Nan Reay arrived in England, from Australia, in December 1912 with her mother Lucinda (Louie) and sisters Millie, Beatrice, Amy and Alice. She then nursed privately in London until the outbreak of war in 1914. When war was declared she immediately put her name forward to join the war effort and was recruited to join the Australian Voluntary Hospital (AVH) established by Lady Dudley in England. 

Lady Dudley raised the funds and established the AVH in a remarkably short time in August 1914 to give expatriate Australians in Britain the opportunity to support the war. 

By August 27th the AVH left for the Front with Lady Dudley as Superintendent to establish their work at St Nazaire. 

There were eighteen nurses, sixteen of whom were Australian, eighty non-commissioned officers and men, including twenty-five medical students. 

Nan Reay records this day by noting that she received her “first army pay. In this episode she describes her journey into the “unknown” as she travels to the harbour of Le Havre, in north western France.

The AVH served as a military hospital from 1914-1916 on the Western Front and for much of this time, it was the only Australian presence on the Western Front. It has been described as the United Nations of emergency healthcare because it was established as an independent field hospital to care for French, Russian, Serbian and Portugese soliders, as well as Commonwealth soldiers. 

By the end of October 1914 the AVH moved to Wimereux, a coastal town situated five kilometres north of Boulogne on the north-west coast of France. The town was an important hospital centre during WW1.

At the end of the war, in 1918, Lady Dudley was appointed C.B.E. and was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her work with the AVH. 

World War 1 Timeline for Episode 1

28 June 1914.Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie Chotek, are assassinated by Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip. Austria suspects Serbia is responsible.

28 July 1914 

Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.

August 1914 

Germany declares war on Russia, France and Belgium.

Britain declares war on Germany.

Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.

France and Britain declare war on Austria-Hungary.

Japan declares war on Germany.

Austria-Hungary declares war on Belgium.

The United States declares its neutrality.

“The Retreat from Mons” is written across the left hand margin between the entries for 2 and 3 September in Nan Reay’s handwriting. 

The Battle of Mons took place in Belgium on 23 August 1914, when the German army forced the British Expeditionary Force into a retreat.

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Geraldine Cook-Dafner – Narrator

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Image – Sarah Corridon

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