Janet Muir Gaff and family

Janet Muir Steel was born on 21 July 1860 at Milton, Glasgow in Scotland. Her parents were William Steel [1816-1881] and Marion Currie Kyle [1831-1914]. Janet had two sisters and five brothers, all of whom migrated to Australia in the 1890s. [1]

On 11 December 1878 Janet (aged 18) married Daniel Robb Gaff (1849-1921) at St Bartholomew's Church, Gourock. Daniel, a timber merchant, would have been 29 when he married Janet. On 25 January 1883 the couple's only son, Daniel William Steel Gaff, was born. [2] According to the 1881 Scotland census Daniel and Jessie (Janet) Gaff lived in Wellington Street, Greenock, Renfrewshire.

In 1889 Daniel Gaff decided to travel to America and spent the rest of his life there leaving his wife and child in Scotland. Information about Daniel in the United States of America can be gleaned from the annual census. The 1900 census states that he was living in San Francisco, had immigrated from Scotland in 1889, had been in the USA for ten years, was married and that his occupation was a Collector. By 1910 additional information in the record was that he was Naturalised and his occupation was Advertising. It also stated that he was single. In the 1920 census his surname was misspelt as Giff but the information provided was the same as in 1910. Daniel R Gaff died in San Francisco on 22 March 1921 aged 71. [3]  One assumes that he was unaware of the adventures that his wife was having in her new life without him.

Australian Nurses in World War I

When Janet's husband left her Janet had a six year old son to take care of. Fortunately she had a supportive family who would have helped look after him. Janet decided to be a nurse and trained and worked at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in Castle Street, Glasgow. She probably started her training there in 1889 and the 1891 Scotland census shows her working there. Nursing Record November 1891 p 247 contains excerpts of a letter detailing Janet's concerns about conditions at the hospital.  On the same page there is mention of Janet's sister, Helen, who was also a nurse at the same hospital.

In 1891 the ship, Curzo travelled to Melbourne, Australia with Mrs M Steel and Miss M Steel aboard. On 23 October 1891the ship Orotavia left London and arrived in Melbourne on 25 December. Aboard were Miss H M Steel, Mr A W Steel, Mr F W Steel and Miss J M Gaff. [4] There is no mention of Janet's son in the ship passenger lists but children were not always listed. The family travelled as cabin passengers. Other family members also settled in Australia.

The Steel family settled in Blackburn, a small settlement in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Poultry farming and flower and fruit growing were the main activities for the area as listed in The Victorian Municipal Directory.  The family home was Achernar in Gordon Crescent, Blackburn. It must have been a reasonably large home as electoral roll records show many adults living in the house at various times. The 1903 electoral roll shows Janet's mother, Marion Currie Steel, living in the house with two of her daughters, Helen Mary and Marion Margaret, and her son Archibald William. Archibald's occupation is listed as a draper. The women's occupations are listed as home duties. In October 1904 Archibald married Frances Helen Sanders and they lived in the Gordon Street home for a number of years. From 1909 to 1926 Janet's brother, John Shaw Steel, a chemist, also lived in the house. James McLean Steel lived in nearby Box Hill where he was a clerk. Thomas Kyle Steel lived in New South Wales and Frederick William Steel moved to Western Australia. [5]

Janet used the Blackburn house as a base but she spent most of her time working as a nurse in western Victoria, initially at two hospitals in Warracknabeal and then at a hospital at Willaura. In August 1915 she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service and worked for twelve months at the No 5 Australian General Hospital in St Kilda Road before leaving Australia to nurse overseas in the Sea Transport Service.

Back in Australia in 1919, Janet moved back into the family home in Blackburn. Her mother had died in 1914 but Helen, Marion and John were still living at the Gordon Street House. Archibald and Frances moved into a house in Lake Road, Blackburn before eventually moving to Frankston.

In the early 1920s the family moved to 13 Oxford Street, Box Hill before, in 1925, transferring to 4 Rose Street, Box Hill which became the permanent home of the three sisters, Helen, Marion and Janet. This house was also known as Achernar.

Janet loved to travel and, apart from her many sea voyages during the war and the original voyage to Australia, made three other overseas trips.

Shipping records in Ancestry show that Janet arrived in London on 29 April 1910 aboard the Ruapehu. She arrived back in Sydney on 20 March 1911 and had returned home via Vancouver and Honolulu. She was therefore away for a year spending time in Europe and returning home via Canada.  Janet mentioned a winter spent in northern France in letters she wrote to newspapers in August 1914 concerning the welfare of Australian soldiers fighting in France.

In May 1922 Janet left Melbourne aboard the Baradine for London via South Africa and arrived in London on 27 August 1922 aboard the Barrabool. [6] Janet left the Baradine at Cape Town to travel to Victoria Falls before returning to Cape Town to board the Barrabool to London. When she returned to Australia Janet wrote an article about Victoria Falls which was published in the Age 17 February 1923 p 6.

Janet was off for another world trip in 1925. She arrived in Liverpool aboard the Hildebrand on 9 July 1926 after completing a round trip to Brazil. [7] The Argus 24 May 1928 provided a report on a talk Janet made about her adventures at the Women's Club Dinner.

Mrs. Janet Gaff spoke of her experiences during her recent travels abroad. Mrs. Gaff left for Europe by the Ceramic in 1925, during a shipping strike, and from Durban transhipped to a Dutch vessel, which took her up the south-east coast of Africa, past Mozambique, Zanzibar, and Mombasa. After visiting Cairo, Mrs. Gaff went on to Jerusalem, and from Palestine through the Ionian Islands, Afterwards Mrs. Gaff visited Mentone, Paris, Geneva, and London. She spent seven weeks in travelling through Oporto, Lisbon, and Madeira, and thence to the Amazon, down which she travelled for 1,000 miles to the Rio Negro. After returning to Europe she crossed to the United States, where she visited the principal cities before returning to Australia.

Janet was quite an adventurer.

Janet continued to live at Box Hill with her two sisters until her death on 7 September 1940. She was buried at Box Hill Cemetery.

GAFF. — On September 7. at Achernar, 4 Rose-street. Box Hill, Mrs. Janet Muir Gaff (sister, late A.I.F.), most dearly beloved mother of the late Daniel William Steel Gaff, and dearly beloved sister of Archibald W. (Frankston), Frederick W. (Perth, W.A.), Helen Mary and Marion Margaret Steel, of 4 Rose-street, Box Hill. (Age 12 September 1940)

Janet's son, Daniel, had died on 17 January 1936 at his home in Black Rock. On 6 September 1916, when his mother was serving as a nurse overseas, Daniel married Jean Millar at St Peter's Church, Box Hill. According to a notice regarding his estate after his death, he had an adopted son. The electoral rolls listed Daniel's occupation as a clerk.

Sources
[1] Family Search - birth records for Janet Steel and her family
[2] Greenock Advertiser and Greenock Telegraph for marriage (12 Dec 1878) and birth of son (26 Jan 1883)
[3] Census records and death record for Daniel are sourced from Ancestry.
[4] Unassisted Passenger indexes 1852-1923 (PROV)
Passenger indexes in Ancestry UK Outwards Passenger Lists
[5] Australian electoral roll records accessed in Ancestry
[6] Index to Outward Passengers to Interstate, UK, NZ 1852-1923 (PROV). Shipping records in Ancestry UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878-1960
[7] Shipping records in Ancestry UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878-1960

Nurses during World War I

According to Kirsty Harris, at least 2,286 members of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) served overseas.(p3) Janet Muir Gaff, one of these AANS nurses, served in the No 4 Sea Transport Service (STS) from September 1915 until March 1919. For twelve months prior to this Janet had worked at the No 5 Australian General Hospital (AGH) St Kilda Road.

Before leaving Australia, nurses needed to  make sure that they had the necessary clothing and supplies that may be needed when working overseas.

Nurses serving overseas were expected to supply their own uniform. According to Butler, when they enlisted the nurses were provided with a £21 outfit allowance to assist with the purchase of the uniform. Initially there was an annual allowance of £16 for maintenance of the uniform.Later there was a daily allowance of ten pence for maintenance and another ten pence for laundry of clothing items. (p 547)

The nurses required an outdoor uniform as well as the uniform worn when nursing in the hospitals. Because the women had to organise their own clothes there was some variation in the clothes worn. There were also different regulations for the outdoor uniform in 1914-1915 compared with 1916-1918. The Australian War Memorial has three blog posts with photos describing the outdoor and working uniforms of Australian nurses.

The AWM website provides the following description of the working uniform.

The working dress, or ward dress, introduced in 1914 remained virtually the same throughout the war, except for a slight shortening of the skirt in line with fashion. The working dress for the entire 1914-18 period consisted of:

• A grey zephyr cotton dress similar in pattern to the 1914 outdoor dress of blouson and skirt, with detachable starched white collar and cuffs.
• A starched white apron with bib front, a curved neckline and cross over straps at the back. Grey zephyr aprons were sometimes worn for very dirty work. The aprons were fastened with a self-fabric belt and two buttons or studs at the waist, or occasionally a belt buckle.
• A scarlet shoulder cape fastened at the throat with the silver Rising Sun badge. The cape was usually of scarlet cotton that could be laundered, hence the term ‘washing cape’.
• A white linen veil, 1 yard (91.5 cm) square.
• Black stockings.
• Black boots or shoes.

As the war progressed the skirts of the dresses were made shorter as fashion changed. Practicality may also have played a part. Nurses also had chocolate brown facings for their colour patches

As they were in the military the nurses had honoury ranks as officers but they received much lower pay than an actual army officer of the same standing. A staff nurse such as Janet received 7/- a day.

From April 1916 it was ordered that all nurses were to wear badges on the shoulder straps of their capes according to their rank. A staff nurse wore one star (equivalent to a second lieutenant), a sister two stars (equivalent to a lieutenant), a matron three stars (equivalent to a captain). (Butler p548 and Bassett p 55). All nurses wore silver rising sun badges.

Nurses were also expected to provide their own small equipment which they carried in a chantelaine.

References
Bassett, Jan. Guns and Brooches: Australian Army Nursing from the Boer War to the Gulf War.  Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1992
Butler, A G. The Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services in the War 1914-1918. Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1943. volume 3
Harris, Kirsty. More then Bombs and Bandages: Australian Army Nurses in World War I. Newport: Big Sky Publishing, 2011
Australian War Memorial - Australian military uniforms and equipment - website

Shire of Nunawading Honour Board

In 1920 the decision was made to have an honour board created that would have inscribed the names of those from the district who had enlisted for service during the First World War. The honour board was to be displayed in the Shire Hall at Box Hill.

The honour board was designed by H Goldman Manufacturing Company, furniture-makers, who had worked on similar projects. The cost of the project was to be no more than £250. Up to 600 names were to be recorded on the honour board.

Honour Board in Box Hill Town Hall foyer - Photo taken 4 December 2009

There was some discussion as to the names to be included on the board. The plan was that the names of all volunteers from the district were to be inscribed on the board however, as with a number of other memorial projects, names were omitted.

Staff Nurse J M Gaff was the only woman whose name appeared on the honour board.

Steven Cooke in his book, The Sweetland Project, notes that "Nurses Clarice Daley and Harriet and Muriel Mawson would be missing from the list of those who served, although Nurse Jenny Gaff would be included." (p 132)

It is interesting then to try and reflect why Janet Muir Gaff's name was included and the names of the other nurses were omitted.

Janet Gaff and her family settled in Blackburn in the early 1890s after migrating to Australia from Scotland in 1891. The family home was Archernar, Gordon Crescent, Blackburn. Janet's mother was Marion Currie Steele who lived in the house with daughters Helen Mary and Marion Margaret. Her son Archibald William (and later his wife Frances) lived with the family for many years. From 1909 another son, John Shaw Steele, also lived in the family home until his death in 1927.  James McLean Steel,another son, lived in Box Hill until his death in 1909. Prior to the war Janet spent most of her time nursing in western Victoria, however the house in Blackburn was still used as her base and she returned to live there with her sisters when she returned from England in 1919.

When Marion Currie Steel died on 7 August 1914 a detailed obituary appeared in the Box Hill Reporter 14 August 1914 p 5 including the passages - "she was a familiar figure in her phaeton to regular users of Whitehorse and Canterbury roads" and "Mrs Steel was a lady of a fine intellectual type, being a great reader and student of Biblical and Jewish history and classical literature, and was keenly delighted to discuss these subjects. She also took a great interest in flowers and in her garden."

Blackburn was a small community early in the twentieth century. The Victorian Municipal Directory for 1911 describes Blackburn as "On creek with the same name, hotel, public hall, state school, and three churches. Poultry farming, gardening and fruit growing. Population 1040." (p 549) By 1916 the population had grown to 1,228. The entry read "rising township, with post, telegraph and telephone offices, hotel, state school, three churches, public hall, tennis courts, sports grounds, lake and park. Lit by electricity. Residential and fruit growing district." (p 556)

It can therefore be surmised that by the time of the war the Steel family was well known in a growing local community.

Another name on the honour board is that of John Shaw Steel, Janet's brother. John was an analytical chemist who applied to enlist in the army in 1916 but was discharged at the request of the Minister of Munitions and was transferred to the Engineer Service.

Janet enlisted in the AANS in August 1915 and after nursing for a year at the No 5 AGH in St Kilda Road she enlisted as a nurse in the No 4 Sea Transport Service working aboard troop ships travelling between Australia and England. She also worked in Australian Auxiliary hospitals in England until the end of the war.

Therefore Janet's strong family connections with the Blackburn area before and after the war, including her living in the area, her three and a half years spent nursing Australian soldiers as well as having a brother whose name was included on the board for his war service all possibly contributed to Janet's name being included on the Shire of Nunawading honour board.

Steven Cooke mentioned that the names of three other nurses from area were omitted from the honour board.

One of the names was that of Clarice Jessie Daley who was born in Box Hill in 1889. Clarice's father, John, was a builder and the according to the electoral rolls the family lived in other locations before the war including Bendigo (1906) and later Elsternwick. In 1912 Clarice is shown as being a nurse at the Melbourne Hospital. On 18 May 1915 Clarice was aboard a ship on her way to Lemnos where she nursed soldiers wounded during the Gallipoli campaign. On 21 October 1915 Clarice married Sergeant Ernest Lawrence. Clarice returned to Australia on 9 February as married nurses were not allowed to serve overseas. She was discharged from the army on 31 July 1916. Clarice, however appears to have continued working as a nurse as the 1919 electoral roll shows that she was a nurse at Base Hospital St Kilda Road. A detailed article about Clarice can be found on the City of Port Phillip Heritage website.

The other two names mentioned by Steven Cooke were of sisters Harriet Godden Mawson and Muriel Mawson. Harriet was born in Kensington in 1885 while Muriel was born in Carlton in 1889. The electoral rolls show that the girls' father, Frederick William Mawson, lived at Surrey Hills. The girls would have lived at the family home in Surrey Hills when they were young, however the 1914 electoral roll shows that Harriet was a nurse at Hamilton while the electoral roll for 1915 shows Muriel nursing at Castlemaine. Harriet enlisted 27 April 1917 and sailed for England on 9 May where she worked in a number of military hospitals. Muriel enlisted on 11 April 1917 and sailed for England in May. She also worked at military hospitals in England. Both Harriet and Muriel returned to Australia on 15 March 1919 and were discharged in July. Both the sisters continued working as nurses for many years. Australian Nurses in World War I website provides information about both of these nurses and also of their older sister Beatrice. Beatrice Mary Mawson, was born in England in 1881 and was also a nurse. Beatrice was nursing at Castlemaine before joining the British nursing service on 14 May 1915. She worked at the British hospital at Alexandria and later worked on transport ships sailing between Le Havre and England, making 23 trips. When Captain Mawson returned to Australia in June 1917, following the death of her father, the ship hit a mine near Bombay. Beatrice Mawson continued her nursing career in Australia.

It is not possible to know for certain why the names of these nurses were not included on the Shire of Nunawading honour board - one can only make an educated guess.

In Clarice's case, the family appear to have moved from the area when she was young, so it is possible that her connection with Box Hill was not widely known.

Muriel, Harriet and Beatrice, however, did have a war-time family connection to Surrey Hills and would have lived in the area when they were young. Beatrice was listed on the electoral roll at the Surrey Hills address in 1903. Harriet, according to the the 1919 electoral roll, was in Surrey Hills immediately after the war but then moved closer to the hospitals where she worked. As their father had died in 1917 and the girls were nursing out of the area, their war service with a connection to the local area was possibly overlooked.

References
Cooke, Steven. The Sweetland Project: Remembering Gallipoli in the Shire of Nunawading. North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly, 2005
Victorian Municipal Directory 1911 and 1916
Australian Nurses in World War I website

No 3 AAH Dartford

When in England between voyages on troop ships between Australia and England Janet Gaff worked at a number of Australian army hospitals. However the one that she worked at for the longest period of time was No 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital (AAH) at Dartford in Kent. Janet was a member of the nursing staff at Dartford from 7 December 1917 until 12 December 1918.

Entrance to No 3 AAH, Dartford - AWM

The Orchard Hospital was built between 1901 to 1902 as temporary accommodation for up to 800 patients who had contracted smallpox. By 1910 the smallpox epidemic was controlled so the hospital was used to house, primarily, patients with scarlet fever. (Dartford Hospital Histories)

Dartford Hospital buildings c1917 - AWM

On 9 October 1916 the hospital became the Dartford Australian Auxiliary Hospital. The hospital was expanded to accommodate up to 1,400 patients.

Rows of wards at Dartford - AWM

Dartford Hospital Histories provides information about improvements made at the hospital complex between 1916 and 1919:

Over the two years to 1919 considerable improvements were made. The most notable was to the grounds and gardens, cookhouse, headquarters and the addition of an operating theatre. There was an efficient boiler house supplying steam to drive the engine to supply heat for the laundry to dry clothes and to provide hot water for all the wards (and was also used for heating). The lighting was provided by gas, each ward having a liberal number of jets.

Australian soldiers suffering from 'shell-shock' the term used at the time for emotional distress, caused by experience of war, were housed at Dartford. Jan Bassett (p 73) provides quotes from two nurses who worked at Dartford. "I nursed shell-shock cases, some of which were very severe. We principally had to try and amuse them, to make them forget." Another nurse commented that "progress was very slow indeed".

According to A G Butler (P 652) the hospital at Dartford was "deliberately established as a clearing hospital between the British General Hospital System and the Australian Command Depots and Hospital Ships."

A souvenir booklet of photographs of life at Dartford was prepared  1n 1918.

Men relaxing on the lawn

One of the dining halls at Dartford

Exercise class at Dartford

The Australian Red Cross had a store at Dartford.(Dartford Hospital Histories)

The Australian Red Cross took control of the Red Cross Store in April 1917. Every patient able to walk visited the store and was issued with various items to add comfort to his stay. For patients unable to walk the shop visited them once a week to give them cigarettes and chocolate. Every patient was issued with 30 cigarettes a week.

Australian Red Cross Store

The Unit War Diaries for Dartford provide a monthly account of the operation of the hospital as well as an account of activities arranged for the patients. Matron Pocock was matron at Dartford from early 1918 and her diary also provides activities and events at the hospital from the perspective of the nurses.

Every effort was to made to provide entertainment and recreational activities for the patients as well as caring for their medical needs. Some of the activities included cinema nights, visits from outside concert parties as well as entertainment organised by staff and patients, outings for groups of soldiers, plus a variety of physical activities.

The Unit war diary report for August 1918 includes a detailed description of the Second Annual Sports Meeting held at the hospital sports ground. The Australian Prime Minister, Mr Hughes, was a guest and gave an address to the participants. In the evening a special concert was given by the hospital staff.

A ward decorated for Christmas 1918 - AWM

At Christmas each year every effort was made to make the hospital a festive place for the patients.

Snow in 1917 - AWM

From time to time the nurses at the hospital had days off enabling them to explore nearby locations and to escape for a time the day to day stress they encountered. The unit war diaries mentioned when staff went on and returned from furlough. Matron Pocock's diary provides information about some of the places that she visited. On some of these excursions nurses, including Janet, accompanied the matron. The diary notes four of these expeditions. The one that Janet  recounted in a letter to her sister (later published in the Box Hill Reporter 29 November 1918 p5) was to Windsor Castle where they met Princess Mary.

War was never far away, however. The unit war diary and Maton Pocock's diary refer to air raid warnings, particularly in March and May, and to the precautions that must be taken. The hospital was also affected by the influenza epidemic that began in 1918 with reports on the effect on patients and staff from June 1918.

Janet left Dartford on 12 December 1918 to prepare for her final return trip to Australia as a Sea Transport Service nurse. The troop ship Nestor left England on 18 December 1918 and arrived back in Melbourne on 1 February 1919.

References
Australian War Memorial website - photographs of No 3 AAH Dartford
Australian War Memorial website - Unit war diaries - No 3 AAH (Dartford)
Australian War Memorial website - Matron Pocock's Diary volume 4, 1917-1919
Dartford Hospital Histories website
Souvenir of The No. 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital (Orchard Military Hospital) Dartford Kent ( a copy of this collection of photographs appears in No 3 AAH Dartford Unit War Diary August 1918 - AWM website.)

Bassett, Jan. Guns and Brooches: Australian Army Nursing from the Boer War to the Gulf War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992
Butler, A G. The Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services in the War 1914-1918. volume 3. Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1943

Convalescent homes for Australian nurses

During the First World War it was not just soldiers who might require medical treatment. There were also times when nurses who were ill needed to recover away from the hospital at which they were stationed. Two of these hospitals were Southwell also known as Mrs T S Hall's Hospital for Australian Sisters and St Alban's Convalescent Home.

Building that was Southwell - Lost Hospitals of London

The house at 12 Southwell Gardens in South Kensington was donated for the use of Australian nurses during the war by Mrs T S Hall. Mrs Hall provided food and general labour for the hospital while the Australian Army supplied the nursing staff consisting of a matron and three sisters. The hospital was opened by the Australian High Commissioner on 30 June 1917 and operated until 1919.

Lost Hospitals of London website provides the following description:

The Hospital had 26 beds and an operating theatre.  The wards contained a varying amount of beds, depending on the size of the rooms.  The largest had 9 beds and there were a number of single rooms. The beds were covered with light green quilts, which harmonised with crimson screens.

On the ground floor were the drawing room, furnished with comfortable chairs, and the dining room ...

The hospital was run under the auspices of the Australian Red Cross.

St Albans Convalescent Home - AWM

Glen Almond, 14 King Henry's Lane, St Albans, Hertfordshire was the site of the St Alban's Convalescent Home for Australian Nurses. The house was the country home of Mr Harold McIlwraith who, in July 1916, lent his home to the Australian government for use as a convalescent home for Australian nurses.

Sisters on the steps of St Albans - AWM

In 1917 Sister Janet Gaff worked at both Southwell and St Albans for short periods.

Janet was a staff nurse at No 3 AAH Dartford during 1918. The diary of Matron Pocock contains references to sisters who were ill, especially those with influenza, leaving or returning from St Albans.

References
Lost Hospitals of London website - Southwell
Lost Hospitals of London website - St Albans
British Journal of Nursing vol 59 14 July 1917 p 21 - website
Australian War Memorial website - photographs of St Albans Convalescent Home  
Diary of Mary Ann Pocock (Dartford) - Australian War Memorial website 

No 2 AAH Southall

The No 2 Australian Auxiliary Hospital (AAH) was established at Southall in western London in August 1916. The hospital was housed in the former St Marylebone Orphanage in Southall.

Hospital main entrance - (nla.obj-41196525)

Janet Gaff was detached for duty at Southall on 27 October 1916 two months after the buildings were allocated for use as an Australian hospital. No 2 AAH was a hospital that worked with amputees. Working at this hospital must have been a confronting experience, at least initially, for some of the nursing staff. Jan Bassett in her book, Guns and Brooches, (page 71) provides a quote from Sister Tilly about working at Southall:

I was on duty in a ward with fifteen patients who had three legs between them. I felt a coward, and shrank from meeting them at first, for they shamed me with their cheeriness and independence, doing things for themselves and helping others.

When the hospital at Southall was established it was to cater for 250 patients but within a month the proposed patient intake was adjusted to 500. It was to be a specialised institution for the fitting of artificial limbs. (Butler p 654-655)

The unit war diaries for the hospital outline the various departments including Surgical department, Medical Officers, X-Ray and Massage departments and, of course, Nursing.

Workshops for diabled soldiers - nla.obj-41197851

The Australian Red Cross organised workshops and activities for disabled soldiers.

Some patients assembled on tennis court - nla.obj-41197592

Outings and entertainments were also part of the program. For example in October 1918 four outings were organised to Windsor Castle and 13 outings organised to 'places of Amusements in London'. There were also eight cinema shows, three Pierott shows performed by hospital staff, plus visits from a Daily Mail Concert Party, Oscar Asche Dramatic Company and a visit from Miss Marle Lloyd and a party of Artistes from Hammersmith Palace.

Janet Gaff worked at No 2 AAH for a short time on several occasions while she was waiting to be assigned to a Sea Transport Service troop ship for the return trip to Australia with injured troops.

References
No 2 Australian Auxiliary Hospital Southall, Middlesex. London: Qualis Photo Company, [1919] available via National Library of Australia catalogue
Australian War Memorial - Unit War Diaries - No 2 AAH, Southall August 1916 - April 1919
Bassett, Jan. Guns and Brooches: Australian Army Nursing from the Boer War to the Gulf War. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1992
Butler, AG. The Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services in the War 1914-1918. volume 3. Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1943

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.