Red Cross 'Bluebird' nurses awaiting embarkation on the troopship KANOWNA, Melbourne
Photographer
Josiah Earl Barnes
(Australian, 1858 - 1921)
Date6 July 1916
Object number00027608
NamePhotograph
MediumPhotographic print on paper
DimensionsOverall: 110 x 155 mm, 1 mm, 0.04 kg
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionPhotograph of a group of nurses beside the troopship KONOWNA, Melbourne. The reverse has a handwritten inscription in pen reading: 'KANOWNA'.
The nurses are the twenty Red Cross Bluebirds (plus either their French tutor or the accompanying massuese) who were sponsored by the NSW Jockey Club to assist in the war effort. The nurse seated front row far left is Nellie Crommelin.HistoryMelbourne based photographer Josiah Barnes had two sons, Norm and Victor, who left for war in 1916 (both returned to Australia after their service). Barnes appears to have taken an interest around this time in photographing the troopships as they departed for war from Melbourne.
The steamer KANOWNA was part of the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company's fleet and was built in 1903 by W. Denny and Brothers in Dumbarton, Scotland. KANOWNA worked mainly on the passenger routes between Australian and Asian ports and served as both a troopship and a hospital ship during WW1. In February of 1929 KANOWNA was lost when it ran aground near Wilson's Promontory in Victoria. No lives were lost but the vessel drifted into Bass Strait, and sank in deep water, rendering it unsalvageable.
The women of the Australian Red Cross Bluebirds were (first names provided where possible): Grace Sheridan, Minnie Hough, Hilda Loxton, Alice E.Robinson, Fanny Harris, Alice McKillop, Lillian Fraser Thompson, Olive Norman, Elfreda Warner, Sutherland, Helen Wallace, Lynette Crozier, Mary Hungerford, Nellie Crommelin, Jessie Hutchinson, Alice Fullerton Gray, Annie Jamieson, Elsie Cook, Dorothy Duffy, Ida J. Moreton, Susan M Hughes and Mrs Keith Murray.
Josiah Earl Barnes
2 October 1916
