Gift of the artist, 2005

Souvenir of unit member from his deployment to SECDET XI of Operation Citadel, BAGDAD-IRAQ, Mar-Sep 2007Souvenir prayer mat. Embroidered with flags of Australia, Operation Catalyst and Afghanistan, Rising Sun badge flanked by crossed swords, SECDET XI, Map of Iraq surrounded by "OPERATION CITADEL", BAGHDAD-IRAQ, kangaroo and camel, MAR-SEP 2007souvenirs, afghanistan, embroidery, emblems, iraq

This Royal Red Cross was awarded to Minnie Maud McNab who served as a nurse then Sister in Queen Alexandria's Imperial Military Nursing Staff Reserve, Dr Bird's Unit during WWI. "Appointed to QAIMNSR 22 January 1915 Arrived in Egypt 22 January 1915 Embarked Bombay 18 April 1917 Disembarked Basrah 26 April 1917 Posted No 3 British General Hospital 26 April 1917 Admitted to hospital 03 May 1917 Discharged 07 May 1917 Joined for duty at Bagdad 23 May 1917 Appointed Assistant Matron to 31 BSH at Basrah 01 December 1917 Mentioned in Lieut General Sir F S Mande's despatch dated 02 November 1917 London Gazette No 30570 Joined for temporary duty Baghdad 24 May 1918 Admitted OCD 29 July 1918 Discharged 17 August 1918 and returned to Duty Left unit to proceed on leave to India 24 August 1918 Proceeded to India on leave per 'Kina' 01 September 1918 Returned from Leave 31 October 1918 Rejoined unit from leave Baghdad 10 November 1918 Awarded Royal Red Cross 1st Class in recognition of valuable services with the British Forces in Mesopotamia 26 August 1918 (Gazette No 30865) Mentioned in despatches by Lt. General W R Marshall in his despatch dated 15 April 1918 (Gazette No 30867) Admitted to Hospital 11 January 1919 Discharged from Hospital 10 February 1919 31 B S Hospital 'Sister Minnie Maud McNab QAIMNS Reserve has served under me for eighteen months as Sister and Assistant Matron, the duties of the latter she performed to my entire satisfaction. I consider her a thoroughly well trained Nurse, most kind and attentive to the patients, she is energetic, reliable, punctual, tactful and good tempered. Her powers of administration and initiative are excellent and she has great ability in instructing the orderlies. I recommend her for further service if required, promotion and for full gratuity.' Transferred to UK for duty 21 February 1919 Embarked 'Vasna' 21 February 1919 or UK Appointment terminated 21 July 1919 Departed from her unit 21 July 1919 After taking a holiday in Scotland asked for temporary duty if her passage home was not available. Posted to Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich 08 September 1919 Postal address whilst awaiting repatriation Berrington War Hospital, Shrewbury Returning to Australia per 'Northumberland' trans-shipped at Bombay ex 'Macedonia' embarked England 01 November 1919" (https://ausww1nurses.weebly.com/mca-mcn.html) "The Royal Red Cross is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing. It was established on 27 April 1883 by Queen Victoria... The Royal Red Cross was originally a single class of Member and it was first awarded to the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale. A second class, Associate, was added during World War I in 1917. The award is awarded to a fully trained nurse of an officially recognized nursing service, military or civilian, who has shown exceptional devotion and competence in the performance of nursing duties, over a continuous and long period, or who has performed an exceptional act of bravery and devotion at her or his post of duty. The decoration was conferred exclusively to women until 1976. Recipients of the Royal Red Cross are entitled to use the post-nominal letters “RRC” or “ARRC” for Members and Associates respectively." [https://collectionswa.net.au/items/25f38e85-6c15-429f-95b6-0a24c241e199] A thin, black, textured leather coated box with gold lettering 'R R C' in the centre and '1st' in the bottom left corner. Has a white sticker attached to the top right hand corner with red handwritten 'M47'. The box has a small metal button on bottom section that when pushed opens the box. The leather is damaged and fraying around the edges and corners of the box and there are various scratch marks that have removed the black paint/dye from the leather in places. Inside, the box lid is lined with padded fabric (likely silk or satin), has the manufacturer details printed at the centre of lid. There is a small blue ink mark on the fabric in the top left of the inside of the lid and minor holes and wear in the upper portion of the lid. The bottom part of the box is a mount covered in blue velvet. The mount and velvet have a depression in the shape of the main Royal Red Cross (RRC) medal and ribbon. The velvet is dusty and has some fibres in the creases and across the whole area. "The badge for the RRC is in the shape of a golden cross, 1.375 inches (3.49 cm) wide, the obverse enamelled red, with a circular medallion, bearing an effigy of the reigning monarch at its centre. The words "Faith", "Hope" and "Charity" are inscribed on the upper limbs of the cross, with the year "1883" in the lower limb. The reverse is plain except a circular medallion bearing the royal cypher of the reigning monarch" [Wikipedia - see References], on this medal the initials are GRJ. The ribbon is a dark blue stripe between crimson edge stripes and forms a landscape oriented bow that the medal hangs from the middle. This box also contains a miniature medal, bearing the same description as above being of [approximately quarter size]. There is a white sticker on the underside of the box that has handwritten in black ink 'RNC / J McCarthy' 'M47' [red ink on white sticker attached to top of box] 'RNC / J McCarthy' [black ink on white sticker attached to underneath of box] 'M.M.McNAB / 1914-1919' [Engraved on bottom of the lower part of the full sized medal's cross]minnie maud mcnab, wwi, ww1, world war one, royal red cross 1st class, royal red cross, queen alexandra's imperial military nursing service reserve