Grace Wilson (1899) (1879 – 1957)
Matron-in-Chief Grace Margaret Wilson CBE RRC of the Australian Army Nursing Service
Grace Wilson’s dedication to a long and extraordinary nursing career tells a story of a remarkable woman who worked tirelessly in the service of others.
In 1897, Grace spent a year at Girls Grammar before going on to train as a nurse and, by the time World War I broke out, she was matron of the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Grace was one of the first nurses to sign up with the Australian Imperial Force, and in 1915 was sent to the island of Lemnos as Matron in charge of the hospital that would care for Australian soldiers wounded in the Gallipoli campaign. Grace was decorated for her service in both World Wars, and eventually retired to Mooroolbark, Victoria.
When World War One (WWI) broke out, Grace volunteered for nursing duty and joined the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), following her brothers, Norman and Graeme, to the ‘Front’. From 1915 to 1919, most of her time was spent serving as Matron of the Third Australian General Hospital, No 3 AGH, initially based on the island of Lemnos.
Like many of the 2100 or more nurses who served during the war, Grace kept a diary and her accounts of the appalling conditions and waste of life reveal a strong independent woman, indignant and critical of the horrors endured by the men and women at the front. When Grace passed through Alexandria in August 1915, her entry notes were that it was ‘a very French place, fascinating and pretty’, but it was here that Grace received news of the death of her brother, Graeme, killed by a sniper at Quinn’s Post, Gallipoli. She also had news that another brother, Norman, was safe and well in Heliopolis.
After the evacuation of Gallipoli in December 1915, the hospital moved to Egypt, and over the following years of the war, Grace was mentioned many times in despatches. She finally returned to Australia in 1920. She was awarded nursing’s highest honour in 1929, the Florence Nightingale Medal, for army nursing service and humane actions, and at the outbreak of World War Two in 1939 served as Matron-in-Chief of the Army Nursing Reserve. She was also posted for a short time in the Middle East.
She initiated many developments in nursing during her career, focusing on the conditions, training, and wages available to nurses. Grace’s great-niece, Judy Campbell, recalled Grace visiting and caring for many of the nurses who had returned to Australia, but who were unable to reintegrate into their once-familiar lives. Grace was awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal, was made a Commander (Military) of the British Empire, and was the first woman to receive life membership of the Returned Servicemen’s League in 1953 (Daryl Passmore, 2013).
Grace retired from nursing in 1945 and passed away three years later in 1957.