'crazy brave' nurses gain recognition more than a century on

THREE NURSES TO BE HONOURED MORE THAN 100 YEARS AFTER THEIR DEATHS By David Chen * ABC Southern Qld * Topic:History Sat 7 Nov 2020Saturday 7 November 2020Sat 7 Nov 2020 at 10:22pm An

unmarked grave at the South Brisbane Cemetery is all that is left to remember a "crazy brave" nurse who died after volunteering during the Spanish Influenza pandemic more than a

century ago. The Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital (RBWH) is now working to honour Alice Wyeth and two colleagues, Clara Poppel and Hannah Dufton, by building a permanent memorial and

restoring their gravestones. Alice Wyeth, who was born in Toowoomba and trained at the Mother's Hospital, was one of 200 nurses who tended to the sick in Brisbane when the pandemic

arrived on Australia's shores in 1919. Ms Wyeth was a senior and respected nurse who had travelled to Brisbane to volunteer her services, according to the director of the Infectious

Diseases Unit at the RBWH, Krispin Hajkowicz. "Then in June 1919, she acquired Spanish influenza and developed pneumonia and died," Dr Hajkowicz said. Fellow nurse Clara Poppel

also died in June 1919. > "By that stage, the Brisbane General Hospital had become overwhelmed > with cases, catastrophically overwhelmed with hundreds of cases each > 

day," Dr Hajkowicz said. "The Exhibition Hospital had opened by that stage, the pandemic hospital, and they all nursed there and then died there." Dr Hajkowicz said

Rockhampton-born Ms Poppel was on holidays in Brisbane when she decided to volunteer. The third nurse was Hannah Dufton. Dr Hajkowicz said Ms Dufton had only been in Brisbane for about 18

months, after returning from World War I, before she contracted the flu at the hospital and died. Dr Hajkowicz has been on a mission to permanently honour the trio after learning about them

during a history night at the RBWH. > "[Hannah Dufton] has a very small headstone at Toowong cemetery and > Alice [Wyeth] doesn't have anything at all and it's just 

sad," Dr Hajkowicz said. "I took my son up to the cemetery to see it and he was confused and [could not] understand why there wouldn't be a tombstone down there. "These

people have paid the ultimate sacrifice, caring for members of our community and they need to be remembered. It's a really important issue." COURAGE SHINES THROUGH Brisbane

historian Matthew Wegnert said the three nurses were part of a cohort who demonstrated reckless bravery in their devotion to caring for the sick. > "They knew what the dangers were 

and yet they faced them," Mr Wegnert said. "There were lots of women volunteering to help people in their community by feeding them and so on. "By the end of the first week,

there were around 70 nurses ill in hospital being treated and there were only just over 200 nurses." Mr Wegnert said the nurses' courage shone through in stories of the pandemic.

"When the first cases of sickness happened down at the quarantine station, a doctor at the Brisbane General Hospital pulled together a meeting of nurses and said 'We need some

volunteers', and every nurse in the room put their hand up," he said. > "[They] knew very well it was an extremely deadly disease. Every > single nurse to put their hand

 up to volunteer to go treat patients > in quarantine is crazy brave." 'AUSTRALIA'S CHARACTER FORMED THROUGH VOLUNTEERS' James Cook University historian Patrick

Hodgson said the role of nurses in times of medical crisis had long been neglected. "They constitute the largest sector of the health care workforce and have been traditionally on the

frontline of disaster response," Mr Hodgson said. > "They haven't received recognition by historians and that's probably > why we tend to forget the fact that 

nursing is not seen to be > heroic, even in this pandemic." Mr Hodgson welcomed the RBWH's move to recognise the women. "It just shows that we're now starting to value

not just soldiers' deaths, but people who have laid down their lives for society. And make no mistake, it was a big thing," he said. "It's very important for generations

to remember that Australia and its character was formed not only through war, but through the volunteers. "Who we are as Australian. It is multifaceted. It is not just a military

history, the history of working together and it starts very early." Dr Hajkowicz is trying to track down any living relatives of the nurses to get them involved in the memorial and

restoration. "We think that they weren't married and didn't have any children when they died," Dr Hajkowicz said. "We've had a few hits. A lot of people have

run out with similar names and some stories, but nothing that's led to us really identifying a living relative." Posted Sat 7 Nov 2020 at 10:22pmSaturday 7 Nov 2020 at 10:22pmSat 7

Nov 2020 at 10:22pm, updated Sat 7 Nov 2020 at 10:49pmSaturday 7 Nov 2020 at 10:49pmSat 7 Nov 2020 at 10:49pm Share options * Copy link * Facebook * X (formerly Twitter)