Ella Jane Tucker

Born in Scottsdale, Tasmania, in 1886, Ella Tucker trained at Launceston General Hospital. She enlisted in the AIF on 29 November 1914 and left Australia a week later on HMAT Kyarra.

Like Sister Nellie Morrice, Ella initially nursed in No. 2 Australian General Hospital (2AGH) at the Ghezireh Palace Hotel in Cairo. In March 1915, Ella was selected with five other Australian sisters (and a British matron) to join the hospital ship Gascon to support the Gallipoli campaign. One of the two chief hospital ships on which Australian nurses served, the Gascon was designated to take onboard the most seriously wounded soldiers. It sailed to Gallipoli with the Allied armada on 25 April 1915.

During the months of the campaign, Ella made 19 voyages with the Gascon. The ship ferried soldiers from the Gallipoli peninsula to hospitals on nearby Imbros and Lemnos, or else transferred them farther afield to Malta, Egypt and Britain.

Later Ella described the harrowing work and conditions under which they laboured, tending often-horrific wounds for extremely long hours and with the sound of shelling and rifle fire ringing in their ears. The Gascon was equipped for the care of 480 patients, but it was far more common for it to be carrying between 500 and 900 sick and wounded. The lower decks were always crowded, and with little ventilation, and the movement of the ship made the work all the more difficult.

After Gallipoli, Ella returned to 2AGH in Cairo, before leaving for France in April 1916. In August 1917, she was transferred to England and promoted to sister; she was initially responsible for nursing in the orthopaedic section at Thornton Heath of the Croydon War Hospital. Ella’s work in France was recognised with a Royal Red Cross (2nd class) in 1917.

Ella Tucker returned to Australia in February 1919. She died aged 93 in Adelaide, in 1979.