Milicent Sylvia Armstrong

Service: Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service, then
Place of Birth: Waverly, Sydney – became a Soldier Settler at Garrundah after the war.
Highlights: Born in 1888, and having studied the French language to Matriculation level, Millicent was in London when the First World War broke out. She volunteered as an orderly with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service and from 1916 was based at Abbey de Royaumont, 25 miles north of Paris. These hospitals staffed and funded by women, looked after soldiers, prisoners of war and civilian casualties and had a very low mortality rate, due to their pioneering work in caring for victims of gas gangrene. Millicent was later sent to a forward hospital at Villiers-Cotterets, a mere 4 miles from the front line, which was later taken over by the French Army and became Hôpital Auxiliaire d'Armées No.30. The female staff members were retained by the French Army. There, Millicent first experimented with drama. Written partly in English and partly in French, and solely as entertainment for the wounded, her pantomimes, melodramas and variety shows were performed by staff and some of the casualties, using makeshift props and costumes. In the face of the German advance in May 1918, the hospital was evacuated to Royaumont. Millicent Armstrong was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her bravery in rescuing wounded soldiers while under fire. She returned to Australia after the war and briefly operated the Amber Tea Rooms in Goulburn, before being granted title to 416ha of land at Gunning as a result of an application to the Returned Soldier’s Settlement Scheme. Millicent was also and author and wrote at least 3 one act plays. Millicent was later a grazier at “Kirkdale” Yarra. She did not marry and died in Goulburn in 1973.