Time to grant equal recognition to some of our greatest

TASMANIA understandably celebrates its Victoria Cross legacy, with names like Lieutenant Colonel Harry Murray VC and more recently Corporal Cameron Baird VC.

Our state boasts the most VC recipients on a per capita basis of any Australian state or territory.

But we should also celebrate the many women who have served their country overseas in a huge variety of wars, actions and peacekeeping missions.

Perhaps one of the reasons that there is such a lack of recognition of the service and sacrifice of Tasmanian military nurses and women in general during wartime is that not many of them were killed. But some were, and many of them were subject to the same life-threatening experiences and traumas as troops in battle. It is worth remembering also that throughout the 20th century Australian servicewomen worked in an environment of tacit discrimination.

In 1916, when they were formally acknowledged as “honorary” officers, they continued to be paid as “other ranks”. It was only in 1943 that they were granted full military rank, but even then continued to receive discriminatory rates of pay.

But they served selflessly and with great honour. One such woman was Nell Espie, or rather Colonel Nell Espie, who was born in Oatlands and trained as a nurse in the 1940s.

She was also a Member of the Order of Australia, a Member of the Royal Red Cross and Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing Australia.

Nell was able to fulfil her ambition to be an Army nurse when the Korean War broke out. She enlisted on June 29, 1951, in the Australian Regular Army and was commissioned as a Lieutenant with the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps. In 1952, she was posted to the British Commonwealth Hospital in Japan, then in 1953 to the Australian Ancillary Unit, Korea.

Other postings over the next few years included the Royal Military College and the 12th Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps.

In October, 1958, Nell was posted to the British Hospital in Malaya and in the early 1960s, spent time at 1 & 2 Camp Hospitals, Southern Command and 1st Military Hospital.

In April, 1969, she was posted to the 1st Australian Field Hospital, Vang Tau, South Vietnam, where she was appointed Matron with the rank of Major.

In the RSL magazine, Nell described her service in the field hospital as the most rewarding experience of her career. She was the matron, with only a handful of nursing sisters, and one cannot imagine what they would have dealt with, where the helicopter evacuation from battlefields meant injured soldiers would arrive 10 minutes after seeing action.

As she told the Australian War Film Archive in 2004:

“... in Long Tan when the 6th Battalion met that stoush and the Viet Cong attacked them, or they ran into the ambush or something. But they were, they had a lot of casualties that particular night. It was a nasty situation …”

Nell Espie came home to

Colonel Nell Espie was one of our most distinguished veterans, explains Chris Talbot

Australia in April, 1970, and was posted to the 2nd General Hospital and afterwards the Headquarters Eastern and Southern Commands.

After 30 years’ service, she was Matron in Chief of the Royal Australian Nursing Corps and Director of Army Nursing before retiring on February 25, 1980.

From Lieutenant to Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel Director of Nursing Services — Army, Queens Honorary Nursing Sister, and in 1980, Honorary Colonel and Representative Honorary Colonel, RAANC.

After her retirement, Nell continued to take a very active role in the RAANC Association. She established a state branch in Tasmania, serving as national president from 1990 to 1994, and became a life member in 1997.

Nell has been a driving force behind many committees such as the Florence Nightingale Trust, of which she was an active member.

She worked tirelessly to assist many veterans, war widows and dependants in obtaining their entitlements through the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Her Australian honours include a National Medal (1977), Royal Red Cross (1978), Member of the Order of Australia (1992), and the Centenary Medal in 2001.

Her long involvement with the Returned and Services League of Australia Oatlands Sub-Branch (over 50 years), saw her serve as treasurer and president. She was made a Life Member of the RSL in 1995 and received a Meritorious Service Medal in 2004.

Nell Espie was the most distinguished Tasmanian if not Australian nurse since the Second World War.

She passed away in her beloved Oatlands on August 15, 2016. We salute Nell Espie, her service and the legacy she has left our military history.

Nell Espie, 80, in 2004

Major Chris Talbot is the manager of the Army Museum of Tasmania.