Nurse Jessie FLANNERY, Hutton Street, Thornbury
Home Service Nurse, Bodington Soldier’s Home and Sanatorium, Wentworth Falls, New South Wales
Parents : John Thomas and Mrs Matilda Flannery (nee Horgan)
Jessie Flannery is not listed in official records as a member of the A.I.F., but her demise was listed in the “Died In Service” column of the The Argus.
She was working as a Home Service Nurse at the Bodington Park Soldier’s Home and Sanatorium at Wentworth Falls north of Sydney when she died of complications following an appendix operation (the facility appears to have functioning in much the same way as the local 16th Australian General Hospital at Macleod, although it was not officially classified as an AGH).
Very little history in known of the hundreds of nurses who cared for sick and injured servicemen locally, but fortunately with both Jessie’s father and brother enlisting, the usual military records shed some further light on the family
Her brother, Vivian Flannery enlisted in April, 1915, his father then still in Hutton Street as next of kin. His Attestation shows him to have been born at Creswick and a 21-year-old tailor who had spect three years under the Compulsor Military Training scheme with the local 55th Regiment, then based in Collingwood but including Companies from Northcote and Preston.
He had been twice invalided from France back to England, firstly with shell shock and later with scabies before he was suffered serious gunshot wound and was admitted to the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station on 3 May, 1917 and again returned to England where both feet were amputated later in the month.
Remarkably, he returned to administrative duties on the staff of the 2nd Auxiliary Hospital in June, 1918 before embarking for return to Australia late in January, 1919.
Their father, although noted in the Penrith Times report as “at the front” was in fact a Registered Munitions Worker (No. 1511) working at the Aerodrome in England. Details of munitions workers are recorded, but with no details – he appears to have volunteered in 1917 and his file extends to 1919.
(During the course of the war, some 3,000 Australian chemists, draughtsmen and other technicians were shipped to England to assist in the production of munitions for the Western Front (Melbourne University records reveal 45 ex-students amongst the number), later joined by around 2,200 labourers, many of whom had been declare unfit or had been discharged from active service. Their efforts were recognised by the issue of a heavy bronze Munitions Worker hat badge of a single design regardless of rank).
There is no mention of the family in The Leader other than the standard recording of Vivian’s wounds directly from official Casualty Lists.
“FLANNERY. -On the 20th September, at Boddington Military Hospital, Wentworth Falls, Sydney, Nurse Flannery, eldest daughter of J. T. Flannery, of “Crockelford Aerodrome,” England, and Mrs. Flannery, of Thornbury Park, sister of Vivian, “Anzac,” who lost both legs; loved niece of the Misses Flannery, Bank place, Melbourne” (The Argus, 21 September, 1918)
“The death occurred at the Nepean Cottage Hospital on the 20th September of Nurse Jessie Flannery, at the age of 24 years. The cause of death was appendicitis and other complications. The deceased young lady had previously been engaged as a nurse at Bodington Soldiers’ Home, Wentworth Falls. Her father is at present at the front, her mother residing in Victoria. The remains were interred in the R.C. portion of Penrith General Cemetery on the 21st instant, the Rev Father Ryan officiating. (Penrith Times, 28 September, 1918)
