'Really Rather Extraordinary': The Leadership of Matron Beryl Campbell in the Australian Army Nursing Service in World War I
Anne Prince
Abstract
This chapter explores the previously unrecorded nursing leadership of Beryl Campbell in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) in World War I. It traces her transformation from colonial girlhood in outback Queensland in the 1880s through nursing training and service with Australian hospitals in Heliopolis in Egypt in 1914 to becoming matron of a 1200-bed British hospital in Salonica, Greece, in 1918. The chapter adds to growing scholarship in Australian nursing history in World War I by locating this individual history within the leadership of the AANS. AANS matrons were recognised as a group of powerful women, who had to lead wartime nursing, often in atrocious conditions, while defending AANS independence and upholding an ethic of care for both their patients and their Australian nursing staff. The challenge of incomplete archival records and fragmented personal texts, common issues facing AANS researchers, is addressed through detailed readings of Beryl Campbell’s partial service record, surviving letters, Salonica photographs and two major decorations awarded by the British and French governments.
Keywords
Australian Army Nursing Service, World War I, matron, Australian nursing history, Australian nursing leaders
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