25/04/2026
Lest we forget
This Anzac Day, we want to tell you about Sister Rachel Pratt.
She was born in 1874 in Mumbannar, a small town in western Victoria. She started her nursing training at Ballarat Hospital in 1909, and had to understate her age by almost five years just to be accepted. She qualified, kept working at Ballarat, then moved to Melbourne to join the Women's Hospital.
When war came, she enlisted in May 1915. She was 40 years old.
Within weeks, she was aboard a ship bound for Lemnos, assigned to the 3rd Australian General Hospital, caring for soldiers wounded at Gallipoli. From there, Egypt. Then England. Then, in May 1917, France - attached to the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station at Bailleul.
At 3.40am on the night of 3โ4 July 1917, a bomb dropped close to the tent where she was on duty, attending to a patient.
Shrapnel tore into her right shoulder and lung.
She kept working.
"๐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ," she said later, "๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต."
She tended to her patient until she collapsed. The report filed afterwards noted she "exhibited the utmost coolness and bravery, and by so doing was a conspicuous example to the patients and others, whose confidence was thereby absolutely maintained."
She was evacuated and underwent surgery. The shrapnel could not be removed. It stayed in her lung for the rest of her life.
She was promoted to Sister the following day. She was awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry. One of only seven Australian nurses to receive it in the entire war.
She returned to Australia on 24 October 1918.
The years that followed were hard. Chronic bronchitis. Ongoing mental health struggles. Debilitating depression that marked the final two decades of her life. Those who knew her remembered her as "a most charming lady, well-spoken and highly regarded." But the war never really left her.
Sister Rachel Pratt died on 23 March 1954, from complications related to her service, more than 35 years after it ended.
From Ballarat to Bailleul. From a training ward to a bombed field hospital at 3 in the morning. She showed up, she stayed, and she paid a price for it that lasted a lifetime.
Lest we forget. ๐บ
