WWI nurse Daisy Wharton Squire honoured with memorial plaque at Springsure Hospital

Daisy Wharton Squire was born in Springsure on October 7, 1892, and grew up at Wharton Creek Station.

She later trained to become a registered nurse and enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service on May 31, 1917, which was a reserve pool of trained civilian nurses who had volunteered for military duties during the First World War.

She served in the Middle East mainly in the Macedonian campaign, also known as Salonica Front.

Daisy's story as a WWI nurse was detailed in the book, Tapestry of Time: The Bill and Barbara McCutcheon Story, by Dr Tony Matthews, which the Queensland Country Life is able to share.

During the First World War, more than 2200 woman joined the AANS for service overseas and hundred more served on the home front.

Daisy joined the service on June 2, 1917, and as a trained nurse, she did not need any further training before being embarked aboard the liner Mooltan at Sydney, destined for the Middle East theatre of war.

It was voyage which could easily have ended in Daisy's death because shortly after she and her fellow nurses had disembarked at Suez on July 19, 1917, the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine on July 26.

After landing at Suez, Daisy was apparently taken to Alexandria where she remained for only a few weeks before being placed on board another transport, the Huntsgreen, destined for Salonika.

Her date of embarkation on board the Huntsgreen was August 8, 1917.

The journey was uneventful and took only a few days.

Daisy was landed at Salonika on August 13 and on that same day she took up her nursing duties with the 60^th General Hospital.

The precise details of Daisy' service is still unclear during this time, but according to her military records she served at several hospitals during the war including the 60^th and 52^nd General Hospitals.

On January 5, 1919, after the war had ended, Daisy contracted a severe case of influenza and was admitted to the 43^rd General Hospital.

Daisy survived, thanks to the rapid actions and good nursing procedures from her medical colleagues.

Upon recovering sufficiently, Daisy was transferred to a convalescent home.

By late February that year, she had recovered sufficiently and was placed on board another ship bound for Southampton in the south of England.

Daisy remained in England and later Ireland for several months during which time she was promoted to the rank of sister and also completed a midwifery course at the historic and prestigious Rotunda Hospital and Parnell Street in Dublin.

Daisy was subsequently returned to Australia aboard the transport ship, Megantic, landing on February 28, 1920. She was discharged at Brisbane on April 6 that year.

For her service, she received the Australian Army Nursing Service Macedonia Bracelet and Dublin Rotunda Hospital badge.

Daisy died in Brisbane on March 1, 1975.

In tribute to Daisy's life long service to nursing, her distant relatives came together and came up with an idea of a presentation of plaque to commemorate the memory and life of Daisy.

They originally had the idea of donating the plaque to the Canberra War Memorial or Australian Nurses Memorial Centre, but later decided it would be more appropriate to be placed on display at the Springsure Hopsital.

Kevin Squire, who's grandfather was siblings to Daisy Squire, welcomed the presentation and thanked the hospital and local council for their assistance in setting up the memorial.

"I knew Daisy, she was always auntie Daisy, and I was in my 20s when she passed away," Mr Squire said.

"Daisy never married and she was the youngest of six girls and three boys in the family.

"One of those boys was my grandfather, Arthur, and he was the owner of Wharton Creek Station, after his father, John Henry died.

"This plaque and memorial is very important for us and we're thankful for everyone involved.

"The Squire family has been with the district for over 140 years.

"Daisy had an amazing and interesting story and the unfortunate side of it was from when she was extremely young, the youngest daughter of a family of nine she was basically told that her role in life was to look after her ageing parents.

"Daisy never married, never had children and that was the reason why her whole life was dedicated to looking after her mother, who lived to 99."

Wendy Cole (nee Squire) who's grandfather was also sibling to Daisy, said it was fantastic that this memorial return to her hometown of Springsure.

"Springsure was where she was born and it's so great that the history could come back to the whole area can still share in the history," she said.

There was 11 in the family and granddad was the youngest, and she was the youngest girl.