Talking History is a series of free monthly lectures hosted by the History Trust of South Australia. Each month you can hear about a different aspect of South Australia’s history. We have a range of speakers from various disciplines, from history and archaeology to architecture and urban ecology.

Dr Janet Scarfe presents April’s Talking History Lecture: ‘Puss Campbell’s Great Adventure: World War 2 through the diaries and photos of a South Australian army nurse.’

Dorothy (“Puss”) Campbell served in the Australian Army Nursing Service from 1940 to 1946, in England during the Blitz, in the Western Desert during the siege of Tobruk, in Papua New Guinea, and in Queensland and South Australia. Captain Campbell spent many nights in air raid shelters and nursing in a tin hat but she was never directly bombed on land or sea. She was one of the vast majority of 3500 army nurses who survived the war without capture, imprisonment or fatal illness. Her experiences are caught in her extensive diaries and photographs shared here by her niece Janet Scarfe.