Historical records of RAAF Nursing Service

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Nursing Service was established on 26 July 1940. Prior to this date, RAAF personnel were usually nursed at sick quarters by male orderlies or by civilian nurses. Extra civilian nurses were brought in to assist with surgical procedures at RAAF stations as required. The outbreak of the Second World War led to a rapid rise in RAAF personnel and outbreaks of minor infectious diseases at RAAF units in early 1940 resulted in an increased demand for civilian nurses. It soon became clear that the services of civilian nurses were inadequate and that a permanent nursing service was required within the force.

In June 1940, Air Commodore Victor Hurley, the newly appointed Director General Medical Services (DGMS), acting on a recommendation from Group Captain Daley, suggested to the Air Member for Personnel that the RAAF should have its own nursing service and shortly after the recommendation was approved by the Minister for Air, James Fairbairn. The new service was to be structured along the same lines as Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service (PMRAFNS) and a similar uniform was adopted. The conditions and rates of pay were to be the same as the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS).

Miss Margaret Lang, an ex-Army sister, who had served in the First World War in Salonika, Greece and later at the Victorian Police Hospital was appointed Matron-in-Chief on 27 July 1940. She was attached to RAAF Headquarters in the Directorate of Medical Services and later given the status of a director. Her role was to supervise the Service and to advise the DGMS on all matters concerning nurses in hospitals, medical rehabilitation and sick quarters. She was also responsible for the appointment, posting and discharge of RAAF nursing sisters.

Membership of the Service expanded from 45 in December 1940 to 616 in December 1945. RAAF nursing sisters served at RAAF hospitals and station sick quarters throughout Australia and by the end of 1943 they were also working in operational areas in New Guinea and the Pacific islands. A small group of them (52) were attached to the RAAF Medical Staff escorting groups of trainee aircrew to Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). With the establishment of Medical Air Evacuation Transport Units (MAETU) in 1944 they assisted in the aerial evacuation of casualties from forward areas. At the end of the war they assisted in the repatriation of prisoners of war from South East Asia and following the disbandment of the Nursing Service in 1946 a small number of volunteers went to Japan to serve with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF).

In September 1948 a permanent RAAF Nursing Service was formed. The nursing of members of the RAAF from the end of hostilities until the formation of the peacetime service had been carried out by sisters of the wartime RAAF Nursing Service who volunteered to service in the Interim RAAF Nursing Service. A number of them were later appointed to the permanent service. Over the next three decades RAAF nurses saw service in the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War.

On 1 May 1977 the RAAF Nursing Service was integrated into the RAAF Medical Branch. Policies formerly relating specifically to women’s services were now rescinded and a uniform code for both males and females was introduced with equal status in powers of command. With this integration the sisters became known as nursing officers. Male trained nurses were now eligible for appointment to the RAAF. From 1 January 1978 female nursing officers received equal pay to that of their male counterparts.

Since this time, RAAF nursing officers have been involved in various peacekeeping forces. They are also frequently called upon to accompany mercy flights throughout Australia, the Pacific islands and other neighbouring countries as well as attending to their normal duties in the RAAF.

The records were transferred to the Australian War Memorial in October 1985 by the RAAF Nursing Service, Department of Defence. They were accessioned as OW85/20 and later designated AWM137.

• AWM137 2 - Historical information and general development of the RAAF Nursing Service