Connection with the Hunter Valley – Sister Susan Arnold was Matron of Dungog Hospital before the War. She is named on the Dungog and District honour roll (Dungog RSL Club).
Training and experience – Trained Grafton Hospital, Matron of Dungog Hospital until c.May 1914, Matron of Richmond District Hospital in 1915
Service – Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS)
Service location – Egypt, Salonika and UK. In her own words …
Medals – British War Medal and Victory Medal
More details and references:
Enlisted – 2 September 1916, age 38
Residence before embarkation – Kogarah
Port of embarkation, vessel and date – Sydney / Kaiser-I-Hind / 9 December 1916
Return to Australia – Embarked 21 June 1919 on the H.T. Konigen Luise, on duty. Disembarked Sydney 16 August 1919
Next-of-kin as indicated in service record – Mother, Sarah Arnold, “Dunlee”, Montgomery Street, Kogarah, NSW
Leave – Sick June 1917 (tonsillitis), October 1918 (influenza); recreation leave February-March 1919 (UK)
Discharged – 23 September 1919
Relative in AIF – Brother, Henry Arnold, was a dentist – initially enlisted in 30th Battalion, later transferred to Australian Army Medical Corps
Honour roll – Dungog and District honour roll (Dungog RSL Club), Grafton Public School, Richmond & District Memorial
Parents / where born or birth registered – John and Sarah Arnold / Grafton (birth registered with the name Susannah – however, all military records use the form Susan)
Marital status / married surname – Single
Religion – Church of England
References:
National Archives of Australia B2455 ARNOLD S
Nominal Roll of the AIF Australian War Memorial (AWM) AWM133, 02-030
Embarkation Roll of the AIF Australian War Memorial AWM Nurses (July 1915 – November 1918)
Australian War Memorial Australian Army Nursing Service in Egypt June 1916 – April 1918 Part 1, [p.8 &16]
AWM41/1072 (Interview with Matron Kellett)
Australasian Nurses Journal, Vol XIII No 1 January 1915, p.30
Sydney Morning Herald, 22 December 1911, p.7, retrieved from Trove 27 July 2010; 18 August 1919 p.9, retrieved from Trove 7 June 2012
Dungog Chronicle, 14 June 1921
Clarence & Richmond Examiner, 23 December 1911, p.9, retrieved from Trove 28 August 2011; 5 May 1914, p.4, retrieved from Trove 9 May 2012
Kirsty Harris, More than Bombs and Bandages – Australian Army nurses at work in World War I, Big Sky Publishing, Newport, 2011, p.247
Do you know more?
© Christine Bramble 2013
Great War Nurses from the Hunter 
My grandmother’s sister was Susan Arnold and I was thrilled to find this information. I met her when I was a small child.
Good to hear from you, Sandra. Would love to hear what you remember about your meeting with Sister Arnold.
Sandra I’m curious to where you and i come together. Susan / Susannah was my great grandfather’s sister. I lived in her house was she was elsewhere when i was very young but I never met her. I think when she visited to inspect the place I was shunted elsewhere.
Lovely to look back to Susan’s history and find your reply.
My brother, Gary, has been researching our family history and has given me this Information:
John Arnold / Sarah Brown
Children
Louisa Arnold – Susannah Arnold –
Robert Arnold marries Mabel May Rowe
Child – Nenor May Arnold marries Alfred GF Ellis
Child – Silvia Betty Ellis marries William CE Wheeler
The association is Louisa Mair nee Arnold (our Grandmother ) and Robert Arnold (our Great Uncle )
ok I just saw this at the base. Silvia Betty Ellis is my mother.
Good to know more about Sister Arnold’s family, Charles.