Connection to the Hunter Valley – Staff Nurse Annie Milligan was born in Muswellbrook, trained at Newcastle Hospital and is named on Muswellbrook Citizens’ Memorial.
Detail of Muswellbrook Citizens’ Memorial.
Photo: A John Bramble 2010
Training and experience – trained Newcastle Hospital, qualified for membership of the Australian Trained Nurses’ Association in 1913. Selected by the State Board of Health to take care of nursing arrangements during the outbreak of smallpox at Quirindi in 1914.
Service – Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS)
Service location – Salonika
Medals – British War Medal and Victory Medal
References:
National Archives of Australia B2455 MILLIGAN ANNIE BEATRICE
Nominal Roll of the First AIF Australian War Memorial (AWM) 133, 36-133
Embarkation Roll of the First AIF AWM Nurses (July 1915 – November 1918)
AWM A01240 (group photo)
Sydney Morning Herald, 25 June 1913 (accessed from Trove, 3 June 2012)
Muswellbrook Chronicle, 22 August 1914 (accessed from Trove, 2 January 2014)
Audrey Armitage, A Golden Age of Nursing, Royal Newcastle Hospital Graduates’ Association Book Committee, Newcastle, 1991
Do you know more?
© Christine Bramble 2013
Great War Nurses from the Hunter 
Nurse Annie Beatrice Milligan was the aunt of my father, Norman Charles Woodland. She had 9 brothers and sisters, Joseph, Clara, Germane, Eveline May (my grandmother), Alexander, William and Edith and 2 deceased females. I believe she was also awarded the Star medal as well. We have a photo of her with some men outside a hospital? from his mother,
Thanks for your post, Carol, it’s always good to hear from descendants. Your great aunt would have experienced a very hard time in Salonika – the climate was extreme (freezing in winter, very hot in summer). Malaria was a serious problem and some of the nurses got so sick with this that they were sent home early. Happily, this did not apply to Annie as she did not return to Australia until early 1920. If you follow these links https://huntervalleygreatwarnurses.com/about/in-their-own-words/ & https://huntervalleygreatwarnurses.com/about/short-stories/ you will find some accounts of life as a nurse in Salonika.
I assume that the Star you are referring to is the 1914-15 Star, which was available to service men and women who were in any theatre of war against the Central Powers during those years.
I have recently found a further reference to Nurse Milligan in an article in the Muswellbrook Chronicle in 1914 – I have added it to the list of references above.
If the photo you refer to was taken during the war, perhaps I can help you to identify where it might be if you would like to email it to me at sistersofthevalley@gmail.com, or post it on this website.
Once again thank you for post. Regards, Christine