Bibliograph

Women to the front, the extraordinary Australian women doctors of the Great War, Heather Sheard and Ruth Lee

Type

Label

Women to the front, the extraordinary Australian women doctors of the Great War, Heather Sheard and Ruth Lee

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

resource.biographical

collective biography

Illustrations

portraitsplatesillustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Women to the front

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

Heather Sheard and Ruth Lee

Sub title

the extraordinary Australian women doctors of the Great War

Summary

At the outbreak of World War I, 129 women were registered as medical practitioners in Australia, and many of them were eager to contribute their skills and expertise to the war effort. For the military establishment, however, the notion of women doctors serving on the battlefield was unthinkable. Undaunted, at least twenty-four Australian women doctors ignored official military policy and headed to the frontlines. This book explores the stories of the Australian women who served as surgeons, pathologists, anaesthetists and medical officers between 1914 and 1919. Despite saving hundreds of lives, their experiences are almost totally absent from official military records, both in Australia and Great Britain, and their achievements have remained invisible for over a century. Until now. Heather Sheard and Ruth Lee have compiled a fascinating and meticulously researched account of the Great War, seen through the eyes of these women and their essential work. From the Eastern to the Western Fronts, to Malta, and to London, we bear witness to the terrible conditions, the horrific injuries, the constant danger, and above all, the skill and courage displayed by this group of remarkable Australians. Women to the Front is a war story unlike any other

Classification