This thesis is the first major study to explore Australia's military nursing contribution to the Korean War. Detailing the work and experiences of Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service (RAAFNS) and Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps (RAANC) nurses, including their service in Japan and the post-armistice period, the thesis highlights the full extent of the Australian military nursing contribution to the war. The study traces the work and experiences of these nurses in Japan and Korea, ending with the diversity and complexity of their return to, and recognition, in Australia. In examining the Korean War from the military nursing perspective, the thesis broadens the boundaries of the conflict revealing new insights into the history of Australian military nursing and the involvement of Australian forces in the Korean War. The significance of Japan as a site of war work and the contributions of Australian forces following the armistice are highlighted as major themes. The opportunities for cultural interaction are also explored through the relationships between Australian nurses and their British Commonwealth medical colleagues, United States and United Nations personnel, and the Japanese and Korean civilians with whom they had contact. Finally, the thesis reveals the Korean War era as a period of continuity and transition in the culture of military nursing. The RAAFNS and RAANC both developed as more career-orientated organisations during this period. Yet despite these changes strong connections with past military nursing traditions remained. These transitions and continuities are explored throughout the thesis.

Australian women who served overseas as nurses were entitled to apply for land under the Returned Soldiers Settlement Scheme after World War One. Land settlement as a method of repatriation was to become central to the rehabilitation process in Australia, and nurses were included in the Repatriation Act (1917-1918) under the broad category of 'soldier'. Central to the soldier settlement scheme was the philosophy of providing for returning soldiers, 'land for heroes'. This philosophy focused solely on the soldiers who fought, rather than the women who served as nurses. Only a very small percentage of the 37,500 people who took up the offer of land were indeed women. This thesis seeks to highlight the neglected and little known history of Australian nurse soldier settlers focusing on a small sample from New South Wales and Victoria. It will examine their stories, their applications for land, their struggles as farmers and the difficulties they had obtaining pensions and repatriation benefits. This thesis will show that many nurse soldier settlers were discharged as medically unfit after the war which had a significant impact on their ability, not only to work their farms profitably but also to lead peaceful happy lives in the aftermath of war. The thesis will reveal that although a score of women did take up the challenge and did attempt to make a go of it on the land, they were never actively encouraged and acknowledged.