AUSTRALIAN NURSES AND THE WAR.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 221, 22 October 1914, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN NURSES AND THE WAR.

The staff of the Australian Voluntary F'eld Hospital left Southampton for the seat of the war in Lord Dunraven's | yacht, the Greta, writes "Phyllis'' in the "British-Australasian" of Septem-: ber 10. The splendid little vessel has been painted white, banded with scarlet, and bears the Red Cross on her bulwarks. .The equipment and management of the field hospital is in the hands of Mr Douglas Shields, the wellknown Australian surgeon. Co-operat-ing with him are Dr Home, of the Australian military forces, and Dr Wallace, son of Colonel Wallace, of Melbourne. The' nurses include representatives of all the States. They are wearing a distinctive uniform; grey army coats and grey bonnets with brown velvet edges and brown strings,, for outdoors; and, for indoors, gre3 r linen dresses with little capes of scarlet cloth, white collars and cuffs, handkerchief caps and grey uprons. The costume is one that in normal. circumstances it would take a lot of courage to wear; but none of the girls seemed to be much bothered—except about the grey aprons, and even, they were accepted as part of the "fog of war." We have often been told that '' fine feathers make fine birds,'' but the Australian girls of this particular batch were so fine that the unloveliest of feathers could not disguise the fact. Perhaps an Australian's unsupported evidence is not worth much; but it was interesting to hear what the women who collected to see them off, when the big 'buses left Ranelagh a few days ago, thought of them. "A splendid lot of girls!" one stout matron exclaimed. '' Yes," a little woman near her replied eagerly, "the one with bright blue eyes; she is pretty, isn't she?'" "And the one with the grey eyes . ... it's her I'd like my boy to i get to look after him, if he's hurt,' ' an j anxious mother said. And she called [after the 'bus: —"Hi, miss . . . you'll look after my boy. .'. Harry -. . .Harry Thompson ... . if you find him . . . for 'is mother's sake, won't you?" And a whole chorus of: "Yes, yes, of course, mother," was volleyed, by way of reply. One hundred orderlies are travelling with the hospital, and will do the rough work # of the camp. Postcards indicating "that the staff has arrived on the Continent have been re-; ceived, but its -whereabouts are uncertain. Lady Dudley is travelling with them, and has asked to be known to them only as Sister during the campaign. Sir Lucas-Tooth's magnificent gift of £IO,OOO has made it possible for all the arrangements and appurtenances of the hospital to be of the best and most;, workmanlike. One Australian woman has presented it with a motor car, and another with £2OOO. '•