A LOCAL memorial has been approved in honour of WWI nurse Annie Egan from Gunnedah, who died in 1918 after contracting the Spanish flu.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
At Wednesday night's ordinary Gunnedah Shire Council meeting, a motion was passed to create a lasting memorial to the brave nurse.
Annie was born on August 22, 1891, and lived at Emerald Hill after her family moved to the property "Rosewood" from Gundagai.
Annie contracted Spanish flu while nursing soldiers with the Australian Army Nursing Service and died on December 3, 1918, at the age of 27.
Her death caused national outrage after the devout Catholic was refused the Last Rites as at the time, only clergymen were permitted into the hospital.
She was buried with full military honours at North Head's Third Quarantine Cemetery in NSW.
Chief Planner of Operation Pilgrimage Group Allan Miles OAM approached council for its support of the Annie Egan Memorial Project, which will include the installation of a memorial plaque beside the Gunnedah Water Tower Museum and a civic reception to mark its opening.
"I'm part of a group of army veterans who have been doing projects that recognise our military history," Mr Miles said.
Read also:
"I became aware of Annie as a casualty of WWI back in May 2020 when I saw her mentioned on Australian Story by the ABC.
"I saw it and said 'this woman deserves to be better recognised' so I delved into it and we are now going to place a proper memorial to her in Gunnedah, her home town."
The Egan family have been in Gunnedah since about 1902. The large family with 9 children, 2 sons, 7 daughters have made a very strong contribution to the area, Mr Miles said.
"I thought there's not many memorials in Australia to nurses and being an old soldier I can tell you that if ever I got wounded or shot there would have been an Australian army nurse or medic there to offer me some sort of treatment," he added.
The ceremony and unveiling of the memorial is currently planned for Annie's birthday, August 22.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark NVI
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News