Anza Girls Essay

Film Review ANZAC Girls

1. General Overview- The miniseries ANZAC Girls, set in World War I, displays the harsh conditions and extraordinary stories of nurses in the time of war. The miniseries deeply explores the war efforts of five nurses working for the Australian Army Nursing Service in Egypt, the Dardanelles and Lemnos. The action begins in 1915 as the nurses arrive in Cairo, Egypt. With no time wasted, all had little time to get to know one another, and the women are immediately faced with gruesome jobs of newly injured soldiers. During the Gallipoli campaign, sisters Olive Haynes, Alice Ross-King, Hilda Steele, Elsie Cook and Matron Grace Wilson moved far and wide providing the best possible care for the Australian Diggers, which then all the nurses experience the horror of front line, fighting without weapons. The series starts

with the introduction of all the nurses’ personal lives, while also showing the horrific conditions and unbearable pain that the Soldiers were in before being given the loving aid of the nurses. They were all faced with scaring wounds and an endless amount of blood and care needed, the nurses stayed strong and overcame the fears of being at war with the support of one another.
2. Experiences- As New Zealand had not yet sent its own army nursing service, many Kiwi women were joined up with the Australians.
Often serving far from home, they care for the sick and wounded on land and sea, and in the air. Their skills save lives.
Like most working women of the time, military nurses had to be unmarried. They were mostly aged between 25 and 40, and were well-educated, having trained for at least three years to become a qualified nurse. Because their pay was small, the nurses were often supported by their families as well.
Like the soldiers of the AIF, members of the AANS wore a “rising sun” badge on their uniforms. The nurses’ badges were coloured silver, and the men’s made of brass.
Right from the Gallipoli landings on 25 April 1915, nurses cared for hundreds of casualties in the hospital and transport ships anchored off-shore. Despite the constant threat of Turkish shelling or torpedoes, the exhausted nurses cleaned, bandaged, warmed, and comforted their patients, many of whom had terrible wounds or were suffering from the effects of gangrene and disease. Did you know? Wards on the lower decks were crowded and poorly ventilated, and seasickness struck down nurses and patients alike.
Children in Australia helped to raise funds for the war effort.

Bertie Betts, dressed as Lord Kitchener, and his cousin, Eunice Bryant, dressed as a nurse, were winners of a Red Cross fancy dress competition in 1915. The children were photographed, and postcards were produced and sold to raise money for the Red Cross.

The Geneva Convention is a set of international rules, which, many but not all, countries agree to follow during wartime. These were written to protect the rights of prisoners of war, the wounded, non-combatants, and civilians caught up in war zones. The nurses thought these rules would keep them safe, but the Japanese government did not agree to obey them. Personnel charged with the transportation and treatment of the wounded and sick shall be respected and protected under all circumstances. If they fall into the hands of the enemy they shall not be treated as prisoners of war.

While serving in areas close to the front line in New Guinea, RAAFNS nurses were instructed to dye their white ward dresses with strong tea. It was feared that white uniforms made them too visible from the air and they could become enemy

targets.
The nurses’ quarters at the 1st Australian Field Hospital in Vietnam were nicknamed “Fort Petticoat”. They were long wooden buildings with metal roofs, cement floors, and louvre windows. To keep cool, each nurse was given a small electric fan for her room. Outside there was thick sand everywhere, which often blew in and settled on the beds. The buildings were surrounded by a wall of sandbags to absorb the impact of an artillery or bombing attack.
In many areas, the nurses had to deal with not having equipment handy. This meant that essential nursing items were not available, so they had to improvise with other items, such as making their own clothing into bandages for the need of others.
Since 1990, Australian service nurses have worked on military and humanitarian operations across the world: for example, in Iraq, Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, Bougainville, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, and Afghanistan.