• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: IMP0114

Sage, Annie Moriah

(1895 – 1969)
  • Born 17 August, 1895, Somerville Victoria Australia
  • Died 6 April, 1969
  • Occupation Nurse

Summary

During Annie Sage’s distinguished military nursing career in World War II she introduced the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service Training Scheme and was closely involved in the planning and establishment of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps as an integral part of the Australian Regular Army and the Citizen Military Forces.

After the war she took an active and leading role in the establishment of the War Nurses Memorial Centre and the Centaur War Nurses Fund. Through her work with the (Royal) College of Nursing she made a very important contribution to postgraduate nursing education. She was also active in the negotiations that brought about the 1958 Nurses’ Act which gave wider power to the registering authority, the Victorian Nursing Council. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her war work with the Australian Army Nursing Service in the Middle East in 1942 (for ‘exceptional tact and administrative ability’) and she was awarded the CBE (Military Division) in 1951.

Events

  • 2043 - 1952

    Mation-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces

  • 1970 - 1970

    Born: daughter of Edward Arthur and Mary Anne (née Murray) Sage

  • 1936 - 1939

    Matron of the Victorian Baby Health Centres Association Training School

  • 2039 - 2047

    Member of the Australian Army Nursing Service

  • 1941 - 1941

    Matron-in-Chief of the Australian Imperial Forces

  • 1947 - 1951

    Lady Superintendent of the Women’s Hospital, Carlton, Victoria

  • 2024 - 2024

    Registered as a midwife

  • 2026 - 2026

    Granted her nursing certificate

  • 2040 - 2040

    Sailed for the Middle East and served at Gaza Ridge, Palestine, and at Kantara, Egypt

  • 1942 - 1942

    Appointed a member of the Royal Red Cross

  • 2043 - 2043

    Promoted to colonel

  • 2045 - 2045

    Flew to Sumatra to assist with the repatriation of the 24 Australian nurses imprisoned by the Japanese

  • 1947 - 1947

    Awarded Florence Nightingale medal

  • 2046 - 2046

    Accompanied the Australian Military Forces to London for the Victory March

  • 1949 - 1950

    Founding president of the College of Nursing, Melbourne

  • 1950 - 1952

    Treasurer of the College of Nursing, Melbourne

  • 1967 - 1967

    Honorary fellow of the College of Nursing, Melbourne

  • 1957 - 1962

    Honorary colonel of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps

  • 2069 - 2069

    Died and was cremated with Anglican rites with full military honours

  • 1969 - 1969

    College of Nursing established the Annie M Sage scholarship

  • 1956 - 1956

    Became a partner in a grocery shop at Somerville, Victoria

Published resources

  • Book
    • Matron A.M. Sage 'Sammie': A Tribute by Betty Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Agnes Betty, 1970?
    • White Coolies, Jeffrey, Betty, 1954
    • Revolutions and Rosewater: The Evolution of Nurse Registration in Victoria, 1923-1973, Minchin, Maureen Kathryn, 1977
    • Founders of the College, Schultz, Bart, 1989
    • In Pursuit of Nursing Excellence: A History of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia 1949-1999, Smith, Russel G., 1999
    • Victoria's Living Memorial: History of the Nurses Memorial Centre, 1948-1990, Williams, Jennifer A., 1991
    • Australian women at war, Adam-Smith, Patsy, 1984
    • The Ever open door : a history of the Royal Melbourne Hospital 1848-1998, Gregory, Alan, 1998
    • Colonel Best and her soldiers: The Story of the 33 years of the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps, Ollif, Lorna, 1985
    • A Woman's war : the exceptional life of Wilma Oram Young, AM, Angell, Barbara, 2003
    • Guns and brooches : Australian Army Nursing from the Boer War to the Gulf War, Bassett, Jan, 1992
  • Resource Section
  • Edited Book
    • Who's Who in Australia 1962, Alexander, Joseph A, 1962
  • Resource
  • Site Exhibition

Archival resources

  • Nurses Memorial Centre
    • Annie Moriah Sage, Portrait
  • Royal College of Nursing, Australia, Archives
    • Annie Moriah Sage, Records
  • Australian War Memorial, Research Centre
    • Sage, Annie Moriah (Matron b: 1895 d: 1969)
    • [Campaign in Malaya and Singapore - Escape before and after capitulation and evacuation of civilians:]
    • Honours and Awards - Recommendations for New Year Honours List 1946
    • End of War Awards - submissions by [Quartermaster-General and Director-General of Medical Services]
    • Group portrait of Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) nurses, who were former prisoners of war (POWs), ob board the hospital ship Manunda on its arrival in Australia
  • National Archives of Australia, Melbourne Office
    • Sage, Annie Moriah, Colonel RRC CBE
    • SAGE, Annie Moriah - Pay ledger and history cards [4], allotment cards [3], tax deduction cards [1]
  • National Archives of Australia, National Office, Canberra
    • Miss A M Sage - Honour
  • National Library of Australia
    • [Biographical cuttings on Annie M. Sage, Matron-in-Chief of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps, 1942-1952, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]

Related entries


  • Related Organisations
    • Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) (1902 - 1948)