Connection with the Hunter Valley – Kathleen’s family home was in Swansea, Lake Macquarie.  Kathleen’s father, a school teacher, was keen to ensure that his daughters received a good education in an age when this was not always considered necessary for girls.  Dorothy Byrne also became a nurse and another sister, Ethel, became Newcastle Hospital’s first resident pathologist.  Lorna Byrne was one of the first women to graduate in Agriculture at the University of Sydney.

Training and experience – Trained Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Passed examination for membership of Australian Trained Nurses Association  in 1913.

Service – Australian  Army Nursing Service (AANS)

Service location – Hospital ships, Egypt, UK,  France

Medals  – 1914-1915 Star,British War Medal, Victory Medal

More detail and references:

Enlisted – 12 June 1915, age 32

Residence before embarkation – 1) Darling Point  2) Swansea, Lake Macquarie

Port of embarkation, vessel and date – Sydney / Orsova / 14 July 1915; Melbourne, Themistocles, 28 July 1916

Return to Australia – embarked on the St Albans on 3 April  1919; disembarked Sydney 24 May 1919

Next-of-kin as indicated in service record – father, Mr J Byrne, Swansea

Leave – Recreation leave October 1917, June 1918 and February 1919, UK

Discharged – July 1919

Relative in AIF – Brother, Sgt James Byrne 20^th Btn, later transferred to 56^th Btn

Marital status / married surname          Kathleen married Angus McKenzie in Sydney in 1919 and later moved to Launceston in Tasmania

Where born / parents – Parramatta / James Benedict and Margaret Byrne

References:

National Archives of Australia B2455 BYRNE K

Nominal Roll of the First AIF Australian War Memorial (AWM) AWM133, 07-102

Embarkation Roll of the First AIF AWM Convalescent Depot, Harefield Park, London, and Special Reinforcements. (February 1915 – March 1916) and Sea Transport Staff – 1 to 10 Sections (July 1916 – December 1918)

Australian War Memorial AWM E02112 and P01667.003 (photographs)

Sydney Morning Herald, 31 December 1913, p.17, retrieved from Trove 19 October 2012; 23 April 1919, p.8, retrieved from Trove 2 June 2012

The Mercury (Hobart), 5 May 1949, p.12, retrieved from Trove 8 August 2010

Australasian Nurses’ Journal, Vol XII No 12 December 1914, p.427

Margaret Henry, ‘Byrne, Ethel (1895 – 1957)’,  Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993, pp 326-327.

‘Byrne, Lorna (1897–1989)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, online edition

Do you know more?

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© Christine Bramble 2013