Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Florence Elizabeth James-Wallace was born on the 13th January 1886 at the family property “Killarney Station” near St Lawrence, halfway between Mackay and Rockhampton in Queensland. Her Irish father John and German mother Amalie, known as Marie, were the parents of 8 children in all but one died in infancy. Florence was the 3rd youngest with 3 older sisters, 1 younger sister and brother and 1 older brother, Frank, who served for Australia in the Boer War. He died in April 1906 aged 28. Florence’s younger brother Tony and older sister Emily served for Australia in WW1. There was also an older half-brother, William, born in 1865 to John and his first wife Jane who died in 1870.

“Killarney” was in a remote area so a school house was built on the property and the children were educated there by a governess. Florence’s father died at the family property in February 1901 aged 65.

After her father’s death Florence moved with her mother and siblings to a homestead called “Athlone” in the Brisbane bayside suburb of Wynnum then later to Ernest Street South Brisbane. Florence did her nursing training at the Royal Brisbane Hospital and gained her certificate in 1910. She took up a position at a hospital in Wellington New Zealand for a time then returned to Australia to work at a hospital in Longreach in north Queensland.

When war broke out Florence enlisted as a nurse with the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) at Brisbane on the 26th April 1915, the day after the landings at Gallipoli. She was aged 29. She was assigned to the newly formed 3rd Australian General Hospital, her rank was Staff Nurse and she’s described as being 5ft 1inch tall with a dark complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair.

The rank structure in the AANS consisted of Matron-in-Chief, Principal Matron, Matrons, Sister and Staff Nurses, with the latter two rank holders being addressed as Sister. To serve in the AANS nurses had to be aged between 21 and 45, be either unmarried or widowed, educated and have at least 3 years training at a duly recognised hospital. At their own expense they had to provide a canvas kit bag, a camp bed, a portable canvas bath, a small paraffin stove and their own uniform. The Rising Sun badge identified Australian servicemen and servicewomen as belonging to the Australian Army and while the servicemen wore bronze-coloured badges, the Australian Army Nursing Sisters wore a silver badge either at the centre front of the collar while on duty or on a tie while in service dress.

Florence’s younger brother John Anthony, known as Tony, enlisted in the AIF in early July 1916 and served with the 41st Battalion. He was awarded the Military Medal in February 1918. Florence’s older sister Emily also enlisted as a nurse in May 1917 being assigned to the Australian Nursing Service India. Both Tony and Emily were returned to Australia.

Colonel Thomas Fiaschi was a noted Australian military surgeon who had served with Australian forces since 1891. He asked the British War Office to set up a military hospital on Lemnos Island specifically to treat the wounded from the Gallipoli Peninsula. His request was granted and so the 3AGH was formed. Colonel Fiaschi was appointed its first Commander with Matron Grace Wilson in charge of the nursing staff.

Florence and the 3AGH embarked from Sydney on the 15th May 1915 on the RMS Mooltan bound for England and then to France. One of the Privates on board was Albert William Savage who was a photographer by trade before enlisting. He would go on to take many photographs and document all aspects, of the staff, patients and hospital surroundings. During her 5 months on Lemnos Florence spent much of her meagre wages purchasing 116 of his photographs as a pictorial memorial of her time with 3AGH.

The ship arrived in Plymouth, England, on the 27th June where the nurses began making preparations for their trip to France. However, on the 1st July their orders were changed and they were to proceed to the island of Lemnos, just 50miles from the fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Once their supplies were gathered they were loaded onto the supply ship HMS ‘Ascot’ which then sailed for Lemnos. Colonel Fiaschi and the male staff of the 3AGH sailed for Lemnos on the 12th July on the HMHS ‘Simla’ and arrived there on the 27th July to make initial preparations there before the nursing staff arrived. However, they discovered that the ‘Ascot’ hadn’t arrived with their supplies. The nurses sailed from England on two ships the ‘Themistocles’ and ‘Huntsgreen’. They arrived at Alexandria on the 1st August and the following day sailed for Lemnos on the hospital ship ‘Dunluce Castle’. With no accommodation set up on Lemnos due to the ‘Ascot’ not having arrived with their supplies, the nurses slept on the ‘HMHS Simla’ anchored in Mudrous Harbour.

Around 7pm on the 8th August the first detachment of 40 nurses came ashore at Lemnos with piper Warrant Officer Archibald Monk accompanying them as they marched to their new hospital. The following morning before breakfast more than 200 sick and wounded soldiers from Gallipoli were admitted to the 3AGH. These patients were from the August offensives on the Gallipoli Peninsula. With their supplies delayed, the staff of the 3AGH lacked accommodation, food and water was extremely scarce. The conditions the nurses worked under were primitive and with their equipment having been delayed, there were few tents and mattresses, no beds and only spirit lamps for cooking and sterilizing. Most of their patients lay outdoors and with few medical supplies, the nurses had to rip up their petticoats to make bandages and improvise medical equipment using boxes and bags. The weather on the island was terrible - it was bitterly cold, with strong winds and rain and often their tents were blown down. The nurses’ diets contained no fruit or vegetables, and they received butter and eggs only once a month. By the end of August 1915 they had treated 900 patients. AS time went on they contended with treating patients with dysentery, paratyphoid, frostbite and gangrene but in spite of all these difficulties, the hospital’s mortality rate was only 2 percent. In the 5 months since its inception in August 1915 until January 1916 the 3AGH treated 7,400 patients, of whom only 143 died.

The supply ship ‘Ascot’ finally arrived on the 22nd August.

On the 13th December 1915 Florence was admitted to the hospital for 3 days with a septic finger. A month later on the 17th January she and the staff of 3AGH embarked from Lemnos for Alexandria on the hospital ship Oxfordshire to set up the hospital at Abbassia in Egypt. In mid-June Florence was admitted to the hospital with German measles. After serving 8 months in Egypt the 3AGH was moved to the Kitchener War Hospital at Brighton in England. Florence embarked from Alexandria on the HMAT Karoola on the 25th September 1916 and arrived in England on the 5th October. Just a week before Christmas she was admitted to the 2nd Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Southall for the removal of her appendix. She re-joined her unit on the 28th February 1917 then a month later she was detached for duty to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Harefield.

On the 19th April 1917 she proceeded to France a month later reporting for duty to the 2nd Australian General Hospital at Wimereux. On the 1st September 1917 she was promoted to Sister. She remained at Wimereux for 6 months before re-joining the 3AGH at Abbeville where she was once again under the leadership of Matron Grace Wilson. The hospital received wounded from the trenches along the Somme Valley, many who had been

exposed to mustard gas which left them with blistered throats and damaged lungs, in many cases permanently. Attending to these men was harrowing for the nurses. Adding to this, the hospital was frequently bombed.

In early January 1918 Florence took 2 weeks leave in England then on the 1st March was posted for duty to the 61st Casualty Clearing Station at Ham, 11 miles south-west of St Quentin in France. The Casualty Clearing stations were located approximately 7-12 miles from the front line.

The following are extracts from Florence’s personal diary for the week of 21st - 28th March 1918 while she was on duty at the 61st CCS and gives us a glimpse of what she faced, endured and survived. This became known as the Battle of St Quentin which was part of Operation Michael, a major German offensive that began on the 21st March and ended on the 5th April 1918 with the loss of 250,000 men for the Allies and slightly less for Germans as well.

21st March 1918

“At about 4.15am a terrific bombardment commenced like continuous thunder rolling, then I could distinguish shells screeching through the air and guns going off with a deafening crash…the whole place shook and trembled. Went to bed at 10am with everything upside down in the hospital. Up at 4pm to find the noise even worse. Everything in a turmoil and buzzing with excitement and patients everywhere. Saw Miss Baird and asked for a job. She asked me to help in the Officer’s Ward. Found it overflowing, some dying, terribly smashed about and a good many walkers. We worked hard till dinner time when I went on my usual 8pm night duty. Had the Chest Ward, we were full at midnight of patients with penetrating wounds of the chest and a lot of them had other wounds as well. Went hard all night.”

22nd March 1918

“About 2pm wakened to the sound of “Girls!! Get up quickly, you have to be dressed in 10 minutes, the train goes in 20.” Miss Baird comes into our Nissan hut, “Are you up girls? The Germans are advancing. We have to leave everything. The train goes in 20 minutes, take what you can carry.” Guns still crashing and shells whistling. It is now nearly 3pm. The 34 Sisters and what luggage they have collected – a good deal – is piled up on the station. Crash!! A shell burst about 200 yards away, then another crash a little nearer. Crash! Crash! An ear-splitting sound seemingly beside us. Suddenly 5 Bosche planes come in sight. Our Archies open up. We are told to go in the dugouts along the line. More shells burst down along the line. The line round to the hospital is hit and 3 men killed where we were, across from the station. It is now nearly 6pm and no sign of the train. The C.O. of the 41st CCS suddenly appears with the news that he has procured 5 lorries to take us all to Rosieres. Once more we pick up our luggage – never was luggage such a nuisance. Passed through very desolate country…some old shell holes grown over, old trenches and rusty barb wire entanglements…heard bombs nit far away, it got very cold, we were covered in dust. We went through villages , nothing but a heap of bricks and a few stone walls…trees that looked like sentinels, just the charred trunks and a limb or two standing. Got to 47th CCS at 10pm. Patients pouring in.”

23rd March 1918

“Was told I would go on night duty so was off to bed when the call “Be ready in 20 minutes to go>” once more reached me. Miss Baird was to take 7 Sisters to a railhead. The Colonel of 61 CCS, Miss Baird and 5 of us departed in an ambulance, the other 2 followed in a lorry with our belongings. We found Villers-Bretonneux was our destination. Found we were to be an entraining centre and look after the wounded till they got on the trains. We were given a wooden hut…the shed had some forms and 2 stoves in it. We were supplied with plenty of wool, gauze bandages, safety pins and splints but very few instruments and lotions. A good number of patients came through but went on the train which went out in the evening. The last of us went to bed about 1am.

24th March 1918

“Got to the shed about 7am to find about 500 patients, stretchers and walking cases. We fed them all and dressed the worst wounds. Abdominal and chest cases were brought into the hut, the rest had to stay in the open.”

25th March 1918

“Got to the shed to find about 8,000 wounded. Fed them all and went on dressing as hard as we could, more kept coming in. Two of us were kept busy dressing outside and feeding the new arrivals. About 10,000 had been through our hands and still they were pouring in in lorries ambulances etc. Very few trains getting them away. Going back to the school about 11pm…Fritz started to bomb the town. We were nearly home when one seemed to fall beside us with a deafening splitting sound. We dived into an archway, the air seemed full of fumes and gas….however none of us were hit and we go to the school.”

26th March 1918

“We got down to find still more walkers and stretchers, they seemed to be everywhere and some were there from the day before, feeling the cold a good deal. They were very thirsty, dirty and some covered with blood. At 12.30pm we were sent up to the school to pack. We were too hurried to think of the effect our leaving would have on them. I will never forget the expression on their faces when they saw we were going. “OH…they are leaving us, they are going” I heard one man say. I went back to tell him we were going on a truck train and they would be going as soon as the hospital train arrived. It didn’t seem to comfort him much. They looked as if they thought their last hope had gone, poor things…we hated leaving them and it made us realise our being there meant more than the actual work we did. About 10pm we heard Fritz and after that we had a terrible night of bombing. A dud dropped beside us, the line blown up in front of us. We heard in the morning we were in a cutting just out of Amiens and the town was bombed severely that night. It certainly was the most nerve racking thing we had been through…to hear Fritz’ engines above us all night…we could hear the bombs explode, they seemed all around us.

27th March 1918

“We got into and through Amiens about 11am to see telegraph wires smashed, framework in splinters and broken glass everywhere. Got to Namps-Quevauvillers about 2pm. We found that 8 Casualty Clearing Stations had collected at Namps, all with very little stuff and all belonging to the 5th Army. WE had 3 dressing tents and dressed wounds before the patients went on the trains. We slept in a lovely soft French bed.”

28th March 1918

“Busy all day in dressing tent. Went to bed about 10pm. We were rudely wakened at 12 midnight to get up quickly, ambulance waiting. Two very weary Sisters tumbled out…and off up to the Chateau where we packed madly. The lorry took us to the station to be told we had missed the train but there would be another one any minute. We waited at the station all night…it was raining, and got the train at 9am. We left by 17 Red Cross Ambulance train which landed us at Etretat at 10pm where the Americans had prepared for 34 wounded Sisters. So ended a week in France.”

The following is from an article written in 2008 by Associate Professor Melanie Oppenheimer from the UWS School of Humanities and Languages:

"There is a persistent idea that nurses were immune to the effects of front line warfare; that as women they were placed in privileged positions of safety and are therefore not part of the real Anzac story. "The truth is very different. On the Western Front in particular, nurses tended to the ghastliest injuries, in the most physically abhorrent and dangerous conditions." One such Australian nurse was Sister Florence James-Wallace, who was stationed at the No. 61 British Casualty Clearing Station during a major German offensive in March 1918. These casualty clearing stations were positioned just behind the front line and were regularly shelled, bombed and gassed. For this

reason, Sister Florence was one of the Australian nurses who were evacuated to Villers-Bretonneux, where she assisted in the treatment of over 10,000 men before the eventual retreat to Amiens.”

After completing her time with the 61st CCS Florence was posted for duty to the 1st Australian General Hospital at Rouen. Two weeks later she was admitted to the American 1st General Hospital at Etretat with pyrexia of unknown origin, otherwise known as trench fever. She was discharged 4 days later and posted for duty to the British 6th Stationary Hospital at Frevent. She served here for a month before being posted for duty to the 38th Casualty Clearing Station at Fienvillers, east of Abbeville. After almost 2 months here Florence took 3 weeks leave to England. She returned for duty to 3AGH at Abbeville for a month then proceeded to England and attached for duty to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Harefield. She remained here for 5 months before being returned to Australia on the 25th January 1919 on the HMHS Delta. She disembarked at Melbourne on the 10th March and was discharged on the 23rd May 1919.

Upon her arrival in Australia, Florence initially went to live with her mother and sister at “Ellerslie” in Ernest Street, South Brisbane. In September 1919 she was allotted portion 97 of the Waterworks Road Soldier Settlement for her service in WW1. After years spent nursing men with horrific war injuries she returned to face more challenges…the Spanish flu and the death of her mother in 1920.

Due to her rheumatism and arthritis brought on by the cold, damp conditions at Lemnos and the 2 winters in France, she was unable to return to full time nursing so she did some part-time nursing while she recuperated from her wartime experiences, although she suffered with pain from these conditions for the rest of her life. She lived at The Gap until 1923 when she moved to New Zealand to take up the position of Matron at a hospital in Auckland. It was in Auckland that she met a man by the name of Harry Oswald Mellsop, a widower with 4 children aged between 14 and 25 years of age and 9 years her elder. They were married in August 1927 at St Paul’s Church in Auckland with Florence’s brother Tony having the honour of giving her away. Florence was aged 41. Initially they lived at Kohekohe, a township south of Auckland. Some years later they moved to Colville on the Coromandel Peninsula, an isolated property at the end of the peninsula road. The beach below the house became known as Mellsop’s beach. The bridge across the creek, once the road progressed further north, also was named the Mellsop Bridge. At some point they moved back to Auckland where Harry, or “Ossie” as he was better known, died in 1963 aged 85 after 35 years of marriage. Florence travelled back to Queensland several times to visit her family and on one of these visits she left her photograph collection and war diary remnants with her family who subsequently donated them to the Fryer Library at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Most of her war diary was destroyed and lost when she had to leave all her possessions behind to make a hurried evacuation while serving at the 61st CCS.

After the war her eye witness account of working at the 61st Casualty Clearing Station was considered significant enough for Colonel Graham Butler, Director of Australian Army Medical Services in WW1, to include in the 3rd volume of his official medical history. He made it clear that nurses working on Casualty Clearing Stations needed to cope with horrific conditions, far worse than those seen by doctors and nurses in civilian life. Butler himself had served as a Medical Officer at Gallipoli and he praised the courage of these nurses under fire and bombing.

Perhaps the last word on the Australian nurses of Lemnos should be left to Lance Corporal Archibald Barwick who wrote this in his diary:

“What a relief and pleasure it was to see the girls of our land after six months of roughing it at Anzac. They made the place look quite bright with their pretty uniforms. They were bricks to stick at Mudros like they did for I can tell you they had some rough times there… Their first thought was for the sick and wounded men and they looked after them splendidly. One cannot praise our nurses too highly. They were bonzer Girls.”

More than 3,000 Australian nurses served in the Australian Army Nursing Service during World War 1 which was a huge number given that in 1914 there were only 4,200 trained general nurses registered with Australian nursing associations. Twenty-five Australian nurses died during WW1 and eight were awarded the Military Medal for bravery.

After 7 years of widowhood and a very full life, Florence died in April 1970 in Auckland aged 83.

An honour board was erected in the Church of England St Luke’s War Chapel, Brisbane, and was unveiled on the 4th June 1917. It is dedicated to those members of the Australian Army Nursing Service who went from Queensland to serve at the front. It bears the names of 240 Queensland Nurses who served in WW1, 3 of whom made the supreme sacrifice. Florence’s name is one of those 240 names listed. This Honour Board is now located at the Queensland Military Historical Museum at 160 South Street, Lytton, Brisbane, QLD.

Florence Elizabeth James-Wallace was awarded for service in WW1 the Australia Service Medal, Australia Defence Medal and the 1939-1945 Star

Respectfully submitted by Sue Smith 7th October 2021.

Resources https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/ww1/military-organisation/australian-imperial-force/australian-army-nursing-service

https://www.naa.gov.au/learn/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/war/world-war-i/world-war-i-nurses

https://mellsopfamilynz.weebly.com/harry-oswald-ho-ossie.html

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/James-Wallace-1

http://perspectivesonthegreatwar.weebly.com/uploads/8/8/2/6/8826180/nurse_story1.pdf