Kitty's War, The Remarkable Wartime Experiences of Kit McNaughton

by Janet Butler

Kitty’s War is based upon the previously unpublished war diaries of Great War army nurse Sister Kit McNaughton. Kit and historian Janet Butler grew up in the same Victorian district of drystone walls, wheatfields and meandering creeks, except many decades apart. The idea of this young nurse setting out on a journey in July 1915 which would take her across the world and into the First World War took hold of Janet Butler and inspired her to research and share Kit’s story.

This decisive and dryly humorous woman embarked upon the troopship Orsova, bound for Egypt in 1915. Kit’s absorbing diaries follow her journey through war, from Egypt, where she cared for the Gallipoli sick and wounded,to the harsh conditions of Lemnos Island, off the coast of the Dardanelles, and then on to France and the Somme. Here she nursed severely wounded German soldiers for the British. During Passchendaele, a year later, she ran the operating theatre of a clearing station near the front line. Kit finished the war as Australia’s first plastic surgery nurse, assisting medical pioneers in this field as they repaired the shattered faces of Australian soldiers.
Through Kitty’s diaries and Janet Butler’s thoughtful narration, we see the war through the eyes of a young Australian nurse as she is transformed by what she witnesses. Kitty’s War is an intimate and rare story of one woman’s remarkable experience of war.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, War, Australia

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Kitty McNaughton sailed away to do her bit as a nurse, she, like most of the other volunteers aboard, had never been out of Australia. The war (which everyone expected to be over soon) was an opportunity to see the world, and she devotes many pages to describing the journey. The troops and nurses were ferried to Egypt on the troopship Orsova, which was formerly a passenger liner. So this young woman enjoyed all the excitements that are common to cruise ships today: games and sports, fancy dress parties, a crossing-the-line ceremony, fancy dinners and so on. But there is no mention of any serious flirting because nursing was still cultivating a respectable image to counter Dickens’ Sarah Gamp. Kitty was always conscious that her diary was going to be read by others, especially her mother, and she is circumspect about what she writes.

That’s why, later on, when she’s nursing on the island of Lemnos, when she writes about the four young men who became important to her, she always refers to them as ‘boys’ or ’youths’, and she always records the presence of some other person, making it clear that she is never alone with a young man. She is careful to adopt a sisterly tone, sometimes maternal, never romantic. Reading between the lines, we wonder what her feelings were, especially when we know that for most of the young men thrust into relentlessly all-male company for long years in that war, that mateship offered no outlet for emotional release. Men could talk about their feelings to women, but not to each other…

What’s also noticeable is that she doesn’t write much about the shocking injuries she encounters. Butler says that this is because Kitty feels constrained by her audience: these horribly mutilated young men often dying in dreadful pain were the husbands, sweethearts, brothers and sons of her friends and family back home. So, like others reporting to those at home both formally and informally, she maintains the conspiracy of silence about their suffering in order to protect them from the awful truth. It is when she is nursing German soldiers on the Somme that she finally feels able to write about the horror of what she witnessed, because they are Other, and she can describe their injuries and how their needs were addressed.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2013/04/14/ki...

[Louise Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This award-winning book is an engrossing read, even at a time when we are perhaps overloaded with media coverage of the hideousness of WW1. 'Kitty's War' begins to fill in a huge gap in our understanding of that war - the contribution made by women. Janet Butler writes well and compassionately about the experiences of nursing sister Kit McNaughton during the Gallipoli campaign and on the Western Front.

I heard Janet speak about this book at a function in Melbourne, when she clearly conveyed her sense of connectivity with Kit's story. Indeed, it was her personal humaneness which attracted me - she's the type of author I like. After watching that excellent ABC TV series 'Anzac Nurses', I attended a second function in History Week, specifically to hear more from Janet and buy her book.

Within its covers, what particularly resonated with me was the war's forging of a sense of Australian identity. WW1 saw Australians travelling overseas en masse for the first time since the First Fleet settlement in 1788. For the women involved, this realisation was enhanced when they reached the Western Front and had to work closely with the British and the French and nurse wounded Germans.

Sadly missing from this book, and many others like it, is a map which would help the reader to grasp some of the fine points of the story. However, I loved the pictorial section with those few precious images of Kitty. And I loved the analysis throughout the book of a major underlying theme - the story line which those at war deemed 'fit for purpose' for family and friends back in Australia.

'Kitty's War' won the NSW Premier's History Award in 2013 and was short-listed for the National Biography Award. It's non-fiction and a dense read, yet manages to be a page-turner. I'm glad I read it.

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitty’s War is based upon the previously unpublished war diaries of Great War army nurse Sister Kit McNaughton.Kit and historian Janet Butler grew up in the same Victorian district of drystone walls, wheatfields and meandering creeks, except many decades apart.This decisive and dryly humorous woman embarked upon the troopship Orsova, bound for Egypt in 1915. Kit’s absorbing diaries follow her journey through war, from Egypt, where she cared for the Gallipoli sick and wounded,to the harsh conditions of Lemnos Island, off the coast of the Dardanelles, and then on to France and the Somme.Here she nursed severely wounded German soldiers for the British.During Passchendaele,a year later, she ran the operating theatre of a clearing station near the front line.Kit finished the war as Australia’s first plastic surgery nurse, assisting medical pioneers in this field as they repaired the shattered faces of Australian soldiers. Thus we see the war through the eyes of a young Australian nurse as she is transformed by what she witnesses.
Catherine (Kit) McNaughton (c. 1887-1953) kept a detailed diary of her experiences. Sister McNaughton was MiD in 1917.
"A woman's diary is not a direct, unmediated reflection of reality.Its central revelation is,instead, a woman's literary construction of herself as she negotiates the gap between society's prescriptions for her and her experience of life's realities.
Women cut off from family through geographic or social mobility,model their close friendships on the close relationships at home that are familiar to them.These bonds give them stability and a sense of community and continuity.The accepted characteristics of the 'good woman' and the 'good nurse' of her time-piety,submissiveness,modesty,self effacement,propriety and, above all,selflessness."
Nurses were needed but not wanted initially.Matrons couldn't take charge of male orderlies.And there were concerns that impropriety of any sort would damage discipline.Nurses would be exposed to male anatomy and were considered immature.But the women persevered.They did it all for adventure, duty,endurance,love,mateship and courage.

[Tien · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an amazing read! While I was expecting it to be many journal entries of Kit McNaugton, what I got was an analysis of the whys and wherefores of certain entries and of the significant silences in journals. I never thought silence speaks such volumes! Definitely have learnt a lot about the condition and situation these female nurses faced in the Great War.

[Sharon Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and very sad to see what went on during war. I cried at the end

[Calzean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Catherine "Kit" McNaughton was one of a couple of thousand Australian nurses who served overseas during WWI. As such they were trail blazers for their profession, sex and the new formed country of Australia. Not enough has been written about these ladies who's stoicism and ability to perform their duties with few supplies, misogynist superiors and lack of access to adequate food and shelter. "Kitty's War" adds an important volume and recognition to these women, and to Kit in particular.

I have previously read "Australian Heroines of WWI" by Susan DeVries which traces the experiences of 8 women (7 of them nurses). The best parts of that book was in reading the original letters and diaries of the women. I thought "Kitty's War" missed this, while there were plenty of references to her diary there was only a few extracts. What I didn't like was a lot of analysis of what was written or was not written in Kitty's diary.

De Vries's book covered a wider view of the experiences of nurses in WWI and the challenges they faced.

[Jessica Broadbent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I found it really informative and touching, and quite sad. Janet Butler does a great job of putting what Kitty writes about in context of what is happening more broadly in the war, and in society. It's fascinating to understand that the diary was written to be shared around and read by others, very different to a diary today. It's also interesting to read about the troubles the nurses came up against in the army, being made so unwelcome by the higher ups.

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, intellectually lively analysis of the diary of a World War I nurse. Butler shows us what Kitty's diary says about her, the times she lived in and the people she lived amidst. It also shows us what was left unsaid and what that tells us about personal jottings more generally.

[Eva Lehmann-Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant book! Well researched and well written. The Horrors of war should never be forgotten.