Military Experience - The New Age of Australian Nursing & other Failures

Technically, Australian nurses were volunteers and civilians, whereas their British counterparts, the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS), were military personnel. Grace Wilson, distinguished WWI matron with the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), recalled the difficulty in being so inexperienced in the ways of the army. She envied the military training of the QAIMNS, their orientation to the army and familiarity with protocol. Altogether in World War I, 2000 Australian nurses served overseas, about half of whom were from Victoria.2 Following the war, ex-army matrons dominated the national nursing leadership running most of the major hospitals.3