“Sister Rush stirring pea soup. Very typical of how we cooked luxuries for the patients at Lemnos. The fireplace made of mud. Oct 1915″ Anne Donnell. National Library of Australia MS 3962. Click on image to enlarge.
Connection to the Hunter Valley – Although Sister Edith Rush was born in Glebe, Sydney, her family moved to the Hunter when she was about nine years old. Five of here younger siblings were born at various locations in the Hunter between 1890 and 1897 so she would have attended schools in or around Newcastle and Stroud. Her next-of-kin William Rush (father), was living at Nelson Bay during the period of her war service. Her brothers Cecil and George Alfred Rush were both living in the Port Stephens area when they enlisted in the AIF. Her grandfather, whose death was reported in the Newcastle Morning Herald, 13 December 1904, p.5, had been Clerk of the Customs at the Port of Newcastle.
Training and experience – Trained Parramatta Hospital 1901-1906, followed by private nursing
Service – Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS)
Service location – Lemnos, Egypt, UK, France
Medals, awards and mentions – 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, MID and Associate Royal Red Cross
The photo above was taken by Anne Donnell, a fellow member of No 3 Australian General Hospital. Anne seems to have become a particular friend of Edith – in the northern spring of 1917 they spent their leave together on a trip to Scotland. The impression one gets of Edith from photographs and written sources is of a cheerful young woman who was good for team morale. That Edith was able to maintain such a positive attitude is the more remarkable since her younger brother George had been killed in action at Gallipoli. See Keeping spirits up for more about Edith’s war service.
References:
National Archives of Australia B2455 RUSH EDITH DANSON & B2455, RUSH GEORGE ALFRED
Nominal Roll of the First AIF Australian War Memorial (AWM)133, 46-014
Embarkation Roll of the First AIF AWM 3 Australian General Hospital and Reinforcements (May 1915 – April 1916)
Supplement to London Gazette, 1 December 1916, p.11808, 1 January 1917, p.47
Sydney Morning Herald, 3 January 1917, p12, retrieved from Trove 17 May 2010
Australasian Nurses’ Journal, Vol XIV No 1 January 1917, p.7
Anne Donnell, Letters of an Australian Army Sister, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1920, pp.61, 93-94, 107, 153
Anne Donnell collection of letter and photographs, National Library of Australia MS 3962 – contains three images that include Edith Rush.
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© Christine Bramble 2013
Great War Nurses from the Hunter 