Katherine Agnes Lawrence Porter, Australian Army Nursing Service
Australian War MemorialKnown as “Kitty”, Katherine Agnes Lawrence Porter was born on the 17th of December 1882 to John and Mary Porter of Milton, a village in the Shoalhaven Shire of New South Wales.
Porter trained as a nurse at Sydney Royal Hospital using her grandmother’s maiden name – Lawrence – as there was already another nurse Porter enrolled for training.
By the outbreak of the war, Sister Porter was on the staff at Prince Alfred Hospital. She was granted leave of absence so that she might join the Australian Army Nursing Service, which she did in March 1915.
More than 3,000 Australian civilian nurses volunteered for active service during the First World War. They were posted to Britain, France, Belgium, the Mediterranean, India and the Middle East, where they worked in hospitals, on hospital ships and trains, or in casualty clearing stations closer to the front line.
Recently engaged to Dr Bullock of Sydney, Katherine Porter visited her home in Milton to say goodbye to her friends and family before travelling to the No. 1 Australian General Hospital, which was operating out of the Heliopolis Palace Hotel in Egypt. She arrived in May 1915, just weeks after Australian soldiers had landed on Gallipoli. Over the next few months she would care for many men who had been wounded or fell ill on the Turkish peninsula.
Following the evacuation of allied forces from Gallipoli, Porter spent some time holidaying in Egypt. One of her letters detailing her adventures was published in the Ulladulla and Milton Times, describing visits to Luxor, the temple of Ramesses II, and Aswan, viewing statues, mummies, Aswan Dam, and an alabaster quarry.
Porter was then transferred to France, where she saw service in clearing stations, on ambulance trains, and at No. 25 General Hospital in Boulogne.
When the Allied forces were being driven back in April 1918, Porter was stationed at the town of Roye. When the town was captured, she and her comrades narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. The retreat was so hurried that only the wounded could be removed, and her personal belongings had to be left behind.
On 1 June 1919, Porter returned to Sydney on the transport Medic, in charge of invalids. She was to take up the position of Matron of Randwick Military Hospital.
Porter was welcomed home in a celebration in her home town of Milton. At Yatte Yattah School she was presented with a bouquet of flowers and Mrs Charles Kendall, President of the Local Red Cross, gave her an official welcome at the Milton School of Arts.
Sadly, after providing so much comfort to the wounded and their loved ones at home, Sister Porter became a casualty of the war. She had cared for the sick and wounded throughout the voyage home, and was en route to visit members of her family when she contracted influenza in June 1919.
Katherine Porter died of pneumonia and influenza at No. 4 Australian General Hospital in Randwick on 16 July 1919. Her funeral at Waverley General Cemetery in Sydney was attended by full military honours.
She was 36 years old.
Porter was later awarded the Royal Red Cross for her service. The citation was issued a fortnight after she passed away. The medal was later presented to her mother at a ceremony in Milton by representatives of the AIF and the British Army. The medal had added oak leaves, as Sister Porter had been mention in dispatches “for distinguished services with the armies in France and Flanders”.
- Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1655296
