A Conversation with Ruth Robson
Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld.: 1909 - 1954), Tuesday 24 April 1917, page 7
Returning from a visit to Toowoomba on Friday afternoon last, I had a most interesting companion up till arrival at Gatton (writes "'Old Sport"). Breaking the ice, I learned that Gatton was her destination. Knowing something about Gatton and its people, the conversation continued, and I soon discovered that I was in the company of Mrs. L. A. Wilkie (nee Sister Ruth Maughan Robson), with whose father - since deceased - I was well acquainted. Her marriage was recently celebrated at the Church of England Garrison Chapel, 14th Australian General Hospital, Abbassia, near Cairo, Egypt, the bridegroom being Lieut. Lesley Alexander Wilkie, of the 4th Regiment (Victorian) Light Horse, who is still in the fighting zone somewhere in Egypt. Mrs. Wilkie - or, rather, Nurse Robson was for four years on the nursing staff of the Ipswich Hospital, during the regime of Dr. P. Thornton as Medical Superintendent, and her Ipswich friends will remember her as being affable, and kindly dispositioned, in every way acting up to her calling. Leaving the Ipswich Hospital, she accepted an appointment in the Cairns Hospital, where she remained for some time. Returning South again she followed her occupation in the Lockyer area until the call of the Empire for Australian trained nurses to go to the front.
She responded and has so been actively engaged for nearly two years. Experience abroad has added to her affability, and may I be pardoned for saying, she proved a charming conversationalist. She interested me with her doings, in the first instance, in Egypt, where, at Cairo, she was occupied in hospital work in attending to the invalided soldiers from the famous Gallipoli battle fields. Listening to her version, why should we wonder at the wounded men writing so nicely of the attention paid to them by the sisters?
From Egypt Sister Robson was dispatched to England on a hospital steamer in care of invalided soldiers. The voyage was pleasant, she related across the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the vessel calling in at Marseilles, thence, via the historical Straits of Gibraltar, to England, in which old land my informant spent some six months in soldiers' hospitals – in Lancashire, then at Epsom, and finally at Harefield. In this institution she stated that she met Dr. Donald Cameron, whom she knew while at the Ipswich Hospital.
When opportunity offered, she visited places of interest, but the sisters' time was nearly always well occupied otherwise. On one occasion, while at London theatre an enemy Zeppelin raid took place, and bombs were distributed broadcast. She states that she will never forget the excitement in the theatre - it was indescribable. All were scrambling to get out. Her Sister companion and herself were tossed about in all directions. How she got there the narrator could not tell, but she discovered herself tossed under a seat. The manager, with much tact, allayed the stampede, and eventually the performance proceeded as if nothing whatever had occurred. She returned to Australia in a well-known hospital steamer, the matron (Miss Cooper, sister of Mr. F. A. Cooper, M.L.A.) being described as a motherly soul, who is liked by all. After enjoying a spell in Queensland at her mother's home in Gatton - she returned to Egypt a second time, and in the A.G.H., where she was engaged, she had, for a time, the care of Pte. Ivor Wilson, a son of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Norman Wilson, of Thorn Street, who unfortunately lost both legs in a railway accident. He was a cheerful patient, and it was always a pleasure for any of the sisters to take him out for an airing in a specially prepared vehicle. She herself frequently took him for a glimpse of the outside world. This time she renewed the acquaintance of Dr. E.E. Brown, whom she knew while at the Ipswich Hospital. While here she met her future husband, Lieut. L. A. WiIkie, who, although a native of Victoria, was for many years engaged in station work, he being a manager, in the far north of Queensland.
Her husband returned to the fighting zone, and Mrs. Wilkie came back to Australia in care of invalided soldiers. Mrs. Wilkie referred in flattering terms to the splendid work of the Red Cross. They lighten greatly the work of the sisters, and very materially assist in making the invalided soldiers' lot more comfortable. The Army Medical Corps, she said, do admirable work, and the stretcher bearers are indefatigable in their efforts. Mrs. Wilkie stated that she found, despite the nature of the calling, much to always interest her. And then the train pulled up at Gatton and "adieu" was the next- word.
