Today is Anzac Day – a day we pause to reflect on the service and sacrifice so many in the military have made for all of us.
Anzac Day is a day of national remembrance, that marks the first major military battle fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.
Like many leading Melbourne institutions, our health service shares its name with Sir John Monash, a man whose legacy is inextricably linked with World War I and the Anzac Services we have today.
Several years ago, Monash Health acknowledged the role of health professionals in our military services with the ‘Our Anzac Nurses’ exhibition at Monash Medical Centre.
It brought to life the role of the nurses and doctors from our predecessor hospitals, the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital and the Homeopathic Hospital. 65 nurses trained at these hospitals before service overseas.
One of the doctors was Dr Hannah Mary Helen Sexton, a pioneering medical woman, first female surgeon and founding doctor of the Queen Victoria Hospital, who later established and ran the Hopital Australien in Paris, playing a key role in the war effort.
Today we again acknowledge the sacrifice of so many health professionals as part of current and historical military efforts around the world.
Lest we forget.