Biographical entry
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Biographical entry
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Conyers, Evelyn Augusta (1870 - 1944)OBE, CBE |
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| Nurse | |
| Born: 1 March 1870 Invercargill, New Zealand. Died: 6 September 1944 Richmond, Victoria, Australia. | |
| Evelyn Augusta Conyers was a highly regarded war-time nurse. She served in Egypt and Greece for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during 1914-1915 and was promoted to matron, to take charge of most posted army nurses. In 1916 the AIF transferred Conyers to their London headquarters to help reconcile differences between the nurses and medical staff and the Australian and British nursing services. Her contributions to the war effort and nursing in general were rewarded by her being appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), the Order of the Royal Red Cross and recipient of the Florence Nightingale medal. |
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In her early 20’s, Evelyn Augusta Conyers migrated from New Zealand to Victoria, Australia. There she set about studying nursing at the Children’s Hospital and then the Melbourne Hospital. She graduated in 1896 and worked in a private hospital from around 1901 to 1903. It was also in 1903 when Conyers joined the Australian Army Nursing Service. The following year, she was employed by the new Queen’s Memorial Infectious Diseases Hospital as matron. In 1907c, Evelyn Conyers and Sister Jessie MacBeth established the Lancewood private hospital in Kew. When wore broke out, Conyers joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as a senior sister. Her first post was at the 1st Australian General Hospital in Egypt, but soon after arriving Conyers was sent to the Egyptian Army Hospital (Abbassia) to give urgent assistance. By July 1915 she had rejoined the 1st Australian General Hospital which had been moved to Heliopolis, Greece. Conyers was soon promoted to matron and sent to the neigbouring 3rd Australian General Hospital. In December of the same year, she was promoted to matron-in-chief of the Australian Army Nursing Service. In 1916 Conyers was transferred to the AIF’s London headquarters, where she worked in administration as well as making several trips casualty-clearing to auxiliary hospitals on the Western Front. Conyers returned to Australia in December 1918 and went back to the Lancewood Hospital. Evelyn Conyers was a heavily involved in the development of nursing in Australia. She was founder of the (Royal) Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association (later known as the Royal Victorian College of Nurses) and the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Club Ltd, a ten-year board member under the Nurses’ Registration Act, a member of the Australian Nursing Federation, and a member of the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital’s board of management. Chronology
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Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007 Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre Disclaimer, Copyright and Privacy Policy Submit any comments, questions, corrections and additions Prepared by: Acknowledgements Updated: 26 February 2007 http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P001031b.htm |