1915 - Cabinet Approves Proposed NZANS
On 11 January Cabinet approved the formation of the NZANS after a proposal was submitted by Mr Allen, the Minister of Defence, recommending that authority be given to provisionally enrol 60 nurses and that the Defence Act be amended to make provision for the Nursing Service. The proposal was approved and signed ‘Passed in Cabinet 11.1.15 ‘.
1915 - Cable from England
On 25 January a cable was received from the British Government accepting an offer of the services of NZ nurses. The offer was made by the NZ Minister of Defence in December 1914. The cable also requested a guarantee as to the training and efficiency of 11 NZ nurses domiciled in England and who were offering their services. As a part of making this request the British Government recognised that State Registration of nurses in New Zealand was a definite advantage, as it allowed ready access to nurse’s qualifications through a single authority. Unfortunately, of the 11 nurses that a guarantee of their training and efficiency was being sought, only a few could be guaranteed as the majority were not recorded as being State Registered nurses.
1915 - Uniforms for Nurses
In a Minute headed ‘Nurses to the Front’ dated 15 February and signed by the MOD, Cabinet approved expenditure on uniforms up to £10.
1915 - Cable from Australia
On 25 March a cable arrived from the Australian Government accepting a NZ Government offer made in December 1914 for NZ nurses to serve with the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). In accepting the offer, the Australian Government requested that 12 nurses (two Sisters and 10 Nurses) be selected. Twelve nurses were subsequently selected and sailed from Wellington for Australia on 1 April. This group of NZ nurses arrived in Egypt as members of the AANS before the first members of the NZANS arrived.
1915 - NZANS Nurses Sail from New Zealand
Finally on 6 April 110 Nurses were officially enlisted in the NZANS and the first 50 sailed from NZ on 8 April aboard the Steamer Rotorua arriving in England on 19 May. The journey for the NZANS had begun in earnest.
1915 - Officer Status
From the beginning it had been agreed nurses were to be classed with officers and were to rank directly below Medical Officers.
There were many instances of disbelief within the military that nurses were to be treated as officers in every respect. One instance that occurred on a Transport Ships was so bad that the Matron threatened to leave the ship in Australia. The matter of nurses being accorded officer status did not get resolved until WW2!
23 Oct 1915 - NZANS Nurses Lost
At about 9.15am on 25 October 10 nurses of the NZANS were lost when the Transport Ship Marquette was torpedoed by a German Submarine. They were part of No 1 Stationary Hospital and were being sent to Lemnos to assist with the casualties coming from the Dardanelles.
TS Marquette & NZANS Survivors will appear as you drag your mouse over the photo.
1917 - Marriage
Upon formation of the NZANS no rules were included in the Regulations regarding marital status of nurses joining or during their service. However, in 1917 this changed and a draft General Order was published in the Kai Tiaki headed “NZ Army Nursing Service – Marriage On Active Service” The order stated:
Must not marry without permission
Sisters who are married may, at any time be retired from the NZEF
This issue was finally resolved in the 1926 Regulations where it was made clear that to join the NZANS a nurse must be single or a widow without children!
1918 - End of WW1
At the end of WW1, nurses who were no longer required went back to their civilian jobs and those who were remained on strength until early 1922.
1922 - NZ Military Hospitals Closed – Nurses to Reserve List
The NZ military hospitals closed and retired nurses were places on the reserve list and once again the NZANS went into abeyance.
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During WW1 several hundred nurses and masseuses served in Military Hospitals in Samoa, Egypt, United Kingdom, France and New Zealand. They served on Hospital Trains and Ships of the United Kingdom and the New Zealand Hospital Ships Maheno and Marama. The New Zealand Hospital Ship Maheno also took on patients at Gallipoli.
It is also interesting to note that seven NZANS nurses serving overseas during WW1 also trained as anaesthetists.
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