Alice (Alys) Ross-King ( 1887- 1968 )

Prior to WW1 Alice became a qualified nurse becoming a theatre sister and acting Matron in a Private Hospital in Melbourne. In 1914 she enlisted as a staff nurse in the Australian Army Nursing Service, Australian Imperial Force, where she hyphenated her name so as not to become confused with another Alice King.

During 1915 Alice served in hospitals and hospital ships in Egypt and the Suez caring for soldiers from the Gallipoli campaign. In early 1916 she transferred to France where she served with No. 1 Australian General Hospital at Rouen in a stationary hospital taking care of soldiers who had served at the Somme before joining No. 2 Australian Casualty Clearing Station (2CCS), located close to the trenches near Armentières.

Ross-King had only been at the hospital for five days when it was bombed on the night of 22 July 1917. Four men were killed in the bombing and 15 others injured. Ross-King who was just finishing a shift returned to the wards and continued to care for the patients in the ward despite the fact that the canvas tents had collapsed on top of her and the casualties. Alice and the other nurses were described as busy “either carrying patients to safety or placing tables over their beds in an effort to protect them.” Alice and three other nurses were awarded the Military Medal for their actions during the attack. Ross-King was one of only seven nurses of the A.A.N.S. to be awarded the Military Medal during World War I.

Alice had become engaged to an AIF officer who was killed at Fromelles in July 1916. However, on her voyage home in early 1919 she met Dr Sydney Appleford who she married. They settled in Lang Lang, Victoria where they raised four children.

She helped Sydney with his practice at the same time training young women as members of the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) who helped out on troop trains, canteens and Red Cross convalescent homes. With the outbreak of WW2 Alice enlisted into the VAD and when in 1942 that morphed into the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS) Alice was commissioned with the rank of major and appointed senior assistant controller for Victoria responsible for all AAMWS in the state of Victoria.

In 1949 Alice was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal and in 1951 she resigned from the Army.

The Alice Appleford Memorial Award is presented annually to a non commissioned serving member of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps by the Ex-A.A.W.M.S. Association to perpetuate her memory.

Peter Rees book “ANZAC Girls” is the story of many courageous nurses from World War 1 taken from diaries and other historical documents held by the Australian War Memorial. It was made into a television series of the same name by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The endeavours of Alice Ross-King are just one of the many highlighted. A five star read.

Celebrating the women from our past to the present who have helped shape Australia.
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