GARDEN, Effie Mary
| Service Numbers: | Not yet discovered |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 10 June 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Nursing Sister |
| Last Unit: | Australian Army Medical Corps (WW2) |
| Born: | Serpentine, Victoria, Australia, 6 April 1890 |
| Home Town: | Bendigo, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | St Andrews College, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Nursing sister |
| Died: | Canterbury, Victoria, Australia, 9 December 1986, aged 96 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne cremated (service 11.12.86) and scattered |
| Memorials: | Bendigo Base Hospital Roll of Honour, Bendigo St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Honor Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 10 Jun 1915: | Enlisted Australian Army Nursing Service (WW1) | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Jun 1915: | Involvement 1st Australian General Hospital, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '23' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Wandilla embarkation_ship_number: A62 public_note: '' | |
| 17 Jun 1915: | Embarked 1st Australian General Hospital, HMAT Wandilla, Melbourne | |
| 17 Jun 1915: | Enlisted Australian Army Nursing Service (WW1), Nursing Sister, Australian Army Medical Corps (WW2) | |
| 18 Apr 1918: | Honoured Mention in Dispatches, ANZAC / Gallipoli, Awarded, and gazetted: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 57 (18 April 1918). | |
| 15 Sep 1919: | Honoured Royal Red Cross (2nd Class) |
Marriage
Effie Mary Garden married John (Jno) Garfield Fussell in 1920.
Later John received an MBE in the 1939 Civil List, for services as secretary of AIF Canteen Funds and the Sir Samuel McCaughey A.I.F. Bequest Trust. During his period of office about £500,000 (to 1939) was distributed to the children of deceased or permanently incapacitated soldiers, or returned soldiers in indigent circumstances.
Sources:
Victorian Births Deaths and Marriages
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183519299
Submitted 6 November 2023 by Sian Carlyon
Biography contributed by Jack Coyne
Effie Mary GARDEN (Peggy)
Royal Red Cross Medal, Second Class. (ARRC)
Mentioned In Dispatches (MiD)
Born in Serpentine, thirty miles north of Bendigo in April 1890, Peggy was the youngest daughter of six children to Scottish farmer Alexander GARDEN and Annie nee Todd. She went to school at St Andrews College, in Bendigo and became a nurse.
The Bendigo Independent reported in September 1914: -
‘Miss E. Garden, of the nursing staff of the Bendigo Hospital has been appointed a sister in charge. Sister Garden served for three years at the hospital as a trainee, and passed the required examinations for her present position with marked distinction. She is at present in charge of the Lansell accident ward’.[1]
The weekly Bendigonian newspaper reported in May 1915: - HOSPITAL NURSES LEAVE.
Sisters T. Tyson and E. Garden, of the Bendigo Hospital staff for the past four years, have been accepted for hospital work at the front. Sister Tyson and Garden were in charge of the operating theatre, and of one of the wards. On Sunday night they were presented with travelling rugs by the hospital staff as a farewell gathering.[2]
Effie enlisted on the 10th June 1915 and embarked seven days later. Measles prevented her from leaving with first group of nurses leaving for the war. Arriving in Egypt, she worked in the Australian General Hospital at Heliopolis where conditions were primitive. She treated the wounded Australian troops from Gallipoli.
Following the evacuation from Gallipoli, Effie and the bulk of the Australian nurses followed the Australian troops moving with the 1st Australian General Hospital (1AGH) to Rouen in France in 1916. She also served in the Casualty Clearing Stations just behind the front line, which consisted of a Nissan hut. She treated wounded from the dreadful Passchendaele battle, many men who had been gassed and also German prisoners of war.
She returned to Australia on "war brides ship" in 1919, a voyage of six weeks and married in 1920, which meant she was required to resign as a nurse. Her husband also served in war.
There is a tape recording of Effie May Fussell (nee Garden)when she was 96 years old. She describes being a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) 1914-18, and Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD), 1939-45, interviewed by Jan Bassett. Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C314099
SERVICE DETAILS:
Place of birth: Serpentine Victoria 06 April 1890
Religion: Presbyterian
School: St Andrew’s College, Bendigo
Occupation:Nurse
Address: Bendigo Hospital.
Marital status: Single
Age at embarkation: 25
Next of kin: Father, A Garden, Kellerberrin, Western Australia
Enlistment date: 17 June 1915
Rank on enlistment: Staff Nurse
Unit: No 1 Australian General Hospital
Embarked: From Fremantle, A62 Wandilla on 25 June 1915
Final Rank: SISTER
Unit: Australian Army Nursing Service
Recommendations (Medals and Awards)
Mention in Despatches & Royal Red Cross Medal, Second Class. (RRC2) Awarded, and gazetted: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 57 (18 April 1918).
Fate: Returned to Australia 18 July 1919
Married:John Russell FUSSELL in 1920 in Vic.
Died: 09 December 1986
(Her sister Winfried Garden served as a nurse)
[1] The Bendigo Independent (Vic. : 1891 - 1918) Wednesday 23 September 1914 p 5 ABOUT PEOPLE. [2] Bendigonian (Bendigo, Vic. : 1914 - 1918) Thu 27 May 1915 Page 25 LOCAL WAR ITEMS.
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