“We were stunned into silence as we watched the small figure of a woman, sitting there amongst all of that terrific death and destruction holding her head up high, and ready to take charge at a moment’s notice … I will never forget Ellen Savage (Nurse) as long as I live.” Letter describing Ellen Savage in the wreckage of the hospital ship Centaur, 1943

They serve close to the fighting, often in harm’s way and in extreme conditions. They are Australia’s army nurses who go willingly into the fray.

Willingly into the Fray comprises the personal stories of sixty-five individual nurses, their voices preserved and their words, often fraught with emotion and mired in distress at what they have seen, endured and railed against, carefully retained. Many of these stories are told for the first time, particularly those of the recent campaigns, peacekeeping operations, disaster relief and humanitarian missions.

Australian Army nurses are renowned for their compassion and commitment to provide quality medical care. The stories in Willingly into the Fray display the extreme strength and dedication required when working in devastating circumstances, and even though the battles may have changed significantly, these attributes have remained constant

What readers are saying; “This inspiring book illustrates how these nurses proceeded ‘willingly into the fray’, often working in dangerous and primitive conditions.”

Catherine McCullagh

Catherine McCullagh is a highly respected editor and author. She has worked as an editor and advisor on numerous military and Australian history books and has two published works to her name, Willingly into the Fray, a narrative history of the first 100 years of Australian Army nursing, and War Child, the true story of […]