Mary Coleman

Early life

Mary Katherine Coleman was born in Hay, New South Wales, in 1884. She was the daughter of Edward Coleman and his wife, Bridget Neville. Known as ‘Molly’, she was the eldest of 6 children and raised in the Roman Catholic faith.

Mary’s father passed away in Hay in 1894 when Mary was about 10. Mary moved with her widowed mother and siblings to Western Australia by about 1897. In 1899, Mary’s mother married John Tyson-Jones, a publican from Collie.

In early 1909, while working in Kalgoorlie, Molly wrote to her mother to say she had received top marks in a Government Hospital studies exam.

In 1910, Mary registered as a member of the Australian Trained Nurses' Association, having trained at the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie hospitals. In 1911, Mary earned a certificate of efficiency in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS).

Mary spent the next 18 months practising as a private nurse in Perth.

In late 1913, Mary sailed for England to further her nursing education. She gained additional qualifications and worked as a nurse in the London slums.

Wartime service

When the war started in August 1914, Mary was still in England.

Keen to help the war effort, Mary joined an imperial nursing unit and sailed for France. Newspapers suggested that she was the first Australian nurse on active service in the war.

Serbian front

Mary returned to London in March 1915 and joined Lady Paget's nursing unit. It was part of the Serbian Relief Fund, which maintained 5 hospitals in Serbia.

Lady Paget's unit comprised 40 nurses and several doctors who went to Skopje, Serbia, in April 1915.

After months of service in Skopje, the unit found itself in the path of a Bulgarian and Austro-Hungarian advance. Members of Lady Paget's unit became prisoners of war (POWs).

For several months in occupied territory, Mary nursed enemy troops. She eventually returned to England via Romania, Russia, Sweden and Norway with help from the Red Cross. An insightful letter to her mother describing life in Serbia and travelling throughout northern Europe was published in many Australian newspapers.

In recognition of her work, Serbia awarded Mary the Cross of Mercy.

Mary returned to Western Australia on HMS Medina in October 1916.

Australian Imperial Force

Less than 2 months later, Mary was in Melbourne. She enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 6 December 1916. She gave her address as Kew, Victoria, and named her mother in Subiaco, Western Australia, as her next of kin. On the health check, Mary was described as 32, 5 feet 4 inches tall, with a natural complexion, grey eyes and black hair.

Before leaving England, Mary received what one newspaper called 'a highly complementary address from the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John of Jerusalem in recognition of ‘services rendered during the war’.

Mary sailed to England via Fremantle on HMAT Orsova. She served with the AANS on the Western Front in France. After the fighting ended in Europe, Mary returned home to Australia in 1919.

Mary remained with the AANS for a year after her return, serving in No 8 Australian General Hospital, Fremantle, before taking her discharge from the AIF.

Three of Mary's brothers also served in the AIF during the war.

Postwar life

In 1921, Mary was appointed the matron of Coonamble Hospital in New South Wales.

About 18 months later, Mary sailed for the United States. She lived and worked overseas for the rest of her life, including a period with the Tropical Oil Company's medical department in Colombia.

Mary died at Loomis Sanatorium for the Treatment of Tuberculosis in 1938. It's unclear if she was there as a patient or a member of staff.

Having spent much of her life working outside Australia, Mary was described in one newspaper as the country's 'most-travelled nurse'.

Sources

1909 'Advertising', The Collie Miner (WA: 1900-1916), 6 April, p 2, accessed 20 Feb 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232625906.

1916 'AMONG BULGARS AND SERBS.', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879-1954), 19 June, p 7, accessed 24 Feb 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26982672.

1916 'Mainly About People', The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1955), 26 September, p. 3. (THIRD EDITION), accessed 24 Feb 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article81726146.

1916 'Perth Prattle', Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1955), 8 October, p. 9. (Second Section), accessed 24 Feb 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58018187.

1916 'TWO DISGRUNTLED IRISHMEN.', Camp Chronicle (Midland Junction, WA : 1915 - 1918), 21 December, p 2, accessed 24 Feb 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165449875.

National Archives of Australia: Coleman Mary Katherine: SERN SISTER : POB Hay NSW : POE N/A: NOK M Tyson-Jones J; circa 1914 - circa 1920; B2455; COLEMAN M K; Item ID 3268877; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3268877.

New South Wales register of births, deaths and marriages, birth record 13365/1884, Mary C Coleman, father: Edward Coleman, mother: Bridget, district: Hay, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au.