Fremantle’s Len Hall Anzac Tribute Game against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night will have added meaning in 2019 as the club acknowledges the services of Australia’s military nurses and medics.
The Anzac Day Commemoration Committee states that the Australian Army Nurses are among ‘the least publicised of all Army services’ despite giving more than 100 years of dedicated work to caring for Australian servicemen and women.
One of these dedicated nurses, Shirly Mooney OAM, will take centre stage at Optus Stadium to recite the Australian Army Nursing Service Pledge of Service as a part of the pre-game ceremony.
Shirly Mooney OAM will read the AANS 'Pledge of Service' at the Len Hall Anzac Tribute Game. Photo: Marie Nirme, Community News
Mooney served in Darwin and numerous hospitals in WA, including at the Irwin Barracks at Karrakatta, to help treat injured soldiers during the Malayan Emergency, which lasted from 1948 to 1960.
“I’m reciting the pledge of the Australian Army Nursing Service, which is the Second World War title of the military nurses. In later years from the Korean War onwards, it was called the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps, which is where I served,” Mooney said.
“I served in Australia during the Malayan Emergency, where wounded troops were stabilised in Singapore and transported back to Darwin. Although we handled the casualties, we didn’t actually leave the country.
“I was also posted to the dental unit in Karrakatta, that was where we did all of the facial surgery and dental work.”
In the following years for almost three decades, Mooney has volunteered in support groups to assist Vietnam War widows and families. In 2017, she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her service.
She said it was important to see Australia’s military nurses honoured.
“When you signed up, it was for four years, and you were only discharged if you married,” Mooney said.
“In the First World War, nurses were not paid by the military, they were not given a rank or given anything of substance. Their value was only appreciated as the war progressed.
“It wasn’t until the Second World War that nurses were recruited and were paid and issued uniforms. In the First World War, they had to buy their own uniforms.”
Members of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) at the 2nd Australian General Hospital, Gaza Ridge, Palestine. 19 November 1940.
The pre-game ceremony will also feature 51 buglers playing the Last Post, with the lead bugler Mark Underwood of the Australian Army Band Perth backed by a contingent of 50 civilian buglers.
Mooney said she was struck by the symbolism of the rendition after watching the rehearsals at Optus Stadium on Tuesday night.
“The lead bugler was in military uniform and the rest were in civilian clothes,” Mooney said.
“What I thought it was important was that there were some children there who were about 12 to 13 years of age going right through to the grey-haired older men and women.
“I thought that was a great tribute to the fact that war affects everybody.”
