Agnes Dwyer, the daughter of Michael and Norah Dwyer of Orange, was just 24 when she signed up for war nursing duties in September 1916. She was sent on the Kaiser-i-Hind to Egypt, arriving on 10 January 1917. In August 1917 she was sent to Salonika in Greece where she attended Greek as well as Australian soldiers. Besides those wounded in battle, Nurse Dwyer had to tend some of the thousands who contracted malaria and other infectious diseases. The Leader reported that she ‘had a rough time in Salonika’ and she herself did not escape illness. After the war she was awarded the Greek Medal for Military Merit for conspicuous service in the AIF. She later resumed nursing at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick.
Leader, 6 October 1919, p.3.
Orange nurse decorated
* Edwards, Elisabeth 2011, In sickness and in health: how medicine helped shape Orange’s history, Orange City Council, Orange, NSW.
