEPPEL and Louisa Clarke nee HANN
Enlisted 14 September 1916
Embarked 09 May 1917
Appointment terminated 23 November 1919
Died 22 November 1932 at a result of a car accident near Stanthorpe, Qld.

Matron B. Keppel

A wide circle of friends will regret to learn of the death of Matron Keppel, of the Stanthorpe Hospital, as a result of a motor accident near Stanthorpe on 22nd inst. The late Miss Keppel was a grand-daughter of the late Mr. William Hann, who took up and owned Maryvale and Bluff Downs stations, in the Charters Towers district, and a daughter of the late Mr. Fred Keppel, who owned Victoria Downs and Niall stations in the same area. Miss Keppel was born and brought up in the bush, which partly accounted for her general all-round usefulness, and on leaving school joined the staff of the Charters Towers District Hospital. On the outbreak of the Great War Miss Keppel, then a certified nurse, at once volunteered for service. Being accepted she went to France, accompanied by her brother, William, as a member of the A.I.F. The latter was badly wounded in abattle on the Marne, and died in a Paris hospital, being nursed by his sister up to the time of his death.  The sister and brother were a splendid couple, both being of magnificent physique, Miss Keppel standing 6ft.1in., and her brother 6ft. 4in. On the declaration of peace Miss Keppel turned to Queensland and continued her nursing career, and was eventually appointed to the matronship of the Stanthorpe Hospital ten years ago, a position that she held with the highest credit to herself and the institution, and the benefit of all sufferers who came under her care up to the time of her death. Miss Keppel is survived by her aunt, Mrs. C. W. Clarke, of Maryvale, Charters Towers, who was a daughter of the late William Hann, also a sister, Mrs. I. D. Ferguson, of Lawn Hill, Burketown, a station once owned by the late Frank Hann, a grand-uncle of Miss Keppel; two sisters in the Charters Towers district, and a brother, Fred., owner of Rokeby station, Cape York Peninsula. The late Miss Keppel was a lady of striking personality, a charming manner, and a sweet disposition, and many a North Queenslander will deeply regret the passing of one who was such a true type of that noble band of "women of the west."

The Brisbane Courier Tuesday 29 November 1932 page 15

KERR, Eleanora Campbell

Sister
AANS

Born Castlemaine, Vic.
Daughter of William Robert McConne KERR and Elizabeth Carol nee TEAL
Of Observer Office, Jennings Street, Kyneton, Vic.
Enlisted 11 November 1914
Aged 34 years
Embarked 28 November 1914
Served in France
Returned to Australia 17 February 1919 per 'Berrima'
Appointment terminated 18 August 1919
Died 18 May 1960
​Resided Middle Brighton, Vic.
Buried Springvale Botanical Cemetery Boronia Wall U Niche 51

Photograph Table Talk Thursday 26 November 1914 page 3
Punch Thursday 10 December 1914 page 18
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KERSHAW, Mary Augusta

Staff Nurse
AANS

Born 30 March 1886 at Black Rock Plain, SA
Daughter of Charles Traugott KUERSCHNER and Elizabeth Francis nee LOCKTON
Address Black Rock, SA
Age 31 years
Training Adelaide General Hospital
Enlisted 02 March 1918 in Keswick
Duty at No7 AGH March 1918 – October 1918
Embarked 14 October 1918 in Sydney “Wyreema”
Service in Solonika
Returned to Australia per “Wyreema” 21 December 1918
Appointment Terminated 05 June 1919
Married Algernon Percival DAVIS 03 June 1928 at the Church of the Holy Cross, Goodwood, SA
No children
​Died 22 June 1967 at home - 15 Lloyd Street, South Road Estate, SA
Cause of death Congestive Cardiac Failure (4 weeks) Arteriosclerotic Heart Disease (more than 12 months) with Fibrillation
Aged 81 years
Resided South Road Estate
Buried Centennial Park Cemetery Derrick Gardens Path 37 Grave 251A

“Nurse Kershaw changed name on 23 January 1918 from Mary Augusta Kuerschner
Father, Australian German – Mother Irish – Grandmother English.”

KEVIN, Maud Josephine (middle)

Sister
AANS

Born Josephine M KEVIN 1885 at Ashfield, Sydney, NSW
Daughter of Charles KEVIN and Mary nee DEASEY
Of 6 Cecil Street, Ashfield, NSW
Enlisted 19 July 1915 in Sydney, NSW
Aged 30 years
Embarked 11 May 1917 
Embarked 16 October 1918 at Sydney per 'Malta'
Embarked at Suez 26 January 1919 for Australia per 'Demosthenes'
Discharged as medically unfit 03 August 1919
Did not marry
Died 01 March 1977 at Villa Maria Nursing Home, Wollongong, NSW
Aged 90 years
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Two war nurses known here, Sister Kevin and Sister Nowland are now attached to the No. 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford, England.

The Bathurst Times Wednesday 21 February 1917 page 4
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Photographs courtesy of Jenny Rayner

KEYS, Constance Mabel

Sister
AANS

Born 30 October 1886 at Mount Perry, Qld.
Daughter of James KEYS and Margaret nee PELHAM
Enlisted 21 September 1914
Embarked 24 September 1914
Returned to Australia 
Appointment terminated 17 February 1920
Married Lionel Hugh Kemp PENNEFATHER 03 December 1921
Died 17 March 1964 in Brisbane, Qld.
Buried Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens Columbarium 12 Section 17
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Awarded Royal Red Cross (2nd Class)
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 29 June 1917
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 1390, position 83
Date of London Gazette: 1 January 1917
Location in London Gazette: Page 47, position 4

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Awarded Royal Red Cross (1st Class)
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 15 September 1919
Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 1372, position 2
Date of London Gazette: 3 June 1919
Location in London Gazette: Page 6840, position 3
"For excellent services as Sister in Charge of this C.C.S. during a very busy period and for conspicuous devotion to duty since 1914."

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A Brisbane nurse, who has received a Royal Military Cross of the second order from the King Sister Keys was born at Mount Perry.  She received her training as a nurse in the Brisbane General Hospital, and was a sister of the Army Nursing Corps before the war broke out.  She was one of the first four nurses selected for duty abroad, and is now on duty in a military hospital at Brighton.

The Queenslander 
Saturday 27 January 1917 page 28
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Constance Mabel Keys (1886-1964), nurse, was born on 30 October 1886 at Mount Perry, Queensland, seventh child of Irish-born James Keys, schoolteacher, and his wife Margaret, née Pelham, who was English. She trained at the Brisbane General Hospital and enlisted as a staff nurse in the Australian Army Nursing Service, Australian Imperial Force, on 21 September 1914; she embarked three days later.

On arriving in Egypt Nurse Keys was posted to a British military hospital at Abbassia and then to 
the 1st Australian General Hospital at Heliopolis where she treated casualties from Gallipoli. 
She was promoted sister on 21 November 1915. On 4 December she joined the hospital shipThemistocles which was filled with wounded, and after arriving in Sydney re-embarked on 
1 March 1916 for Egypt. There she briefly joined the 3rd A.G.H. at Abbassia, then went to England 
and on 5 October took up duty at the Kitchener Hospital, Brighton. She served in hospitals in 
England until 15 November 1917 when she was transferred to the 3rd A.G.H. at Abbeville, France. 
By this time she had been promoted head sister, A.A.N.S. On 9 February 1918 she went up the 
line as sister-in-charge of the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station at Trois Arbres near Bailleul.

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​For most of 1918 Constance Keys was seldom far from the front line. During the German offensive in March she and her staff were ordered to transfer the 2nd A.C.C.S. to Hazebrouck. On 12 April Hazebrouck was shelled and the station was transferred to St Omer which that night was heavily bombed. Five days later Sister Keys and her nurses rejoined their unit at Blendecques near St Omer and remained there until 4 September when the station was moved forward again to Hazebrouck. Conditions throughout this period were appalling. The retreat from Bailleul took place in cold, wet weather which made movement difficult and increased the suffering of the wounded and the escaping civilians. By the time Sister Keys had reached St Omer she and her staff had become, in her own words, 'refugees'. At Blendecques they had to treat many gassed patients, cope with an outbreak of influenza in June, and deal in July and August with casualties suffering from exhaustion as well as from wounds.

After their advance to Hazebrouck in September the 2nd A.C.C.S. staff still had to nurse large numbers of sick and wounded. Two weeks later Sister Keys moved south with her staff to St Venant and then to Estaires, near Armentières, where many wounded civilians were admitted to the station. On 15 November the 2nd A.C.C.S. received cases at Tournai, Belgium, and after three weeks work there, opened again at Ath near Brussels. In January 1919 work slackened but in February influenza again broke out. Early in March the work of the station was handed over to the Royal Army Medical Corps Field Ambulance, and Sister Keys returned to England, where she spent some months with the 1st A.G.H. at Sutton Veny. She left England on 1 November and was discharged from the A.I.F. on 17 February 1920 in Melbourne.

Sister Keys was one of the most highly decorated nurses in the A.A.N.S. She was twice mentioned in dispatches (1 December 1916 and 31 December 1918), received the Royal Red Cross, second class (29 December 1916) and first class (3 June 1919), and was awarded the Médaille des Epidémies in recognition of work for French refugees.

After her return to Queensland Miss Keys became matron of a convalescent hospital for returned soldiers at Broadwater, Brisbane. While there she met and married on 3 December 1921 at Galloways Hill, Lionel Hugh Kemp-Pennefather, a Gallipoli veteran, who was in charge of the farm section at the hospital. Mrs Pennefather ceased her professional career after marrying but during World War II did voluntary work for service organizations. The Pennefathers lived in Brisbane until the 1950s when they moved to Southport. Survived by her husband, a son and a daughter, she died there on 17 March 1964 and was cremated with Anglican rites.

Connie Keys was a gentle, compassionate and fearless woman whose courage is amply attested to by her decorations. She was also an accomplished pianist. Her citations, medals and other records are in the Medical Corps Museum at the Australian Army School of Health, Healesville, Victoria.

by P. H. Merrillees and R. S. Merrillees
This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, (MUP), 1983


Read more here


KEYS, Lilan Constance

Sister
AANS

Born 1889 in Young, NSW
Daughter of Edward KEYS and Louisa E nee HOWARD
Of Reball, Yass, NSW
Aged 26 years
Enlisted 13 June 1916
Embarked 03 September 1916 from Sydney per 'Kashgar'
Served in India
Resigned appointment with the Ambulance Transport 'Madras' due to Marriage
Married at Victoria, Canada on 30 December 1918 Alfred George Harrison CARRUTHERS
Picture
Nurse Lilian Keys, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. Keys, of O'Connelltown, Yass, made a romantic marriage in Vancouver an New Year's Eve. She was travelling with four other nursing sisters in the ambulance transport Madras. Mr.A. Carruthers joined the ship at Shanghai, en route to the old country, on furlough, after thirty years spent in China, a Deputy Commissioner of the Chinese Customs service. Three weeks after meeting the pair were married.

Newcastle Morning Herald & Miner's Advocate Friday 07 March 1919 page 7

KEYS, Louisa Harriet

Staff Nurse
AANS


Born 1889 at Warrnambool,Vic
Daughter of Mr. Thomas KEYS and Bridget Catherine nee BUCKLEY
Address Pyramid Hill, Vic
Age 27 years
Training 3 years Daylesford Hospital
Enlisted 05 June 1917
Embarked 30 June 1917 in Melbourne per “Somali”
Service in India
Promoted to Sister 03June 1919
Returned to Australia per “Thermistocles” 15 October 1919
Appointment Terminated 21 April 1920
Did not marry
Repartition Contact 29 April 1959
Did not marry
Died 04 JUne 1969 in Victoria
​Resided Tecoma, Vic.
Buried Ferntree Gully Cemetery, Vic.

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