Grace Wilson Grace Margaret Wilson CBE RRC ( 1879 – 1957 ) 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 ( AANS ) 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 ( Victoria ) ' s nursing control section . Biography . Grace Wilson was born in South Brisbane on 25 June 1879 . She attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School , and began her training to become a nurse at Brisbane Hospital in 1905 . She completed this qualification in 1908 and subsequently traveled to London for training in midwifery at the Queen Charlotte ' s Lying - in Hospital . Wilson subsequently worked at the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic in London . She returned to Australia in 1914 , and became the matron of Brisbane Hospital in July of that year . Following the outbreak of World War I , Wilson joined the AANS in October 1914 and became the principal matron of the 1st Military District . She enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) on 15 April 1915 and was appointed the 3rd Australian General Hospital ' s ( 3rd AGH ) principal matron . She and the rest of the 3rd AGH departed Sydney bound for Europe on 15 May 1915 . The 3rd AGH arrived in England at the end of June and was originally intended to be deployed to France . Instead , it was decided to send the hospital to Lemnos island in the Mediterranean to treat casualties of the Gallipoli Campaign . The 3rd AGH departed England in early July and arrived at Lemnos on 8 August . The ship carrying the nurses stopped at Alexandria during this voyage , where Wilson learned that one of her brothers had been killed at Quinn ' s Post in Gallipoli . In early 1916 the unit moved to Abbassia in Egypt . Wilson was mentioned in dispatches on three occasions during 1916 , and was awarded the Royal Red Cross in May . Wilson was also offered the post of Matron in Chief at AIF Headquarters in either late 1915 or early 1916 , but turned it down as she wished to remain with the 3rd AGH . In October 1916 the 3rd AGH was transferred to Brighton in England , and remained there until April 1917 when it moved to Abbeville in France . Wilson was temporarily appointed the Matron in Chief at the AIF Headquarters , London in September 1917 while Evelyn Conyers was on leave in Australia . She remained in this position until April the next year , and then rejoined the 3rd AGH . Following the war , Wilson was mentioned in dispatches again in December 1918 , and was appointed to the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire ( CBE ) on 1 January 1919 . The 3rd AGH was disbanded in May 1919 , but Wilson was posted to England to serve in the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital . She returned to Australia in January 1920 and formally ceased to be a member of the AIF in April of that year . From November 1920 to 1922 Wilson was the matron of the Children ' s Hospital in Melbourne . In 1922 she resigned from this position 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 The Alfred Hospital in January 1933 , and traveled 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 start 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 . In 1953 , Wilson became the first female life member of the Returned and Services League of Australia . She married Robert Wallace Bruce Campbell in London on 12 January 1954 . Wilson died at the Repatriation General Hospital at Heidelberg , Victoria on 12 January 1957 .