QLD Nurses

Studio group portrait of the first four Queensland nurses selected for the Australian Army Nursing Service, 1914. Photography John Samuel Wiley. AWM:P04233.001

Identified: left to right, seated: Sister (Sr) Bertha Mary Williams; Sr Eunice Muriel Harriett Paten; standing: Sr Constance Mabel Keys; Sr Julia Mary Hart. These four nurses sailed on HMAT Omrah from Brisbane on 24 September 1914 as part of the Australian Army Nursing Service and all returned to Australia. Sr (later Acting Matron) Paten was awarded the Associate of the Royal Red Cross (ARRC) on 27 November 1918. Sr Williams was also awarded the ARRC on 25 July 1917. Sr Hart was awarded the Royal Red Cross (RRC) on 23 May 1919 and MID (Mention in Despatches) in 1918. Sr Keys was awarded the ARRC on 29 June 1917, the French Medaille Des Epidemies, Gold, on 17 June 1919, the RRC on 15 September 1919 and two MIDs on 19 April 1917 and 23 May 1919.