Hi all I have found a couple more names on the St Stephens list: Esther Coggin(s) Constance Neale. An update on Stella Colless and Constance Neale. >From Guns and Brooches: Australian Army Nursing from the Boer War to the Gulf War by Jan Bassett, published by Oxford Press 1992. p 32 "The first seven nurses to serve overseas during the Great War neither belonged to the AANS [Australian Army Nursing Service] nor to any other service, an indication of the disorganisation which characterized contemporary arrangements for the nursing of Australia's sick and wounded." [the footnote lists the nurses as: Sarah de Mestre, Rose Kirkcaldie, Stella Colless, Sister Birtenshaw, Elizabeth Macmillan, Rachel Clouston and Constance Neale (later Holliday). All were past or present nurses from Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.] "Swept up in the widespread excitement about the War, the seven simply went to Garden Island on about 20 August 1914, and offered their services for the "Grantala", which was then being hastily fitted out as a hospital ship." The book then described their time in Rabaul and Suva before returning to Sydney and being paid off just before Christmas. The nurses' experiences in tending their patients, hindered rather than helped their later wartime careers. On return they had to reapply for Active Service and their work with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in Rabaul did not count towards their seniority in the AIF! Hope this of interest. Imagine a small town like Penrith providing 2 of the first 7 nurses to serve overseas on active duty! Best wishes Jan