Evelyn Augusta Conyers, (1 March 1870 – 6 September 1944) was a New Zealand-born Australian matron-in-chief of the

Australian Army Nursing Service The Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) was an Australian Army Reserve unit which provided a pool of trained civilian nurses who had volunteered for military service during wartime. The AANS was formed in 1902 by amalgamating the nursing servic ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. She was its first member to be awarded the

Florence Nightingale Medal The Florence Nightingale Medal is an international award presented to those distinguished in nursing and named after British nurse Florence Nightingale. The medal was established in 1912 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), f ...

, the highest award for nursing service.

Early life and training

Conyers was born at

Invercargill, New Zealand Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southlan ...

, on 1 March 1870 to William and Fanny (née Mainprize). After completing her secondary education in New Zealand, Conyers migrated to Victoria where she trained as a nurse at the Melbourne Children's Hospital until 1894 and then the

Melbourne Hospital The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), located in Parkville, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia's leading public hospitals. It is a major teaching hospital for tertiary health care with a reputation in clinical research. Th ...

from which she graduated in 1896.

Nursing career

In 1901 Conyers was appointed matron of a private hospital in Melbourne. A year later she applied for register a patent for "an improved supporting frame to be used with slipper bed-pan". Conyers was one of the original members of the Australian Army Nursing Service which was formed in 1903.

First World War

Conyers enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 11 October 1914. In January 1916 she was appointed Matron-in-chief of the 1st Australian General Hospital. Conyers was mentioned in a despatch of General

Sir John Maxwell ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part o ...

"in connection with services rendered in Egypt". In September 1916 she was awarded the

Royal Red Cross The Royal Red Cross (RRC) is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing. It was created in 1883, and the first two awards were to Florence Nightingale and Jane Cecilia Deeb ...

"for conspicuous services rendered" and later a

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

"in recognition of her valuable nursing service". On 1 January 1919

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

appointed Conyers a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. In 1921 she was awarded the

with diploma. Her war service complete, Conyers left London for Australia in December 1919 per ''Orvieto'' and was discharged on 7 March 1920.

Death

Conyers died on 6 September 1944 in Epworth Private Hospital, Richmond and was buried at

Boroondara Cemetery Boroondara General Cemetery, often referred to as Kew cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Victoria, Australia, created in the tradition of the Victorian garden cemetery. The cemetery, located in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, is listed ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conyers, Evelyn 1870 births 1944 deaths Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian military nurses Australian women nurses Australian military personnel of World War I Australian women of World War I Florence Nightingale Medal recipients Members of the Royal Red Cross Military personnel from Melbourne New Zealand emigrants to Australia 19th-century Australian women Women in the Australian military