Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From: In Remembrance: Hungerford and Associated Families in the Great War 1914-1918

Capt Alwyn Tom Hays ('Tom')NISBET 

Medical Officer
Unit Name:   Australian Army Medical Corps; 9th Field Ambulance
Religion:   Church of England

Occupation:   Medical Practitioner

Address:   Townsville, Qld

Age of Enlistment:   24 years

Enlistment Date:   6 April 1916

Next of Kin:   Father: Dr. Walter Blake Nisbet, Barford Lodge, Carey Bay, NSW. Then his wife, Mrs. Eva Buchanan Nisbet, 28 Mount Avenue, Ealing, England

Rank on Enlistment:   Captain. He was gazetted a Captain in the AIF from 1 March 1916.

Embarkation Details:   Unit embarked from Sydney, NSW, per HMAT A74 Marathon, on 4 May 1916

Rank from Nominal Roll:   Captain

Unit from Nominal Roll:   Australian Army Medical Corps

Campaigns Served:   England

War Service/Promotions: The following is from Australian Doctors on the Western Front: France and Belgium 1916-1918  by Colonel Robert Likeman CSM, Retd. 'Nisbet volunteered in his final year of Medicine at Sydney University, along with most of his class. He completed a residency at the Townsville Hospital before being called up. He was posted to 9 Field Ambulance at Liverpool, NSW, and joined the unit in April 1916. He sailed from Sydney in May as Medical Officer to 33 Battalion, and reached Plymouth, Devon, England, in June. He rejoined the Field Ambulance at Larkhill when the main body arrived in July. In September 1916 he developed appendicitis. After surgery he was sent back to Australia in October to recuperate, and did not return to England until December. By this time the Field Ambulance had left for France and Nisbet's place had been taken. Nisbet was posted to 3 Australian General Hospital in Brighton. From there he was summoned to see General Howse, who instructed him to set up an X-ray unit at 2AAH in Southhall. Howse had apparently known Nisbet's father in South Africa, and had seen him operating an X-ray machine in Pretoria. He assumed that Nisbet had inherited his father's expertise in this area. Nisbet did as he was told, and in spite of repeated requests for posting to France was obliged to remain at 2AAH until the end of the war. He obtained his DPH in 1919 and returned to Australia in May.'

Fate:   Returned to Australia per HT China, 1 May 1919, and resumed practicing medicine in Qld. He had married (1) Eva Buchanan Lambert, 13 September 1916, Dorrington, Devonshire, England. They divorced in 1929 and Nisbet moved to Sydney He married (2) Dorothy McGill, 1929, NSW. Tom set up his medical practice in Macquarie Street, Sydney, specialising in Radiology. He worked tirelessly towards the first formal organisation of radiologists and was the first President of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Radiologists – from 1935 to 1947.

Place of Death:   5 November 1953, Mater Hospital, Crows Nest, NSW

Place of Cremation:   Northern Suburbs Crematorium, North Ryde, NSW

Medals/Citations:   British War Medal

War Memorial/Honour Roll:   University of Sydney, Book of Remembrance