page_title: Grace Wilson
section_title: Interbellum and World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Grace Wilson / Interbellum and World War II
caption_attribution_description: Senior Australian Army medical staff in December 1939
context_page_description: Grace Margaret Wilson CBE, RRC was a high-ranked nurse in the Australian Army during World War I and the first years of World War II. Wilson was born in Brisbane, and completed her initial training as a nurse in 1908. After the outbreak of World War I she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service and subsequently transferred to the First Australian Imperial Force. From 1915 until 1919 she was the principal matron of the 3rd Australian General Hospital. She served as the temporary matron-in-chief in the AIF Headquarters, London from late 1917 until early 1918. Wilson returned to Australia in 1920 and left the AIF to work in civilian hospitals. She was appointed the matron-in-chief of the AANS in 1925, and in September 1940 joined the Second Australian Imperial Force. She served in the Middle East until August 1941, when she returned to Australia due to ill health. She left the Army the next month, but from September 1943 worked in the Department of Manpower Directorate's nursing control section.
context_section_description: From November 1920 to 1922 Wilson was the matron of the Children's Hospital in Melbourne. During this appointment she sought to improve her nurses working conditions, and secured a minimum wage for trainees. In 1922 she resigned from the Children's Hospital and opened her own hospital in East Melbourne. She was appointed the matron-in-chief of the AANS (which was a part-time reserve position) in 1925, and received the Florence Nightingale Medal four years later. Wilson became the matron of The Alfred Hospital in January 1933. In this role she oversaw the first Commonwealth scheme for training nurse tutors. Wilson travelled again to London in 1937 to lead the AANS contingent at the ceremonies which marked the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
  Upon the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Wilson was called up to a full-time position in the Army and resigned from her position at The Alfred Hospital. She served on the staff of the Director-General of Medical Services, Major General Rupert Downes, in Army Headquarters as the Army's matron-in-chief. She became a member of the Second AIF in September 1940, and served in the Middle East as the matron-in-chief of its nursing service. Wilson remained in this position until May 1941, when she was forced to return to Australia due to health problems. She arrived back in Australia in August and left the AIF the next month. Annie Sage replaced her as the AIF's matron-in-chief. Wilson was subsequently attached to the Australian Red Cross Society and oversaw an expansion of its activities. She was appointed the executive officer of the Department of Manpower Directorate (Victoria)'s nursing control section on 15 September 1943. In this role she controlled the staffing of all hospitals in the state of Victoria, and had a personal staff of four trained nurses and eleven office workers.
caption: Wilson with other senior Australian Army medical staff in December 1939. Major General Downes is seated to Wilson's left.
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