Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From the Australian War Memorial

Matron Gould was Lady Superintendent of the first contingent of Australian military nurses to serve overseas, accompanying the Second Contingent to the Boer War as members of the NSW Army Medical Corps. She returned to service at the age of 54 in September 1914, and served on troopship duty aboard HMAT Euripides, embarking for Egypt in October 1914. She then served as Principal Matron of the No. 2 Australian General Hospital. In 1916 , Matron Gould was awarded the Royal Red Cross (First Class) for conspicuous services. She returned to Australia in 1919. 

Miss Ellen Gould (lady superintendent A.N.S.R.). tall, erect, keen-eyed, and alert-looking, dearly beloved by the patients in Prince Alfred and Sydney Hospitals, and highly respected by every young probationer who ever tried to scurry through her work and never mind the corners! Under 'Sister' Gould's' firm rule the nurse who 'scurried' learnt to do her brasswork as well as a man-o'-war's man, and to bandage better than some third-year medical student's. And if she (the skipping pro.) learnt in sorrow to mind her corners, she practised in joy in splendid training she received under Miss. Gould's. watchful eye.

Evening News Thursday 18 January 1900 page 7

NURSES FOR SOUTH AFRICA.
There was general regret in medical and nursing circles in Sydney when a little over a year ago Miss Nellie Gould, who had been matron of the Sydney Hospital for over seven years, resigned her position to accept what seemed a less important post under Government as matron of the comparatively small Rydalmere Asylum for the Insane. Miss Gould had had a most successful career since she entered the nursing profession on her arrival from England in 1885. She is one of the rapidly increasing class of women who decide, not only to adopt some worthy calling, but to make themselves as proficient as possible therein, snaring neither time nor energy in the achievement of this end. So, after spending five and a half years in training at Prince Alfred Hospital, attaining the position of sister there, and passing on to the matronship of two private hospitals, she gravitated, as if by right, to the leading hospital of the colony within seven years of her arrival in New South/Wales. She was still a comparatively young woman, and so attractive in appearance and manner that it was always the laughing injunction from the chairman of the committee of the Sydney Hospital , to Miss Gould that she was not to follow the example of other good looking nurses and enter the bonds of matrimony with some equally fascinating doctor. But Miss Gould's love for her profession so dominated her life that she would not easily be attracted there from. "After a happy marriage it is the best career for a woman," she often remarked. "In fact, you have almost the largest scope for usefulness as a nurse of any life that can bechosen."
It was some months before the war broke out "that Miss Gould had retired to the comparative seclusion of Rydalmere, but amid the quiet, beautiful surroundings of this asylum her brain was active as to future possibilities, and, like Florence Nightingale, she was ready for any emergency that might arise. She had become a prominent member of the Army Medical Nursing 'Reserve; had been admitted to the Royal British Nursing Association, and was a member of the council of the lately formed Australian Nursing Association; so, when with others she offered herself for service in South Africa, she was placed at the head of the little band now leaving for the seat of war. Only a fraction of the number of nurses who presented themselves for service in South Africa could be sent, so widespread was the response to the invitation of the Government. But these include women of the highest training and expericene, most of whom belong to the Sydney and Prince Alfred hospitals. Those accepted for service are: — Nurses Johnston, Newton, Bessie Pocock, Steel, Frater, Hoadley, Lister, Nixon, Garden, with Nurses Martin and Woodward — the former of these having been matron of a private hospital — and Miss Woodward, daughter of a Sydney doctor, having had the advantage of further training in the Royal Military Hospital at Netley from February, 1897, to July, 1898, and later at the large Herbert Military Hospital at Woolwich. She received her commission at Netley as nursing sister, which ranks lis military lieutenant, and, returning to Sydney last year for domestic reasons, joined the newly formed Army Medical Nursing Reserve. These ladies have adopted, with slight alteration, the dress worn by the military nurses at Netley, which consists of a grey serge dress, with small red shoulder cape, making, with white cap, collar and cuffs, a sufficiently distinctive uniform. For outdoor wear a grey cloak of moderate length, and bonnet to match, complete the outfit. Amid the general excitement and enthusiasm that attend the departure of colonial troops for the scat of war, the small build of nurses will call forth a still deeper note of sympathy and admiration, and will carry with them the best wishes of the whole of Australia.
In the saloon ' of the Moravian two ladies were seated, while men were patrolling and officers were giving instructions outside. There was nothing distinctive about the dress of the two, except tl it they wore the red badge of the nursing stair over their shoulders. One of them was the lady superintendent, Miss Gould, who is going with the stuff of 14 nurses to South Africa. Tlie majority of her assistants were away in the city, some of them seeing friends, and others taking a farewell glance at the sights of Melbourne. Miss Gould, with her companion, remained on board. She was quite willing to talk about war matters, and to explain how it was that the little band of Florence Nightingales was going to South Africa. These young ladies are not amateurs in the nursing sense. As everybody knows, thousands of offers have been received throughout Australia from ladies anxious to go to the front.
The 14 selected have had a special course of training, and have for- some months been attached to the Sydney Military Hospital, which forms part of the establishment at Victoria Barracks.
Miss Gould, for her part, is anything but daunted at the prospect, and declares that all the staff are in good spirits. The selection, she explains, was not made according to religion or position, or on any principle of that kind. The majority of the nurses are Protestants. They have all had experience, and the majority have spent several years in the Sydney Hospital. Others have come from Prince Alfred Hospital. The hospital experiences of some of them go back 10 years.
A remark is here interjected that the -:" ladies look singularly young for the experiences they have gone through. "They, are not all girls," says the lady superintendent, smiling at the reference to a delicate subject; "but if they are over 20 they have the enthusiasm of 16. Their hearts are in the work, and they know what is before them."

Leader Saturday 27 January 1900 page 37