Nell Williamson as a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), 1940-44, interviewed by Jan Bassett Accession Number: S01819

Description

Enlisted 1940, discharged 1944. Early life; civilian nursing training at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney; registered in the army reserve; ran private hospital at Tullamore NSW then in 1937 went to England working at the London Clinic and the University College Hospital; returned to Australia in 1939 and was called up into the army in 1940; first posting to Ingleburn as Deputy Matron then sent to Sydney Showgrounds Camp Hospital as Senior Sister; sailed on the hospital ship Manunda to Port Moresby to bring back sick and injured civilians then sailed in September 1940 to the Middle East; returned to Australia with sick and injured from Middle East; posted to 2/9th Australian General Hospital (2/9AGH) and sailed on the SS Aquitania to Egypt in February 1941 and attached to a British hospital in El Amara; discusses conditions in British hospital and unsuitability of uniforms, food, types of illnesses and injuries treated; moved to Nazareth in Palestine; nurses health; recreation; escaped injury in British tank accident; returned to Australia in 1942; in October 1942, after six months in Adelaide, the 2/9 AGH was sent to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea; describes living and working conditions in the hospital, relations with neighbouring American hospital, types of injuries and illnesses treated; problems with Scrub Typhus disease; Japanese prisoners; medical orderlies; boilersuits; promoted to Principal Matron of Australian Hospitals in New Guinea; perceptions of 'negroes'; personal safety incidents and violence involving nurses and American servicemen; returning to Australia at the end of the New Guinea campaign and leaving the army when she married in 1944; discusses main benefits of her service in the army and advances in medical treatments as a result of the Second World War. END OF INTERVIEW
A transcript of this recording may be available. For further information please contact the Sound section.

Details

Accession Number
S01819
Interviewer/Recordist
Interviewee
Nell Williamson
Classification
Sound
Object Type
Oral history
Physical Description
Brand: BASF LP 35
Carrier: 1/4 inch sound tape reel
Size: 5 inch
Speed: 3 3/4 ips/9.5 cm.s
Track: stereo
Measurement
58 min
Date Made
19 February 1987
Place Made
Whole/Part
Intellectual record
Item Count
2
Credit Line
AWM Special Project Fellowship Award
Access
Open
Copying Provisions
Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Copyright
AWM copyright

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Part 1 of Nell Williamson as a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), 1940-44, interviewed by Jan Bassett

Part 2 of Nell Williamson as a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), 1940-44, interviewed by Jan Bassett

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Last modified: 3 November 2026 - 6.11 am