A grainy photo of Vida Greentree meeting the Prince of Wales at Richmond NSW in 1920. Photo: Supplied.
Vida Myteline Greentree was 27-years-old when she sailed from Australia to Suez during World War One.
Vida was a nursing sister with the Australian Army Nursing Service. In the first week in August 1917 she and her nursing companions left Alexandria for Salonica where they were taken to the 60th General Hospital at Hortiach.
“It was a large tented hospital with 1600 beds. I was in the surgical ward,” Vida said.
“Many times we would have been without food had it not been for them [the Australian Red Cross] sending supplies from Egypt.”
Vida was a country girl and is my husband’s great aunt. She was Senior Nurse at Penrith Hospital and grew up in the Hawkesbury Valley.
Like Vida, many young Australian women served as nurses in World War 1. However, over the years many more Australian women have served their country in various ways during wars and conflicts.
The Bungarby Memorial Hall and War Memorial committee is interested to learn about Snowy Monaro women, deceased or living, who served their country in any way during any conflicts in which Australia has been involved.
The committee is keen to know of any local women who may have participated in nursing, the Women’s Land Army, any of the military services, the Australian Red Cross and the Country Women’s Association during any conflicts since and including World War 1.
The Bungarby Memorial Hall committee is planning to honour these women at its Remembrance Day ceremony on Monday, November 11, 2019.
The committee plans to honour each woman with hopefully a photo and typed information (up to 500 words) about each particular woman’s involvement in the various conflicts.
Beyond ‘local’ women, the committee is also keen to open this opportunity up to Snowy Monaro residents with relatives who weren’t born and bred here but live on in the memories of people who now do. These people should be honoured too, just as Vida Myteline Greentree will be.
Each woman’s memorabilia will be displayed in the Bungarby Memorial Hall on Remembrance Day. Great care will be taken, with all information and artifacts returned to families.
If your family has a female relative who served in any way in any conflict and would like her to be included in this project please contact:
Christine Cassilles, phone – 6288 6029, 0427 265 759 or email – [email protected]
Robin Daley, phone – 0439 691 059 or email – [email protected]
Thank you!
Words by Robin Daley, Bungarby Memorial Hall and War Memorial committee.
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