A photograph of nurse Mary Alice Sherriff who served during World War I is remembered this Anzac Day.
Each year as Australia remember those men and women who served on Anzac Day, Longwarry and District History Group choose to record the story of one local man or woman which is typical of so many who enlisted.
This year is Mary Sherriff who was born on April 6, 1890 in Longwarry.
Mary was working at the Warragul Hospital when she enlisted with the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) very early in the war. However, she was held back to remain nursing in Australia in reserve.
On February 27, 1918, she was fully activated into service and had very little time to adjust or to get organised. Just seven days later - on March 6 - the 27-year-old embarked from Melbourne on the ship "Ormonde" for India. She was assigned to the British India Nursing Service in India.
The Indian hospitals were overwhelmed with sick and wounded Australian and British soldiers who had been fighting in areas north of India, and were looking for help. That help came in the form of Australian Army nurses who were sent to small hospitals all over India, and - compared to the work of their "sisters" in France and Egypt - they had experiences that varied widely.
There were the usual wounds and illness, but they found themselves confronted by cultural differences and language problems with the local staff, as well as the English nurses who were somewhat dismissive of the girls from the colonies.
In India, they were paid less than the English nurses they worked beside and were under control of the English and not their own Australian matrons or doctors. They were also promised that they would only be there for six months before moving to France, which is where they wanted to be. But, the English never kept that promise.
Nurse Sherriff arrived in India on March 26, 1918 and was immediately on duty at the Colaba Hospital in Bombay.
As an example of conditions they all faced, Mary was soon admitted to hospital herself on March 30. She had fallen sick with small pox, which she contracted in India.
So severe was her illness, it took a month for her to return to duty at a hospital in Barrackpore, West Bengal.
When the war ended, there were many sick and wounded Australian and British soldiers who were too ill to travel. In early 1919, Mary was on the move again to join the 34th. Welsh Hospital in a place called Deolali.
Finally, Nurse Mary's tour of duty away from Australia came to an end, and she boarded a ship on November 11, 1919, exactly one year after the war ended. She finally arrived back in Australia, at Fremantle, on December 21, 1919.
However, her agonising wait to get home to Gippsland and family was not over. She had to wait for transport to travel overland, finally arriving back in Melbourne on January 23, 1920.
Her service with the Australian Army Nursing Service ended on September 6, 1920.
We know that after this, Mary married Archibald Duncan in 1922 and they lived at Chelsea, Victoria. Together they had four children.
Nurse Mary Alice Sherriff died on January 28, 1984, just short of her 94th birthday.
More than 2000 Australian nurses served overseas in World War I, with 200 killed. Eight received the Military Medal for performing above and beyond their duty whilst under direct enemy fire.
Photograph courtesy of the Virtual War Memorial and Robyn Watters and information courtesy of Longwarry and District History Group.
The history group is dedicated to the history of Longwarry and all areas in the 3816 postcode, including Labertouche, Longwarry North and Modella. Visit longwarryhistory.org to find out more.