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woman was attended to by female relatives. The situation was very different in Maningrida where within days of
her arrival there, Eileen was called upon to deliver a baby at the low tide beach area. This was the first of many
babies she delivered on the Maningrida beach. Eileen recalled that there were nine tribal groups at Maningrida and
she was called upon to deliver babies in each area occupied by the tribal groups.
By 1963, the government of the day realised that by refusing to employ married nurses they were limiting
the health expertise available to many people in the Northern Territory. With the change of policy, Eileen was
re-employed by the Northern Territory Medical Service as a registered nurse involved in mass tuberculosis
screening. Northern Territory residents were required to have chest x-rays to eliminate the incidence of tuberculosis.
The radiological equipment for this survey was located in the outpatient’s department of Darwin Hospital.
At the request of Dr John Hargrave, with whom she had worked at Maningrida, Eileen accepted a non-nursing
position as Technical Assistant at the East Arm Leprosarium on 11 November 1963. In 1967, she accepted
appointment as Leprosy Control Field Sister and occupied this position until her retirement on the 25 February
- In collaboration with John Hargrave, Eileen co-authored the book Leprosy in Northern Territory Aborigines
that was published in 1968. This publication was revised a number of times and later re-published under the title
Leprosy in Tropical Australia. In 1995, this publication was still in print and was used by medical, nursing and
other health personnel in tropical areas of the world.
On 26 January 1988 Eileen’s work as a nurse was recognised by the people of Australia, especially the residents
of the Northern Territory. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
Although Eileen retired from full-time employment her days were fully occupied. Apart from many friends who
kept in touch regularly, she grew orchids, was an avid cricket supporter and read widely. Many Territory residents
remembered Eileen Jones as a very caring nurse of medium build, 148 centimetres in height, who walked with the
aid of a stick as her left leg was shorter than the right mainly due to repeated surgery. Her visual appearance belied
her age and the many years she spent working in the harsh Northern Territory climate. Her constant companion
was her terrier Mitzi.
I Drysdale & M Durack, The End of Dreaming, 1974; personal information.
CECILIA BATTERHAM, Vol 3.
JONES, ELSIE MURIEL nee KING, (1886–1943) nursing sister of the Australian Inland Mission, was born
in Bairnsdale, Victoria on 11 November 1886, daughter of Leonard William King, a shipping agent, and Sophie,
nee Dunn. She had two brothers, Horace and Frank.
Elsie completed training as a nurse at Sale District Hospital in Victoria on 4 March 1916. She promptly joined
the Australian Army Nursing Service and served at Salonika and in Egypt, 1916–19. On her return from overseas,
she trained as a midwife and registered that qualification in Victoria on 2 December 1921.
The Maranboy Hospital had been opened in 1917–18 and new staff were posted there. Someone had ridden
from Victoria River Downs to the overland telegraph station at Daly Waters to carry news that an outbreak of
malaria had occurred there and was accounting for the illness of eleven percent of the staff. John Flynn had
wanted to establish a hostel there for some time and local demand for a hospital was greater than ever.
King joined the Australian Inland Mission and, with Sister Jean Gray, arrived in Darwin by ship in
mid-April 1922. They were meant to go to Maranboy but malaria was rampant at Victoria River Downs so King,
having nursed malaria cases while overseas with the army, was promptly sent there. She nursed the sick men on
the verandah of the homestead. Later, Wimmera House was built and Jean Gray joined her. Both of these nurses
at different times made hazardous journeys on horseback into outback areas to assist the injured and nurse the
sick. King also travelled to outback homesteads to deliver babies and at another time spent six weeks caring for a
policeman with a fractured leg before he was sufficiently fit to be moved. Her term at Victoria River Downs was
completed in September 1924.
The Australian Inland Mission at that time had troubles with subsidies from the government and with the
co-operation of Percy Kelsey, from A J Jolly of Darwin and Mat Wilson, who carted the timber gratis from Timber
Creek to Victoria River Downs, the Wimmera Hospital took shape in 1923. Sister King spent two years there and
finally married one of the local stockmen, Robert John (Jack) Jones. As Sister Jones, she did a further period there
in 1933, as she had continued nursing after her two children (Jack and Barbara) had arrived.
Jack Jones, King’s husband, was an Australian Imperial Force signaller during the war, and later worked as a
drover for the Vestey cattle stations. In 1933, they were living in Pine Creek where Elsie Jones was matron of the
home for mixed-race children for 14 months until the children were transferred to Alice Springs. During their time
at Pine Creek, Elsie Jones cared for the sick and injured in Pine Creek on a voluntary basis and was appointed as
the nursing Sister at Pine Creek when that hospital was re-opened early in 1934.
From 1 June 1934, Mr and Mrs Jones were in charge of the home for mixed-race children at the original
telegraph station near Alice Springs. There were 140 boys and girls of all ages. As there was no government
hospital, all sick children were nursed at the home. Elsie Jones and her husband coped unaided with epidemics
of measles and whooping cough. Dr Frank McCann immunised all the children against diphtheria but other
immunisations were not then available.
When their own two children developed trachoma and had to spend many months in Melbourne for treatment,
Mr and Mrs Jones applied for a position in the north where trachoma was less severe and were appointed to
the leprosy hospital on Channel Island in February 1937. The Jones children lived in Darwin, as they were not
permitted residence on the island.