Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Completed by St Ignatius College, Adelaide

Janet Hay was born on the 12th of April 1884 near Harrogate, SA and was the daughter of Isabella Brown and Archibald Dauntless Hay. She was the seventh child in her family of eight children. In 1886 at the age of two Janet’s father died leaving Isabella to take care of Janet and her seven siblings. When she got older Janet along with her younger sister Maggie (Margret) completed their nursing training at Wakefield Street hospital, formally Miss Lawrence’s Private Hospital. At the four-year mark of her training Janet became a Nursing sister.

On the 9th of May 1917 Janet was sworn into the AIF. On her Attestation Paper it states that the date of enlistment was the 7th of June 1917 in Keswick, South Australia. At the time of her enlistment Janet was 32 years and 11 months old and was unmarried. Prior to this she had been working at Wakefield Street hospital as a nurse for 4 years. She was described as 5 foot 7 (and ¾), with grey eyes, a rosy completion, and brown hair. She was also a part of the Presbyterian church. Due to being unmarried, and without a farther, Janet’s next of kin was recorded as her mother, who was located in Harrogate near Nairne. On the 12th of June 1917, less than a week after she enlisted it was recorded that Janet along with 22 nurses boarded the R.M.S “Mooltan” in South Australia (AIF nominal roll continued). However, in Janet’s service record it states that she embarked on the R.M.S “Mooltan” from Melbourne. On the 19th of July 1917 she disembarked at Suez. Later the R.M.S “Mooltan” was reportedly sunk in the Mediterranean due to enemy action on the 1st of August 1917. All 300 nurses who were aboard landed safely, however, all mail carried was lost.

A month later on the 8th of August she embarked for Salonkia Greece (also recorded as Salonica) on the “Huntsgreen”. Later that month it was reported that "The Glen, Harrogate, that Staff Nurse Janet Hay has arrived safely at the Allied base at Salonika” (Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser Friday 31 August 1917, page 3). The Salonika campaign occurred between 1915 and 1918 with the allied forces fighting against the Bulgarians and Balkans. Lack of resources, harsh conditions and disease impacted the fight greatly. During her time in Salonika, Janet served as a staff nurse. These nurses were expected to manage large hospitals, work mostly in tents, overlook non-English speaking staff and care for injured soldiers. However, their main job was tending to patients who had contracted malaria, black water fever and dysentery.

Nurses in Salonika played a large roll in WW1 and were constantly battling harsh conditions. From one extreme to the other nurses just like Janet had to survive freezing cold winters and scorching hot summers. Matron McHardie White stated “the winter was exceedingly severe; the wind known as the Vardar wind, being almost a blizzard. There were heavy falls of snow, and very low temperatures at night.” (Mettle and Steel: the AANS in Salonika. | Australian War Memorial n.d.) Along with the intense winters, summers didn’t bring any relief. Malaria was a huge issue during WW1 and is considered to be one of the leading causes for deaths during the war. Despite the conditions the campaign was successful for the allied forces.

During the summer of 1918 (June) Janet contracted malaria for the first time. This period of illness lasted for two weeks, however, several more came after that and thus she was invalided. After seeing the doctor, she was deemed medically unfit as she could only work at ¼ of her capacity. As shown in her service and medical records Janet returned back to Australia via the HMAT “Karmla” on the 14th of August 1919 and was discharged from the AANS permanently. 

Even though Janet’s service only lasted 2 years she was awarded the Victory Medal, a British war medal and a British 1914/15 star. These medals were awarded to individuals as part of recognising their service during WW1, to individuals who served overseas and to recognise the allied forces victory over the central powers.

After returning back to South Australia Janet was keen to open a hospital and so in 1934 she bought a block of land. She wrote a proposition to build a single-storey hospital which would house 16 beds for returned soldiers. After she filed her application to the council, locals were upset about the potential for a commercial building in a residential area. Consequently, the council denied her application. Janet fought for her dream by revising her plan and continued to apply to the council. Two years later in 1936 after lots of hard work Janet’s application was finally accepted. The hospital she had dreamed of was then built and opened by the end of 36’.

Janet stayed as the matron and owner of St Andrews private hospital for 10 years from 1936-1946. In the 1940s the hospital was thriving having a matron (Janet Hay), night matron, six domestics and nine nurses. However, as the years went on Janet’s poor health, nursing shortages and rising costs led her to sell the hospital to the Presbyterian Church of South Australia. Janet later died in 1977 at 93 years of age and was cremated and buried in Inverbrackie Presbyterian Cemetery. She never married or had children.

Reference list

-       AdelaideAZ n.d., adelaideaz.com, viewed 19 May 2023, <https://adelaideaz.com/articles/st-andrew-s-fulfils-janet-hay>.

-       AWM4 26/98/1 - June - December 1917 n.d., www.awm.gov.au, viewed 19 May 2023, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1353388>.

-       Casualties of war | Australian War Memorial n.d., www.awm.gov.au, viewed 19 May 2023, <https://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/article2#:~:text=Despite%20taking%20quinine%2C%20by%20November>.

-       corporateName =Department of Veterans’ Affairs; address=21 Genge St, CC n.d., Australian Women and War, Anzac Portal.

-       Ha n.d., Australian Nurses in World War 1, viewed 19 May 2023, <http://ausww1nurses.weebly.com/ha.html>.

-       Janet HAY n.d., vwma.org.au, viewed 19 May 2023, <https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/366843>.

-       Mercury 1917, ‘R.M.S. MOOLTAN SUNK’, 1 August, Hobart, Tasmania, viewed 19 May 2023, <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1082634>.

-       Mettle and Steel: the AANS in Salonika. | Australian War Memorial n.d., www.awm.gov.au, viewed 20 April 2023, <https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/mettle-and-steel-aans-salonika#:~:text=A%20number%20of%20British%20and>.

-       Salonika campaign | National Army Museum n.d., www.nam.ac.uk.

-       80 years of St Andrews hospital-2016-Angela Bayldon

-       RMS Mooltan 2022, Wikipedia, viewed 19 May 2023, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Mooltan>.

-       Hay Family tree-Angela Bayldon-2023

-       National Archives of Australia 2019, Home page | naa.gov.au, Naa.gov.au.

-       80 Years of St Andrew hospital – Angela Bayldon – 2016

-       History n.d., www.stand.org.au, viewed 26 May 2023, <https://www.stand.org.au/history>.

-       Great War nurses | The Australian War Memorial n.d., www.awm.gov.au.