Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Grace was my great aunt who died many years before I was born. The following is an extract from a family history book I have written: Foley, D.H. (2022). The Glory Days. A selection of conversations and images from the collection of Gloria W. and Adrian W. Foley. 288pp. ISBN 978-0-646-85890-6.
Grace had worked as a nurse at Wonthaggi Hospital for 3 years and enlisted at 27 years old. Malaria, transmitted by the female Anopheles mosquito, has been a camp follower of wars and conflicts from ancient times, and she was probably exposed to vivax, aka tertian, malaria. The only drug treatment was quinine, in short supply during the war, that originated from the bark of the Chinchona tree in South America. This miracle drug was also known as ‘Jesuit’s powder’. Vivax malaria is usually not fatal but can be a common secondary cause of death. This species of malaria is known for its hypnozoites that lodge in the liver long term and emerge at regular and irregular intervals resulting in terrible bouts of fever, among other problems. Drugs to remove this parasite from the liver were not developed till much later. It is not known if malaria played any role in Grace’s death at the relatively young age of 48. Grace Foley is listed on a war memorial near Kew.
Grace’s brother James Edward Foley, of Tullah TAS, (Sgt, No. 1094) also served during 1915-16 in the 1st Remount Unit in Egypt but got influenza and septicaemia and was invalided back to Australia https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3912580