Nursing in World War II: Rae Knox

Lieutenant Rae Knox (nee Seamark) served in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) supporting the Australian troops for over 4 years during World War II. Rae’s parents Erskine and Marina were married in Beechworth in 1907, and her older brothers, Ralph and Leonard, were born in New South Wales. The family had moved to Queensland by the time Rae was born at Dingo Pocket, near Tully, on 20 May 1912. Her sister Elma was born in 1913, and at that time their father was listed as a dairyman in Malanda on the Atherton Tableland. 

Growing up on the Atherton Tableland and attending St Mary's Anglican School in Herberton, it is not surprising Rae started her nursing training in 1930 at the Atherton Hospital. After completing her training in December 1934, she nursed in various hospitals in northern Queensland, including Herberton District Hospital and Innisfail, where she completed her midwifery training in 1936. Rae also worked at the Child and Welfare Nursing Clinic at Atherton and the Gladstone Hospital before she was called up to join the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) in 1941, having enlisted when the war started.  

Originally with the Citizen Military Forces, Rae was appointed for duty at the 112th Australian General Hospital (AGH) at Kangaroo point in September 1941, where she nursed wounded men returning from Tobruk. She was still with the 112th in March 1942  when it relocated to the new Military Hospital at Greenslopes, which had opened on 3 February 1942. Here she nursed patients with tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and intestinal diseases as well as the wounded. This included the survivors from the 2/3rd Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur which was sunk off Brisbane on 14 May 1943. 

Rae was not the only member of her family to enlist in World War II. Both her brothers and her father also served. Leonard, who was a carpenter, was the first to enlist in April 1941. He joined the 2/3rd Australian Forestry Company as an ’axeman’. After serving over in Britain from June 1941 to November 1943, he returned to Australia. His unit was sent to Lae in New Guinea in May 1944 and Leonard served there until October 1945, with a small break back in Australia from April to June 1945.  Ralph joined up in January 1942 and was with the 2/7th Australian Infantry Battalion in New Guinea from February 1943 until their return to Australia in October that year. He suffered from malaria on his return and was discharged in July 1944. At the age of 64, Rae’s dad, Erskine, joined the 18th Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps based out of Innisfail and served with them from May 1942 until October 1945.  

Keen to serve overseas, Rae transferred to the AIF in August 1943, as a Lieutenant. A memoir of her time in the AIF, held in the Australian War Memorial, gives us an insight into what her service from this time entailed. With the AIF she was allotted for duty at the 102nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station (CCS), which had been established in Cape York on Skull Creek, near Higgins Airfield, known to the Australians as Jacky Jacky. The 90-bed tent hospital was staffed by 8 nurses who dealt with casualties from Dutch New Guinea, including Merauke, and the many units stationed in the area. Rae's unit was there for 10 months from October 1943. 

On their return to Brisbane, the sisters were transferred to the 110th Australian CCS, which was back in Australia at this time but was scheduled to return overseas with the push to take back territories in the Pacific and Dutch Indonesia. At first, they lived in tents on the banks of the river at Strathpine and worked in hospitals around the area. However, they soon began training for active service and were sent to Wondecla, a major military camp on the Atherton Tableland near Herberton. The nurses spent short periods in the Rocky Creek hospitals. Once they were acclimatised and equipped, rumours of departure for overseas began. The men and nurses of the 110th Australian CCS finally departed Wondecla in April 1945 and en route the transport halted for a short time at Malanda so Rae could visit her mother who had been ill. 

The MS Wanganella transported the members of the 110th Australian CCS from Sydney to Morotai, in present-day Indonesia, where they arrived 18 April 1945. They staged there for 3 weeks, working with the 2/5 Australian General Hospital (AGH) before going to Tarakan.  The Australian amphibious invasion of the small Japanese-held island of Tarakan, just off Borneo landed on 1 May 1945. However, the nurses of the 110th Australian CCS did not head to Tarakan until 29 May. The voyage from Morotai to Tarakan was on the AHS Manunda. 

On arrival the nurses were offloaded between lulls in the fighting and taken to the Casualty Clearing Station in the old Dutch Hospital, which had recently been abandoned by the Japanese army. 

Sadly, there was a letter waiting for Rae at Tarakan telling her that her mother, Marina, had died on 1 May 1945. She had little time to mourn as the 8 nurses went straight to work. They were required to work in medical and surgical wards with theatre and resuscitation requiring 24-hour coverage. The hospital was a busy place as Australian casualties during the Tarakan campaign included 225 deaths, over 650 wounded and around 1400 evacuations due to illness.  

There was usually a lull after casualties were evacuated by hospital ship, so the nurses were able to relax and visit other messes on an evening off. On 25 August 1945 English comedienne Gracie Fields gave a concert at Tarakan as part of a morale boosting tour for allied personnel. She was billeted with the nurses and her husband Monty Banks stayed in the field officer's mess. Gracie graciously wore a corsage of orchids given to her by some soldiers during her performance. Rae recalls that Monty was not at his best when he was collected for the show, though Gracie ensured the 6,000 strong audience were unaware of this. 

The hospital also treated enemy wounded and the medical personnel ensured they received the same treatment as the allied troops, even sending some to Australia in hospital ships when required. Rae didn't get to see much of the surrounding area as walks were only allowed close to the camp, and nurses had to be accompanied by a soldier carrying a hand grenade. That was until news of the dropping of the atomic bombs and the end of the war filtered through. 

While 2 of the nurses headed home after peace was declared the remaining 6, including Rae, stayed to care for the 'mopping up' force and to tend to prisoners of war as they were released from various camps. After five and half months at Tarakan, Rae left on 15 November 1945 and headed back to Sydney via Morotai. She was sent to the 115th Heidelberg Military Hospital in Melbourne, where she nursed returned soldiers. Her discharge from the AIF was on 26 February 1946, but she remained at the hospital until April 1945.  On 19 January, a month prior to her discharge, she had married Noel Thomas Knox in Ballarat . Noel was with the Army Pay Corp in the AIF from May 1940 until October 1945, seeing service in the Middle East, New Guinea and finally as the Paymaster at the 110th Australian CCS, where presumably he and Rae met. Their daughter Jill was born in 1947, but her marriage broke down when a bout of encephalitis left Jill disabled.  Rae continued to nurse supporting her daughter until retiring to Maroochydore in 1974. She remarried in 1984 and was Rae Parkinson when she died in 1999. 

Despite some difficulties in her post-war life, she was always proud of her war service. 

This Remembrance Day we remember and honour  all those who have lost their lives in service as well as the men and women like Rae who have served their country in war and times of peace. 

Further Reading:

• 'Jacky Jacky' and 'Tarakan' by Rae Parkinson (Lieutenant, b.1912 - d. 1999), memoir manuscript, Australian War Memorial, 2007.  Accession no MSS1957. 
• Rae Knox Collection by Guest Blogger: Edwina Crowther, 16 September 2021, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
• Service Records Rae Knox held in the National Archives of Australia.
• Service Records Noel Knox held in the National Archives of Australia.
• Service Records Leonard Seamark held in the National Archives of Australia.
• Service Records Ralph Seamark held in the National Archives of Australia.
• Service Records Erskine Seamark held in the National Archives of Australia.
• Higgins Airfield (Bamaga Higgins RAAF Advanced Operational Base)Red Point, Red Island or Red Island Point Airfield, Jacky Jacky Airfield, Anzac Square Memorial Galleries.