Ina Isabel Lindsay was born in East Melbourne in 1887, but at the time she enlisted in 1916 she was lving with her mother at 'The Hutte' , Irving Avenue, Armadale, Victoria. She enlisted in Melbourne at the end of 1916, when she was 29 years old and embarked on HMAT Orsova A67 as a Staff Nurse with the Australian Army Nursing Service. She was 5 feet tall, with reddish brown hair, green eyes and weighed eight stone, and belonged to the Church of England.
On arriving in England, she was sent to the Administrative General Headquarters in London, then sent overseas to France on 1 March 1917, where she was sent to the Fourth General Hospital at Rouen. She remained there until July, when she was transferred to the 3rd Australian General Hospital, described only as being in France.
Ina Lindsay was granted leave in London on 5 January, 1918, then returned to duty in France. In March that year, she was ill with measles, rejoingin her unit at Abbeville on 7 April, 1918. After leave in London on 18 August, 1918, she was sent to duty in the field on 21 September, where she must have seen many horrific sights nad encountered dreadful wounds. It's little wonder that on 9 November, she is again registered as sick and in hospital. She was discharged to duty on 21 December and returned to the 3rd Australian General Hospital.
The war had ended by then, but the nurses' tasks were not done. Ina Lindsay was still in France on 21 February, 1919, when she was struck down with influenza, presumably the dreaded 'Spanish Flu' which swept through Europe post-war. She must have been returned to England for treatment, but such was her sense of duty that she returned again to France on 25 May, 1919, back to the 3rd General Hospital. From there, she was sent back to England and taken on strength at AIF Headquarters in London, before she returned to Australia on board HTA Napier on 23 December, 1919. She was discharged from duty on 22 April, 1020.
Ina Isabel Lindsay received the British War Medal, the 1914-18 Star and the Victory Medal.
National Archives of Australia, Service Record.
Ancestry.com.au Voter Records.