From a small country village to the battlefields of France
Henry MouldsAmong the names on the War Memorial at Central Tilba, is that of Sister P Corkhill MM. Pearl Corkhill is the only woman honoured on the Memorial, and the letters after her name indicate that she was decorated for her service.
Pearl Elizabeth Corkhill was born in March 1887 at the small village of Tilba Tilba, about five kilometres from the Memorial, along the road that bears her family name.
Having completed four years of nursing training at a private hospital Pearl Corkhill enlisted as a Staff Nurse in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) in June 1915. Posted to the 1st Australian General Hospital, she arrived in Egypt in July 1915. From August to January 1916, she was at the Choubra Military Infectious Hospital, where she tended sick troops from the Gallipoli campaign.
Following the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was sent to join the war in Europe. On reaching France in April 1916, Corkhill served at the 2nd British General Hospital in Le Havre. She was there when, for the first time, the AIF commemorated Anzac Day. To mark the occasion, she and two other Australian nurses wore green gum leaves with the inscription ‘Dardanelles 1915’.
Pearl Corkhill was attached to many hospitals during her service, in France and England, including 38 (British) Casualty Clearing Station near Abbeville on the Western Front. She was serving with this unit in July 1917 when it suffered a heavy German air raid. Corkhill displayed courage and devotion as she continued to attend to the wounded without regard to her own safety, even though enemy aircraft were overhead. Her example helped in allaying the alarm of the patients.
For her coolness and presence of mind during the attack, Pearl Corkhill was awarded the Military Medal (MM). She is one of only eight Australian nurses to be awarded that decoration during the First World War. It had only been extended to include women in June 1916.
Pearl Corkhill was promoted from Staff Nurse to Sister on the 1st of October 1918 and returned to Australia in early 1919. Her AANS appointment was terminated in June that year. She was presented with her Military Medal by Governor General Lord Foster at Victoria Barracks, NSW in June 1924.
After her return to Australia, Corkhill held various private and public nursing positions until she retired to Akolele, overlooking Wallaga Lake in 1961. Always known as Sister Corkhill, she was greatly respected in the district.
In her retirement she donated to the National Library of Australia a collection of glass plate negatives of photographs taken by her father in the Tilba Tilba area between 1890 and 1910. The images documented the way of life of the remote village. Pearl took satisfaction in knowing that her family had added to the nation’s historic collections.
Corkhill died on the 4th of December 1985 at Dalmeny and lies in Narooma cemetery. She never married. Her MM and other service medals are held by the Australian War Memorial.
- Australian War Memorial website https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C372019
