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Born in Dalby Queensland in 1863, Mary Ann Pocock, known as Bessie, grew up on a rural property in northern New South Wales. After nursing in Sydney from 1890 to 1900, she enlisted for active nursing service from 1900 to 1903 during the Second Boer War in South Africa where she contracted Typhoid.

On returning to NSW, she nursed at hospitals in Sydney, Newcastle and Gladesville from 1903 until 1914 when Bessie again enlisted during the Great War in Egypt, Gallipoli, France and England, as Sister-in-charge and Matron in hospitals in the areas of active fighting and on a hospital ship off Gallipoli.

Bessie recorded her day-to-day activities in the field during both wars in diaries which are now held in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Bessie was awarded many medals and citations in recognition of her service.

She returned to Sydney in 1919 resuming duty at Gladesville Hospital until 1924, when she opened her own convalescent hospital in Chatswood, which she named “Ismailia”, after her first hospital in Ismailia, Egypt. “Ismailia” is still standing in Beaconsfield Road, Chatswood and is heritage-listed by both Willoughby Council and the NSW Government. Bessie died in Grafton in 1946.

Printed in Hardcover in 2024. 95 pages, with photographs and maps, and detailed Appendices.

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