Janet Lucas as a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), 1940-1946, interviewed by Jan Bassett

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Accession Number S01823
Collection type Sound
Measurement 32 min
Object type Oral history
Physical description 1/4 inch sound tape reel; BASF LP 35; 3 3/4 ips/9.5 cm.s; stereo; 5 inch
Maker Lucas, Janet
Bassett, Jan
Date made 19 February 1987
Access Open
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Source credit to AWM Special Project Fellowship Award
Description

Early life; commenced civilian nursing training at Sydney Hospital in 1926; registered for army reserve in 1939; called up in 1940; posted to 2/5th Australian General Hospital (AGH); camp hospital at Greta, New South Wales; left on SS Queen Mary for Middle East; describes conditions and uniforms; sent to Piraeus in Greece; lost commanding officer in German air attack; describes evacuation from Greece onboard HMAS Voyager; relationship with British nurses; went to Crete then Alexandria and attached to British hospital; left Middle East for Australia on SS Mauritania in 1942; set up hospital in Armidale NSW; promoted to Matron; 2/5th AGH then moved to Port Moresby; in 1943 2/5th AGH moved to Morotai; malaria and scrub typhus; health of nurses; conditions on Morotai; condition of Australian prisoners of war (POW) evacuated from Borneo; returned from Morotai in 1945 and posted as matron to camp hospital at Bonegilla, Victoria; demobilised in 1946; effects of war on advances in medical treatment and procedures. END OF INTERVIEW
A transcript of this recording may be available. For further information please contact the Sound section.

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