Sister Frances HinesPrint Page
The plaque commemorates Sister Frances Hines who was the first Australian servicewomen to die on operational service. She was the only Australian nurse to die during service in the South African (Boer) War.
Sister Hines was was one of ten Victorian nurses who accompanied the Victorian 3rd Bushman's Contingent sent to Rhodesia, during the South African (Boer) War. For three years, around 60 Australian nurses scattered in small groups throughout South Africa, worked in British hospitals. Unmarried and mostly aged between 25 and 40 they were well educated women from middle class families, considered "desirable persons to enter a service composed of ladies."
The nurses found themselves sent in different directions, posted wherever the need was greatest. Hospitals were primitive and overcrowded, with many men suffering from fever, dysentery and pneumonia.
Overworked and sick, Sister Hines died alone on 7 August 1900 of pneumonia. After her burial with full military honours, a marble cross was erected on her grave in Bulawayo cemetery by the Victorian nurses and Bushmen's Contingent.
Location
Address: | Wallace & Splatt Streets, Soldiers Memorial, Apsley, 3319 |
---|---|
State: | VIC |
Area: | AUS |
GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -36.968351 Long: 141.083181 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
Monument Type: | Plaque |
---|---|
Monument Theme: | People |
Sub-Theme: | Military |
Actual Event Start Date: | 07-August-1900 |
Actual Event End Date: | 07-August-1900 |
Dedication
Approx. Monument Dedication Date: | 2015 |
---|
SOUTH AFRICA (BOER WAR)
Sister Frances Emma "Fanny" Hines
Born Apsley, Victoria - 1864 - Died Bulawayo, South Africa - 1900
First Australian Servicewomen To Die On Operational Service
Lest We Forget