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Claremont Museum > Records

Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Nurses

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1943

Overview

Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurses packed and ready to leave for 10th Australian General Hospital at Hollywood. Group photograph set against a background of trees and shrubs. Two [SIMPLEX] fire extinguishers and two tin hats in foreground.

Rear: Bill Dewar
Middle: Shirley White, Betty Dangerfield, Jean Smith, Ethel Browne
Front: Betty Cowan, Mary Bentley, Beryl Hicks

Historical information

The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was founded in 1909 in the United Kingdom. A voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in countries of the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units was during World War I and World War II.

Although VADs were intimately bound up in the war effort, they were not military nurses, as they were not under the control of the military.

The primary role of a VAD member was that of nursing orderly in hospitals, carrying out menial but essential tasks - scrubbing floors, sweeping, dusting and cleaning bathrooms and other areas, dealing with bedpans, and washing patients. They were not employed in military hospitals, except as ward and pantry maids; rather, they worked in Red Cross convalescent and rest homes, canteens, and on troop trains.

Details

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-28--4-117-a

Item type

Themes

Medicine and Health

Year

Links to additional resources

Claremont Museum.

Last modified

Thursday, 4 September, 2025

Completeness

94

Copyright and Reference

Copyright and Reference

Copyright category

Life of creator +70 years

Permissions

For authorisation to reproduce, publish or display, please contact the Claremont Museum.

Attribution requirements

Acknowledgements to be made to 'Claremont Museum 04.117a'.

Copyright holder

Claremont Museum, Town of Claremont, Western Australia, 6010

Claremont Museum

Claremont Museum

Other items from Claremont Museum

Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Nurses

Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Nurses
Source: Claremont Museum 04.117a

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