Objects of Substance - A modest abode for an illustrious alu

1941 Matron-in-Chief of the Army Nursing Reserve, Grace Wilson

She initiated many developments in nursing during her career, focusing on the conditions, training, and wages available to nurses. Grace’s great niece, Judy Campbell, recalls Grace visiting and caring for many of the nurses who had returned to Australia, but who were unable to reintegrate into their once familiar lives. Grace was awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal; she was made a Commander [Military] of the British Empire; and was the first woman to receive life membership of the Returned Servicemen’s League in 1953. (Daryl Passmore, 2013.) Grace retired from nursing in 1945 to live at Arnwood . She married Bruce Campbell at the age of 73. He, too, had joined the ADF and been involved in both World Wars. Grace died three years later in 1957. Grace’s devotion to her patients and fine work in both wars has been celebrated in small ways in her home state. Queensland Defence Housing has named a housing estate for 50 ADF families after her, the Grace Wilson Estate in McDowell, and in 2015 she was recognised in a set of Queensland stamps created to commemorate the nurses of World War I on its 100 th anniversary. Apart from these small gestures, she has been all but forgotten.