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Nurse Jean Walker

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Jean Nellie Miles Walker was born on 16 November 1878.  Her parents were farmer Alfred Miles Walker and Louisa Mary Glover Wilkinson Walker.

Jean attended St Michael's Collegiate, in Hobart, and then trained as a nurse at the Hobart General Hospital.

In 1906 she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service. She would later become one of the first 25 nurses to travel to Egypt with the Australian Imperial Forces to treat returned soldiers that had been injured on the battlefields.

In October 1916, Jean became matron at the Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford in England. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross (1st class) in January 1917 for her efforts.

Less than two years later the war took her life. Not through being killed on the battlefield but by catching the flu during the 1918 flu pandemic that took hold in England. She was age 39 and was buried with full military honours. Jean was the only Tasmanian nurse to die on active service during World War I.

Story shared by Pauline Chalmers