SERVICE PERSON RESEARCH
SERVICE PERSON DETAILS
Service Person’s
Name
Rank
Eunice Muriel Paten
Acting Matron
Service Number
Regiment/Unit or
Ship or Squadron
Australian Army Nursing Service
1st Expeditionary Force
Date of Birth
13 June 1883
Place of Birth
Enoggera, Brisbane, Queensland
Family Details
Age at Enlistment
Place of Enlistment
Parents: Jesse Paten (famer) and his wife Eliza
Never married
31
Enoggera (Brisbane)
Date of Death
1 February 1973 (Survived WWI and WWII)
Place of Death
Greenslopes, Brisbane
Cemetery or
Memorial Name
Grave or Memorial
Number
Cremated with Presbyterian forms
PHOTO:
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C02538/
SERVICE PERSON’S STORY/EULOGY:
Prepared by Emily Leggett
Eunice Muriel Paten’s life was one of trail-blazing. Born 13 June 1883 to parents Jesse and Eliza Paten, she
was initially enrolled in Brisbane Girl’s Grammar School but, when prominent teacher Eliza Fewings was
unfairly dismissed from the institution, she, along with her sisters, followed Ms Fewings to her new
establishment, The Brisbane High School for Girls, as a foundation pupil in 1899. Many years later this
school became known as Somerville House, uniting a school community under the motto ‘Honour Before
Honours’, the community that I am honoured to be a part of and therefore relish the opportunity to
commemorate the life of one of our most honourable and arguably oldest Old Girls. After graduating
Eunice commenced her nursing training at the Brisbane hospital in the February of 1903, topping her final
year in 1908. After staying on staff for six months, she signed up for Australian Army Nursing Service
Reserve and then nursed privately for five years, saving up for a midwifery course at the Women’s Hospital,
Melbourne. Having finished this course, on 24 September 1914, as one of the first four Queensland nurses
ever to go on active service, Eunice sailed with the 9th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force to serve at
Alexandria, then at the New Zealand hospital at Pont De Koubbeh, Abassia and then at 1st Australian
General Hospital treating wounded soldiers at Gallipoli. Most notably, Sister Paten rose to the rank of
Acting-Matron and later Head Sister at the 25th General Hospital at Hardelot, France, on 1 April 1918.
Famously, Eunice also, under the belief that the British nurses were poorly trained, convinced the doctors
to allow the Australian nurses to do all the dressings. At the conclusion of the war she received a Red Cross
(2nd Class) for her service and returned to Australia as sister in charge of the invalid transporter, Nestor.
Back home she started the Holyrood Private Hospital (Gregory Terrace) with AIF friend Tessa Thomas and
later bought out Tessa’s share when she married and closed the hospital when her mother died in 1936.
Throughout her career Eunice raised money for the nurses’ rest home, was a member of the Queensland
branch of the Council for Australasian Trained Nurses (1920-1948), first nurse president of the Royal
Australian Nursing Federation (1943-1948), joined Queensland Bush Nursing Association in 1922 and was
honorary secretary in 1939-49 and later treasurer. Additionally she was a foundation member of the
Queensland branches of the Florence Nightingale International Foundation, the Australian Aerial Medical
Services, and the College of Nursing Australia. In 1937 Matron Paten was chosen to as a delegate to the
International Congress of Lyceum clubs and the Congress of the International Council of Nurses, where she
campaigned for Australia’s inclusion. Eunice has remained in the army reserve as principal matron of the
Northern Command, attach the Enoggera Military hospital, she was the first of the Queensland army sisters
to go abroad in WWII, later becoming the foundation and executive member for the Centaur memorial
fund for nurses. In 1959 Matron Paten was appointed as Member of the Most Excellent British Empire for
her work with the College of Nursing. Undoubtedly, Eunice Paten was a busy woman. In her private life she
was a member of the Brisbane Women’s Lyceum Club and a lover of gardening. On 1 February 1973
Australia lost a passionate, driven, pioneering woman but it is certain that she did not go gentle into that
good night.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
K. E. Gill, 1988, Australian Dictionary of Bibliography, Paten, Eunice Muriel Harriett Hunt (1883–1973)
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/paten-eunice-muriel-harriett-hunt-7970
Australian War Memorial, 2015, Australian War Memorial, Honours and Awards:
Eunice Muriel Harriett Paten, https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1510375/
Discovery ANZACs, National Archives of Australia, PATEN Eunice Muriel: Service Number - Sister: Place of
Birth - Brisbane QLD: Place of Enlistment - Brisbane QLD: Next of Kin - (N/A) PATEN Jesse,
http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/432173/3