Sister Tess Dunn...An Australian Woman At The Front In World War 1 (1916).
So what kind of roles did women play at the front in World War 1 ?
Trove, the database at the National Library of Australia contains many articles about the kind of services being provided by women at the front and the home front during World War 1.
Many of those articles are about individual women, some of them trained to be nurses and doctors from Australia and other parts of Europe who were extremely courageous doing what ever they could to help the men fighting at the front.
Western Women a newspaper from that time contains an article about Sister Tess Dunn from Perth who went to the front. At the time the article was written she was working in England assisting Australia soldiers after being injured a second time.
The newspaper was hoping to establish an Honour Roll of nurses who went to the front and was collecting names and details from friends, family and colleagues. All the names of the nurses collected and printed below were trained in Perth.
The article is from Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia. No copyright infringement intended.
Western Women, 1 November 1916.
SISTER TESS DUNN.
A REPRESENTATION OF THE NOBLE SISTERHOOD OF NURSES.
Sister Tess Dunn, of Perth, left for Egypt with the 1st Australian Federal Hospital, and saw several months of strenuous work in those early days. Egypt itself provided numerous hospital patients, but after the Gallipoli landing the demands made upon both doctors and nurses were heavy indeed. Sister Dunn, after passing through those trying times, was the first nurse to return invalided to Australia. After spending three months with her relatives in this State (Sister Dunn being a daughter of Mrs. Dunn, of Mount Lawley, and a sister of Mr. W. H. Dunn, the well-known estate agent and auctioneer of Perth), Sister Dunn returned to Egypt, and in due course went to Rouen in France. For a time she was on duty close up behind the firing line and, in her own words, "within sound of the guns." Sister Dunn was then invalided a second time, and sent to England. Latest advices say she is doing "light work" among Australian soldiers in England.
Sister Dunn is a native of Ballarat, Victoria, and was trained at the Ballarat Hospital and took a special surgical and dispensary course at the Geelong Hospital, and became a member of the R.V.T.N.A. After spending a term as Sister-in-charge of Fairfield Hospital for Infectious Diseases, some eight years ago Sister Dunn to Western Australia, and held the position of senior nurse at Miss Moore's "Kareenya" Private Hospital until going "on active service."
ASK OUR BOYS WHAT THEY THINK OF THESE NOBLE WOMEN, THE NURSES AT THE FRONT.
"Western Women" has sought to compile a 'Roll of Honour of Western Australian women at the Front, and the following list has been supplied by a member of the A.T.N.A. It is not complete and the particulars are meagre. We shall be glad if friends of Western Australian nurses on military service will supply names and particulars.
"Western Women" desires to honour and perpetuate the memory of those noble women who have done such splendid service. Cherished in many a grateful heart, "Their deeds will be held in everlasting remembrance."
Their names should be written itt gold. The following is the list of names referred to : —Nurses Philips, Shoebridge, McCrae, James, Spaven, Brunn, Ward, Doherty, Carey, Manning, Monger, Martin, Middleton, Darcey, Scanlan, Croham, Parker, Craike, Lightbody, Negus, Smith, Denson, Ryan, Dora Simith, Sampson, Cronin, Parish, Shadford, Bridgeman, Gibbs, McGillivray, Huffhan, Coucher, Cooke, Bartlett, Tate, O'Brien, Coomer, Cobley, Saw, Miarns, Whinnie Doherty, Lane, Hamilton, Bolton.
All the above mentioned excepting two were trained in Perth. Will friends kindly forward particulars so that, the list may be made complete and accurate in every detail?
Last year an appeal was made by Lady Bridges for subscriptions to enable Christmas gifts to be sent to each Australian nurse at the front. Nine hundred and fifty packages containing perfume, handkerchiefs, soap, pins, chocolate, biscuits, were sent from Victoria and Tasmania. This year the appeal is made early to give every State an opportunity of contributing so that each nurse from whichever State she comes may again participate. Among the numerous articles enclosed was a small gift and enamel red roses, which was so much appreciated, that this year the committee decided upon a souvenir that the nurses may always have with them to remind them of the part they played in the war. To carry out this idea the appeal is being made for money only, for the purchase of the gift.
Arrangements for the collecting, and dispatch of gifts will be carried out by Lady Bridges, president.; Mrs. Norman Brookes, vice-president ; Miss E. Glover, honorary secretary and treasurer; Misses Bates, Crocker, O'Neill, and O'Meare.
