Lucy Emmeline Power: The First World War nurse who delivered 600 babies in Manjimup and Bridgetown

The story of a First World War nurse and midwife in the Lower South West is one of the many which have gone unnoticed. But her story, along with others from across the region, are being told in a new book. Historian Jeff Peirce said nurses from the First World War were heavily under-acknowledged for their achievements. “Very little was written about them as individuals,” he said. Living in Bridgetown and Manjimup following the conflict, Nurse Lucy Emmeline Power‘s life story is among those of the 33 nurses written about in Mr Peirce’s new book Great War Stories 1914 - 1918 Nurses of the South West. The detailed and well-researched publication focuses on nurse’s contributions during the Great War and unveils the stories of their lives during and post war. Power was on the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve and would later deliver 600 babies post-war in Manjimup, Bridgetown and neighbouring districts. Captivated by the bravery of nurses like Power, Mr Peirce said they faced many barriers in comparison to the men who served. “You’d wonder looking back why the nurses were still so determined to serve, because there was plenty of hurdles put in their way,” he said. “They signed up for half the pay scale as a man at the equivalent ranking.” Mr Peirce started out with eight nurse names to research, but in an attempt to honour and recognise more nurses in the region, he reached out to the public for help. Power’s granddaughter Robin Berry saw Mr Peirce’s callout for information and asked her mum if her grandma was in the First World War. The pair responded to Mr Peirce to share what they knew about her, with the story unravelling from there. Power died on April 5, 1939 at the age of 56, with her granddaughter holding on to a receipt book passed down to her containing duplicates of birth advice for the mothers and babies she had delivered. Mr Peirce was invited to go through the findings and noticed many surnames from the Manjimup area who had been delivered by Power. “When I worked in Manjimup, there are major land homeowners and major businesspeople,” Mr Peirce said. “There could be some (people) she delivered still alive—but they would have to be 86 or older.” Born in Ireland in 1882, Power made the decision to pursue nursing at a young age. Mr Peirce said she had a “wonderful, in-bred desire to help” which “certainly dominated her life”. Raised during a time when the mortality rate for mothers giving birth and the infant were high, he said these factors “struck home with her”. “She decided right there and then that she was going to be a midwife, because she felt she could make a difference,” Mr Pierce said. In 1909, she migrated to Western Australia with her brother to start afresh after troubling times in Ireland. Her brother bought a plot of land in Donnelly Mill for farming. After the war, Power married Harry Slingsby and dedicated the next 18 years to nursing in the South West region. The book has been embraced in the school education system to teach children about the sacrifices and dedication of nurses during wartime, many of whom have been under-acknowledged for more than a century. Mr Peirce has delivered three speeches at primary and high schools, focusing on nurses connected to the town, allowing students to learn about local war heroes. “I split my presentation into a famous man, preferably one who was born in that town or nearby, and the First World War nurse,” he said. Mr Peirce said the feedback from students had been incredibly glowing. “The girls and young women in the schools are finally hearing about a nurse,” he said. “Now I’m able to tell them these incredible stories about the women, why they enlisted, where they went, what did they achieve, what did they do after their war service.”