Pleased to see family member Mary McCrimmon named on a plaque to be unveiled in Shepparton on Remembrance Day are (back) Bryce McCrimmon, Rob McCrimmon, Michelle Kingma, Fiona McCrimmon, (middle) Diazz McCrimmon, 13, Summah McCrimmon, Mahley McCrimmon, 12, and (front) Harlo McCrimmon, 5.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
World War I nurses will be recognised with a new plaque that is being unveiled in Shepparton on Remembrance Day.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
The plaque contains the names of 30 women who trained as nurses at Mooroopna Hospital before heading overseas and working on the front line during World War I.
Two of those women died in service.
Almost half of the women recognised came from the region initially, and some still have families in the area.
The others came to train as nurses at the big training hospital that was then in Mooroopna.
Much of the research for the plaque was done by local historian Bernie Squires, who said it was important that the work these women did was recognised.
“They should be recognised,” he said.
“There’s very few monuments that recognise nurses.”
Three generations of Mary McCrimmon’s family will be at the unveiling of the plaque, including (back) Michelle Kingma, Rob McCrimmon, Fiona McCrimmon, (middle) Bryce McCrimmon, Mahley McCrimmon, 12, Diazz McCrimmon, 13, Summah McCrimmon and (front) Harlo McCrimmon, 5.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
The plaque came about after Mr Squires talked to then Shepparton RSL sub-branch secretary Ted Ball about his research, and the pair worked together to make the plaque a reality.
“It’s high time people recognise the sacrifices these nurses made,” Mr Ball said.
“There was so much carnage during World War I.
“They were very important.
“It must have been frightening, and they must have seen some horrible things.
“I think it’s very important we did something that recognises the hospital in Mooroopna and the girls that came from that area.”
Mr Ball said a lot of nurses went to Egypt for the Gallipoli campaign, while many went to France where they worked out of field hospitals while the fighting on the Western Front was occurring.
Mr Ball said many of the nurses came back to Australia after the war and became nursing sisters and matrons in the region.
The plaque at the Shepparton cenotaph will be unveiled as part of the Remembrance day service on Tuesday, November 11.
Retired Colonel Jan McCarthy, of the Victorian State RSL, and who was the former chief of the Australian Nursing Corps from 1988 to 1992, will join with Mr Squires to unveil it.
The service, at the cenotaph on the corner of Welsford and Fryers Sts, will start at 10.30am.
Family elated with plaque
A young Mary McCrimmon during her nursing days.
The extended family of one of the nurses being recognised on a new plaque being unveiled on Remembrance Day say they are thrilled to see their great aunt recognised.
Mary McCrimmon is one of 30 nurses who trained as a nurse at the old Mooroopna Hospital being recognised on the new plaque.
While she was not from the Goulburn Valley herself, Mary spent three years in Mooroopna training as a nurse.
While here, she both lived at and trained at the old Mooroopna Hospital.
Mary enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service in 1917 when she was 26 years old.
She embarked on a ship bound for England on May 9, 1917.
She spent 18 months overseas, serving in both London and France, only returning to Australia in November 1918.
In 1925, Mary married Charles Robertson and moved to Melbourne, where they had two daughters, Catherine Marion and Phemmie, who also both went on to become nurses themselves.
Mary died in June 1967.
Mary’s great niece Michelle Kingma said Mary’s daughter Phemmie was still alive, and at the age of 95, was living in a nursing home in Melbourne.
While Phemmie is unable to attend the unveiling of the plaque in Shepparton, Michelle said she had been to visit her to tell her about the plaque and she was “absolutely elated” at the honour her mother would receive.
Looking at Mary’s war records, Michelle said Mary “would have been in the thick of it” when serving on the front line in France.
Michelle Kingma, Rob McCrimmon and Fiona McCrimmon are thrilled that their great aunt Mary McCrimmon’s name will be on a plaque honouring nurses from World War I.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Michelle is pleased her great aunt’s name will be among the nurse’s names on the plaque and she will be coming from Melbourne on Tuesday for the service.
“It’s an absolute honour to be here to see the unveiling of the plaque,” she said.
“It’s history that is hopefully going to go on for many generations.”
Michelle’s sister, Fiona McCrimmon, who lives in Shepparton and works at the Shepparton RSL, is also pleased to see a family member among those being honoured.
“It’s so great to see our nurses being acknowledged for what they would see and what they were doing,” she said.
“All nurses — they are still out there doing their job, and peacekeeping is not always peaceful.
“They are amazing human beings that put up their hand and went.”
Their cousin Rob McCrimmon, also a great nephew of Mary’s who now lives in Shepparton, is happy at the recognition all the nurses are now receiving.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he said.
“If you think about it, half the boys wouldn’t have come home (from the war) without the nurses.”
18°C