Australian War Stories ANSWERING THE CALL When Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, as a dominion of the British Empire, Australia was also at war. The outbreak of hostilities was greeted with enthusiasm by the Australian public. Jessie Buchanan McDONALD was among the more than 330,000 Australians, including nearly 3,000 nurses, who volunteered to serve overseas between 1914 and 1918. An extraordinary number from a population of under five million. Their wartime journeys took them to far-flung battlefields at Gallipoli, on the Western Front and in the Middle East. For the ANZACs, the adventure would become a nightmare. In the quagmire that was Belgium and Northern France – where more than 295,000 Australians served – 46,000 lost their lives and more than 130,000 were wounded. For the soldiers and nurses who returned to Australia, many bore the scars of their experience for the rest of their lives. 📄 Australian nursing recruitment poster by David Souter c. 1914 (Courtesy: State Library NSW) 🎞 Soldiers voices, dramatised and archival footage of the Western Front campaign (Courtesy: Sir John Monash Centre, © Commonwealth of Australia 2018)

Australian War Stories ALL SIGNED UP Jessie Buchanan McDONALD signed-up to join the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as a member of the Australian Army Nursing Corp. Jessie duly completed the AIF enlistment form – called the ‘Attestation Paper’. She noted that her home was in Victoria and confirmed her age, occupation and marital status. On the second page of the Attestation Paper she made the following oath in the presence of the Attesting Officer: “I, Jessie Buchanan McDONALD … swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord the King in the Australian Imperial Force until the end of the War … SO HELP ME, GOD.” 📄 First page of Attestation Paper, © Commonwealth of Australia (National Archives of Australia) 2019.

Australian War Stories FIT FOR ACTIVE SERVICE Like all new nursing recruits Jessie underwent a thorough medical examination. She was found to be free of a wide range of conditions that would “unfit her for duties ”, including “impaired constitution” and “defects of vision, voice or hearing”. The Examining Medical Officer stated that Jessie: “can see the required distance with either eye; her heart and lungs are healthy; she has the free use of her joints; and she declares she is not subject to fits of any description. I consider her fit for active service”. 📷 Sister Olive Haynes from Adelaide was 26 when she embarked for Egypt. (Portrait courtesy Mrs Marnie Watts)

Australian War Stories THE GREAT ADVENTURE Australia had been at war for 756 days when Jessie McDONALD departed Sydney, New South Wales aboard the troopship HMAT Kashgar on 2 September 1916. ‘HMAT’ stood for ‘His Majesty’s Australian Transport’ and HMAT Kashgar was one of many ships requisitioned by the government for wartime service transporting the troops, more than 139,000 horses and the odd kangaroo. Jessie, her fellow nurses and the soldiers were headed for Egypt and beyond where they would make final preparations for war. Most had never ventured out of their home state and were looking forward to the “adventure of a lifetime”. Many of the troopships that departed from the eastern seaboard stopped at King George Sound in Albany, or further up the coast at Fremantle, where they took on supplies. For some of the troops, the WA coastline would be their last view of Australia. The epic four-week voyage across the Indian Ocean to Egypt has been described as “the longest journey to war in the history of the world”. Jessie and the other nurses cared for the troops on board, many of whom suffered terrible bouts of seasickness. Three hearty meals a day were served: breakfast usually consisted of porridge, stew and tea; lunch included soup, meat, vegetables and pudding; and dinner was mostly meat, bread with jam and tea. Officers organised rigorous training drills and exercise sessions for the enlisted men. To alleviate boredom, sports carnivals were held with boxing matches, pillow fights and wheelbarrow races. The Equator-crossing ceremony ‘Neptune’s Journey’ was held on each troopship. 🎞 The voyage from Australia to Egypt (Courtesy: National Film & Sound Archive)

Australian War Stories EGYPT & BEYOND Jessie arrived at Aden on board HMAT Kashgar before sailing up the Suez Canal to Egypt – a land that had seen more armies than almost any other. It was here, in the shadow of the pyramids, that the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps would be first grouped together under the now hallowed acronym ‘ANZAC’. In Egypt, the nurses were posted to the 1st Australian General Hospital, established in the grand Heliopolis Palace Hotel in Cairo, or the 2nd Australian General Hospital in Mena House, a former royal hunting lodge. The training for the soldiers was arduous: marching through sand, digging and attacking trenches for eight hours a day, six days a week. Jessie and the nurses patched-up any injuries and provided treatment for increasing cases of smallpox, measles, pneumonia and cholera. During the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, the nurses served on hospital ships off the coast and in primitive hospitals on Lemnos Island. From mid-1916, many of the Australian soldiers and nurses sailed on to England where they were stationed at camps on the Salisbury Plains, near Stonehenge. Others remained in Egypt and went directly to Marseille, joining their units in Northern France and Belgium. Here, the nurses experienced the horrors of the Western Front, serving at Casualty Clearing Stations on the frontlines and the Australian General Hospitals at Rouen and Wimereux. 📷 The Australians arrive at Alexandria in Egypt aboard HMAT Orvieto, December 1914 (Photo by Phillip Schuler, courtesy Australian War Memorial, PS0375) 📷 General Birdwood addresses Australian nurses in Cairo, circa 1915. (Courtesy: Mrs Marnie Watts)

Australian War Stories AUSTRALIAN ARMY NURSING SERVICE Jessie McDONALD was a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). The AANS was formed in 1902 by combining the nursing services of the colonial-era militaries and the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC). Nurses were recruited from both the nursing services and the civilian workforce. They were aged between 25 to 40 and most often educated and qualified. Although in early 1916, the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) gave them officer rank, these women were paid around half of what the male officers received. Wages were so low some received financial support from their families back home. They served at field and base hospitals in Australia as well as in Egypt, England and across the Western and Middle Eastern Fronts. Some suffered physical and mental injuries as they were exposed to the huge casualties from battles. Other challenges included exposure to poor facilities, lack of staff, disease, harsh climate and gas and bomb attacks. About 2,861 women joined the AANS for overseas service, with hundreds more serving with the Royal Australian Navy Nurses, and with organisations such as the Red Cross and for home service in Australia. 📷 Lieutenant Hugo Throssell VC at Wandsworth Hospital in England recovers from wounds received at Gallipoli. The Australian nurse is not identified. (Courtesy: Australian War Memorial, 00516_003) 🎞 Dramatised and archival footage of nurses on the Western Front (Courtesy: Sir John Monash Centre © Commonwealth of Australia 2018).

Australian War Stories TAKING IN THE SIGHTS On her days off, Jessie and the Australians in Egypt took in the sights of Cairo, rode camels and climbed pyramids. Many had their own cameras and took photos at the top of the Grand Pyramid and in front of The Sphinx. For the nurses who went to England, there were sightseeing trips to Stonehenge, visits to London or a matinee session at “the pictures”. 📷 Postcard from Cairo. (Courtesy: WA Museum) 📷 Sister Olive Haynes and friend at The Sphinx, Egypt, circa 1915. (Courtesy: Mrs Marnie Watts)

Australian War Stories PEACE AT LAST At 11am on 11 November 1918, Germany signed the Armistice that would bring the war to an end. In cities and towns across Australia people celebrated in the streets. The headline on the front page of the Melbourne Argus read: 'The City Rejoices', and a report in The Sydney Morning Herald noted that the Inspector of Police had instructed his officers "to give reasonable latitude to persons who may be inclined to be somewhat boisterous in their peace celebrations". And so it was across the country, finally at peace after a war that had left over 60,000 Australians dead and 156,000 wounded - proportionally one of the highest casualty rates of any of the Allied countries. 📷 Returned soldiers and supporters celebrating Armistice in Sydney (Fairfax Photos) 🎞 Armistice on the Western Front - dramatised and archive footage (Courtesy: Sir John Monash Centre, © Commonwealth of Australia 2018)

Australian War Stories ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Australian War Stories and Memories gratefully acknowledge the support of News Corp Australia in honouring our first ANZACs. 📄 Enlistment and embarkation details sourced from digitised records in the public domain held at the National Archives of Australia and the Australian War Memorial. Images and/or video from the Australian War Memorial, National Archives of Australia, National Film & Sound Archive and the Sir John Monash Centre, © Commonwealth of Australia and reproduced using Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia and International 4.0 licences. Content curated and produced by Mediality Pty Ltd, © 2022. IMPORTANT NOTE: whilst every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this memorial Timeline content, including personal data, enlistment and embarkation details, on occasion primary sources contain conflicting detail and omissions. 📷 The Australian National Memorial and the Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux, France (Courtesy: Sir John Monash Centre)