Shoulder cape : Sister T M N Jones, Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service

Dark blue wool cloth shoulder cape without collar, fastened at the neck with a single, black painted copper alloy hook and eye. A tapering band of fine wool scarlet piping, 8mm wide, is set into the front and lower sides the cape, between 40 and 60mm from the edge. The cape is shaped by a dart across the end of each shoulder. There is a small vent on the centre back hem. The cape is lined with fine red silk which has partly perished with wear and been replaced around the neck with a band of crimson satin. A printed cotton manufacturer's label is sewn into the back neck and is marked in black ink 'T. Jones'.

This cape was worn by Nursing Sister Grade I (lieutenant) Teifi Mary Nesta Jones during her service with the Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service (RANNS) in the Second World War. Jones, one of only 60 nurses to serve in the RANNS, was born in Swansea, Wales, in October 1914. She enlisted for service in Sydney on 12 October 1942 and was initially appointed a Nursing Sister Grade II (sub-lieutenant). Jones served mainly in Sydney, based at the shore establishment HMAS Rushcutter, where she not only nursed but was also involved in training male wartime recruits as sea-going sick berth attendants. Although Jones enlisted six months after the sinking of HMAS Kuttabul by a Japanese midget submarine, one of her first tasks was nursing some of the badly injured survivors who remained in hospital. In August 1945 Jones transferred to HMAS Moreton in Brisbane, where she remained until her discharge in July 1946. While in Brisbane she met, and later married, Lieutenant Commander Stewart Linton Browne, RANVR, who was then staff officer in charge of coastal craft. He had previously served with landing craft in Combined Operations in the Mediterranean and at the Normandy landings in 1944.