Jant Gaff - pre-war hospital experience

Janet Muir Gaff (Jessie) did her nursing training at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in Scotland.

Sketch of Glasgow Royal Infirmary in distance - National Library of Scotland

The hospital built beside Glasgow Cathedral opened in 1794. The original hospital building was designed with 100 beds in eight wards. Janet worked at the infirmary from 1889 until the end of 1891 when she migrated with her family to Australia.

The Nursing Record for November 1891 included a copy of a letter that Janet had written about the length of time dead patients remained in the wards and the effect upon the other patients. The article shows this nurse's concern for patient welfare, an attribute she would have required when nursing injured soldiers during World War I.

Nursing Record 12 November 1891 p 247

Janet arrived in Melbourne on Christmas day 1891 and moved into the house her mother had purchased as a family home in Blackburn.

Janet continued her nursing career in Australia, initially at the new hospital at Warracknabeal which opened in 1892. The new hospital had two wards with a total of 16 beds. It soon became obvious that the hospital was too small to serve the local population. Beds were located on the verandah and for a time a tent in the hospital grounds housed some of the patients. Room was also required to house patients with infectious diseases such as typhoid fever which was prevalent at the time. The hospital committee unsuccessfully applied for government grants to expand the premises. Hospital annual reportsare published in John Brennan's history of the hospital.

In June 1894 the Age newspaper published a letter about a complaint made to the Warracknabeal Hospital by a Catholic priest that one of his parishioners was receiving inadequate care as Sister Gaff had been nursing Dr Little who was ill with typhoid instead of his parishioner. Meanwhile other staff cared for the general patients. The priest continued his complaints but his letters were ignored by the hospital committee. (Age 9 June 1894 p 9) It must have been difficult in a small hospital with limited facilities and staff to keep all patients and families satisfied with their care. The hospital probably could not afford to lose a doctor so in this case it would appear that every effort was made to try and ensure Dr Little's eventual recovery.

Sometime in 1897 a private hospital was established in Warracknabeal in a weatherboard house, Massawippi, situated in Jamouneau Street. In 1918, an advertisement for the sale of the house described the premises as having eleven rooms, kitchen, bathroom and wash house. (Warracknabeal Herald 24 December 1918 p 4). This was the first private hospital in the Warracknabeal and was generally referred to as Nurse Gaff's Hospital. (Weekly Times 28 September 1812 p 33) It was a small hospital with eight beds and newspaper articles mentioned that a particular patient had been referred to the hospital by Dr Little. It is probable that Dr Little established the hospital and Janet ran it. Dr Little died in October 1911. (Obituary in Horsham Times 13 October 1911 p 5) In July that year Nurse Petremant of Adelaide took over the running of the hospital. (Adelaide Advertiser 24 July 1911 p 12). For a few years the house was used as a girl's school before being sold in 1918.

Janet was the nurse at the private hospital until she left to go on a world tour in 1910-1911. When she returned Janet worked at the Private Hospital in Willaura. This may have been Kelvin Private Hospital which opened in March 1910.

In October 1914 Janet wrote articles published in three newspapers outlining the need for troops to have warm clothes during a European winter. She suggested that frozen rabbits should be sent to England which would serve two purposes. The meat could be used to feed British people and refugees from Belgium while the tanned skins could be used for the soldiers' uniforms. This proposal has been put forward by the Patriotic League. (Willaura Farmer 23 October 1914 p 3; Warracknabeal Herald 27 October 1914 p 6; Ararat Chronicle and Willaura and Lake Bolac Districts Reporter 24 October 1914 p 3) At the bottom of these letters Janet gave her address as Private Hospital, Willaura.

Janet was obviously concerned about the effects of the war in Europe and her name appears in newspapers as a donor to various war related appeals during 1914 and 1915. (Argus 10 November 1914 p 6; 9 January 1915 p 16; 5 March 1915 p 6; 19 July 195 p 13 plus Age 15 March 1915 p 12)

However Janet wanted to be more involved so she returned to Melbourne to enlist as an army nurse.

On 11 August 1915 Janet joined the AIF Australian Army Nursing Service and worked at No 5 Australian General Hospital in St Kilda Road for twelve months. On 2 September 1916 Janet applied to serve as a nurse with the  No 4 Sea Transprt Service. She left Melbourne aboard the troop ship Euripides on her way to England.

References
Glasgow Royal Infirmary - Wikipedia
Copies of Nursing Record available online on Royal College of Nursing library and heritage website.

Brennan, John. One Hundred Years of Tender Loving Care 1891-1991: the History of the Warracknabeal Hospital Inc., Warracknabeal: North West Press 1991
Copies of digitised Australian newspapers available in Trove.

No 5 AGH St Kilda Road

The No 5 Australian General Hospital (AGH) St Kilda Road was established in March 1915. Initially the hospital had 40 beds but by the end of the First World War it had expanded to 620 beds. Eight nurses worked in the hospital in 1915 but by 1918 63 nurses looked after patients at the hospital.

No 5 AGH - image from Australian War Memorial collection

When nurse Janet Gaff joined the AIF Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) on 11 August 1915 she was assigned to No 5 AGH where she nursed injured soldiers for twelve months. This experience no doubt assisted nurses like Janet who were later to serve overseas.

Before being accepted as a sister in an Australian military hospital nurses required recognised training qualifications including at least three years hospital experience. Janet had trained and worked at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and after migrating to Australia in 1891 worked in hospitals in country Victoria. She therefore had considerable nursing experience before joining the AANS.

No 5 AGH - image from Australian War Memorial collection

After twelve months at No 5 AGH Janet joined the No 4 Sea Transport Service as a Staff Nurse. Janet left Melbourne aboard the transport ship Euripides on 11 September 1916. During the following two and a half years she made three return trips on the Australia to England route. When in Australia Janet continued to nurse at No 5 AGH until it was time to return on a troop ship to England. Returning to Australia on 1 February 1919 Janet worked at the St Kilda Road hospital until her discharge from the army on 13 March. The hospital, as well as its core nursing staff, therefore had a number of nurses who worked there for a short time while waiting for their next posting.

In 1918 the hospital published the first issues of the magazine The No 5 which contained collections of articles written by staff and patients. The first issue of the magazine provides a brief history of the hospital including information on some of the services provided to patients (p 6). More detailed information about some of these services is provided elsewhere in the magazine. As well as providing general medical care the hospital had a Social Club providing concerts and other social activities for patients. There was also a Football Club  with regular matches arranged plus weekend outings for invalided and convalescent soldiers arranged by the Volunteer Motor Corps. The Anzac Buffet was a service provided for out-patients who required meals while attending the hospital. Red Cross also supplied clothing to discharged patients.

References:
Copies of No 5 AGH can be downloaded from the National Library of Australia  -
Australia. Army. Australian General Hospital, 5th. 1918, The No. 5 : a magazine published by the patients and staff of No. 5 Australian General Hospital, St Kilda Road, Melbourne No. 5 Australian General Hospital, Melbourne viewed 8 April 2017 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-62321397

Images from Australian War Memorial collection -
Melbourne Ward 17 No 5 General Hospital St Kilda Road https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/H18692/
Part of Ward 1 No 5 General Hospital St Kilda Road https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/H18685/

Sea Transport Service

Greville Tregarthen wrote a book on Sea Transport of the AIF published possibly in 1919. This book provides a detailed description of the ships used to transport troops to war zones such as Egypt and later England. He describes the temporary acquisition of the ships by the Australian government and how they were refitted for the journey overseas. He also describes the provisions, including food, made available for the troops on the ships. The1st Convoy of ships left Albany, Western Australia on 1 November 2014 en route to Egypt.

In June 1916 The Sea Transport Service (STS) was established to work on the Australian troop ships. There were ten STS units. Each unit included at least six Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) nurses as part of the medical team on troop ships travelling from and to Australia.

The Euripides made seven return voyages from Australia in total - the first one as part of the 1st Convoy. Members of the No. 4 STS sailed aboard the HMAT Euripides, one of ten ships in the 24th Convoy.

HMAT Euripides - Flotilla Australia

The Euripides left Melbourne 11 September 1916 and aboard were Catrina Dawson, Jessie Taylor and Janet Muir Gaff (Staff Nurses), Bessie McPhail and Catherine Munro ( Sisters) and Rosa Quarterman (Sister Acting Matron). This was a military ship and the nurses were part of the army and had to learn to work in military conditions. They also had to learn to work on a ship, often travelling on rough seas. This included learning about life boat drills in case of emergency.

Kirsty Harris in More than Bombs and Bandages (pages 72 to 75) provides examples of the experiences of nurses working in the Sea Transport sections while AG Butler in The Official History of Australian Medical Services in the War 1914-1918. volume 3 chapter 14 has written a detailed chapter on the sea transportation of Australian soldiers including the provision of medical services on the troop ships.

More than 2,000 troops usually travelled on the ships leaving Australia. The men had previously been living in large military camps and sometimes brought contagious diseases with them on to the ship. Diseases such as measles were not uncommon and these patients needed to be isolated to avoid the disease spreading. Once on the ship the soldiers were also vaccinated against typhoid fever. On the September 1916 voyage of the Euripides two of the soldiers had contracted meningitis and were taken from the ship at Fremantle.

Working on a moving ship, often in rough conditions, proved a challenge to the STS medical teams. The conditions in which they worked were often cramped and the ventilation was poor. Equipment, big and small, had to be secured. Sea sickness was also experienced by the troops and staff alike. Over time the nurses adapted to the conditions on the Euripides and the other ships on which they sailed at regular intervals between Australia and England.

Janet Muir Gaff was a staff nurse in the No 4 STS and a summary of her war experience from August 1915 to March 1919 can be seen in the following Time-Line. Janet travelled between Australia and England and back to Australia three times between 1916 and 1918.

Return to Australia HMAT Wiltshire November 1916 - Flotilla Australia

Journey to England RMS Osterley February 1917 - ALH Research

Journey to England HMAT Miltiades August 1917 - ALH Research

Return to Australia December 1918 HMAT Nestor - Flotilla Australia

When not at sea the nurses worked at Australian Auxiliary Hospitals (AAH) in England and in Army General Hospitals (AGH) in Australia until required for another sea voyage.

In England the troop ships had to be refitted to take injured soldiers back to Australia. Not all soldiers were able to sleep in hammocks so beds needed to be available for amputees and others requiring specialist medical care. It was a requirement that adequate deck space should be available to ensure that the troops could exercise and have access to fresh air. The injured troops were selected from the Australian hospitals according to facilities available for their safe transport home.

STS nursing staff and sometimes additional nursing staff were allocated to a ship for the voyage. The nurses would have gained the experience required for nursing some of the injured soldiers when working in the Australian hospitals in England and at home. In England Janet worked at No 2 AAH Southall which specialised in treating amputees as well as No 3 AAH Dartford where patients with mental conditions - "shellshock" - were treated.

STS nurses played an important role in the care of sick and wounded soldiers during the First World War.

References:
 Butler, A G. The Official History of Australian Medical Services in the War 1914-1918. volume 3 1943. Australian War Memorial - e-book
Harris, Kirsty. More than Bombs and Bandages. 2011
Tregarthen, Greville. Sea transport of the AIF.  Australian National Maritime Museum e-book
Looking for the Evidence. Sea Transport Service. website 

Timeline for Staff Nurse Janet Gaff

Families at War is a unit for the University of Tasmania Family History Diploma.
The major assignment in this unit was to write an essay about someone who served during World War I. The person that I chose was Staff Nurse Janet Muir Gaff whose name is listed on the Shire of Nunawading Honour Board. Janet was a nurse in the No. 4 Sea Transport Section.

Before writing the essay it was necessary to make a time-line of the information that appeared in Janet's Service Record as well as other sources including War Diaries of hospitals where Janet worked plus the diary of a matron at one of the hospitals.

References:
Service Records, B2455, National Archives of Australia (Discovering Anzacs)
Matron Bessie Pocock, The Great War 1914-1918, Vol. 4 (Australian War Memorial)
AIF War Dairies 1914-1918 War, No. 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford (Australian War Memorial)

Anzac Day 2017 part 2

Yesterday I went for a walk and took photographs of these murals in Bayswater.

The Bayswater RSL located at 620 Mountain Highway now has a brightly coloured mural painted on the wall facing the main road.

In Bayswater itself is a wall on which a mural depicting places and events significant to the history of Bayswater from 1843 to 2009 has been painted. The panels are shown against a backdrop if the mountain, including the towers on top.

One of the panels reminds us that the first Anzac Day commemoration in Bayswater was held in 1920.

Another panel reminds us that the Bayswater RSL has been part of Bayswater since 1952.

Also in the grounds of the Bayswater RSL is a Lone Pine tree which dominates the garden near the Bayswater War Memorial.

 

A search in Monument Australia for Bayswater (Victoria) provides further information about the Lone Pine tree and the Bayswater War Memorial as well as other monuments to be found in Bayswater.

Anzac Day 2017

Nunawading Library again prepared a display for Anzac Day

The display commemorated events involving Australian soldiers that occurred 100 years ago during the First World War and 75 years ago in the Second World War.

Seventy-five years ago war came to Australia with the bombing of Darwin on 19 February, the bombing of Broome on 3 March and submarines in Sydney Harbour 31 May - 1 June 1942.

The First World War battles commemorated include Battle of Passchendaele, Second Battle of Bullecout and Battle of Menin Road in 1917.

One of the windows included a copy of a postcards in the series, Remarkable Women of Whitehorse, prepared for International Women's Day 2017. The postcard provides a brief account of the experiences of nurse, Janet Muir Gaff, during the First World War.

A central panel contains a digger's hat, information about the Diggers Database and an image of the Shrine of Remembrance.

Lest We Forget

Army Medical Drill Hall

239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne

On Wednesday a group of librarians attended a meeting at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria in A'Beckett Street, Melbourne. The RHSV is located in part of the former Australian Army Medical Drill Hall building and the meeting was held in the Speaker's Room, originally the Officer's Mess. In this impressive wood panelled room located upstairs, it is easy to imagine the functions that may have been held in the room in the past.

In 2010 a series of podcast walks describing locations in the area close to the RHSV was prepared and information from some of that research about the medical drill hall is provided in this post. Much of the information about the building was later added to the RHSV website. The article on the website also mentions two historical assessment reports made of the building.

Army Medical Corps

The site of the Amy Medical Drill Hall was continually occupied by the Army from 1866 until 1988. From 1866 the small weatherboard West Melbourne Orderly Room and the adjoining drill hall were used by Colonial Volunteer Forces. In 1900 a contract was signed for the construction of new weatherboard quarters at the eastern end of the site. All these buildings were demolished for the Medical Corps building.

The Australian Army Medical Corps headquarters was built between 1938 and 1939 by J. Whitelaw, Richmond at a budget cost of £25,947. The architect was George Hallandal of the Victorian section of the Department of the Interior, Works Branch.

The principal entrance to the building is at 239 A’Beckett Street, and it is here that the words Army Medical Corps and the badge of the Corps are pressed into the cement cornice.  Of the numerous additional entrances to the building, the one on Williams Street leads to the Officer’s Mess.

Detail of building - corner of A'Beckett Street and William Street

The functional and utilitarian building has two large drill halls with offices along their northern wall. The drill halls are separated by a public entrance foyer which leads off A’Beckett Street. Messes are placed at the centre of the building for sergeants and at the east and west ends of the building for "other ranks" and officers. The room for "other ranks" was located in the basement.

The materials featured in this late 1930s building are primarily brick and plaster, plus timber. Design features include strong vertical and horizontal lines, fluted pilasters, arches, keystones, coffered ceilings and built-in seats. The offices along the side of the hall have Dutch or stable doors. The workmanship in the building construction is impressive showing off the quality of the work of the bricklayers, plasterers and carpenters.

The building was the result of both the defence build-up just prior to World War II and the end of the 1930s depression when government sponsored construction was used to employ trades people.

The Army Medical Corps' new building was purposely designed to provide a centrally located building for the administration, organisation and implementation of training, research and advice in medical, hygiene and hospital procedures, provision of services and the issuing of stores and payroll.

When the hall was built the staff of the Army Medical Corps was 39. By the end of 1944 the members of the corps numbered 32,100, including 3,500 nurses who were admitted to the corps after September 1940. As well as the two halls being used as indoor parade areas, they were used as a gymnasium and for general physical training. The halls were also used for social gatherings. 

Post war use of the building to 1988 included Medical Corps Reserve training, including nurses, premises for the 3^rd Psychology Unit, army publicity (with printing equipment), intermittent drill training (including rehearsals for Legacy shows) and garaging of vehicles.

A number of the nurses who have made return visits to the building have described marching drill in the hall and also out in the street, watched by men waiting for accommodation at the Gill, located nearby.

By 1990 the building had been added to Heritage Victoria’s Historic Buildings Register as being of state-wide architectural and historical significance.

Since August 1999 the western end of the building has been the premises of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria to house the society’s library, images and manuscript collections, and as a space for exhibitions and lectures.