Major Alys (Alice) Appleford RRC, MM

Born in Ballarat (nee Ross-King), nurse and nursing administrator, Major Alice Appleford was a highly decorated war heroine who continued throughout both war and peace time to be a role model for women.

Alice enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) in 1914 as Sister, Australian Army Nursing Services. She served in a number of World War I battle fronts including the Suez, Rouen and Messines. During this time, her heroic actions when "showing great coolness and devotion to duty” during an air raid, resulted in her being awarded the Military Medal, one of only seven such awards made to Australian nurses during World War I. She was also mentioned in despatches.

On returning home, she met and married Dr Sydney Theodore Appleford and settled in South Gippsland. During this time, they established a medical practice and Major Appleford trained Volunteer Aid Detachments (V.A.D.s), who were medically trained but not fully qualified nurses. By 1940 the family had moved back to Melbourne where Major Appleford's husband enlisted for the Army at the outbreak of World War II. Alice undertook fulltime duties with the V.A.D.s and was commissioned as a Major in 1945. Once again she was recognised for her outstanding work being awarded the Royal Red Cross and the Florence Nightingale medals.

After World War II, Alice remained devoted to community service through her commitment to the Australian Red Cross and war services charities, support for war widows and children and through her concern for the wellbeing of the Australian Army Women's Medical Service members.

Major Appleford died on 17 August 1968 but her memory lives on in the Alice Appleford Memorial Award, presented annually to an outstanding member of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps.