Annabelle at the Nurses Memorial in the Australian War Memorial , Canberra Photo by Megan McNicholl
group of people who work unbelievably long hours to deliver excellent health care to both large and small , feathered and furred , scaly and sleek domestic , wild and farmed animals . The really gobsmacking thing is , their patients can ’ t tell them what ’ s wrong … they were fascinating ! And then there is my most recent publication , OUR VIETNAM NURSES . As I said in the introduction to that book , I ’ d never thought about nurses being in Vietnam even though I trained as a nurse , and I ’ m old enough to remember that particular war . I remember the soldiers , the protests and the vitriol that was directed at Vietnam veterans , but I don ’ t remember ever hearing any mention of nurses . I quickly realised that , unless they had a connection to a Vietnam veteran , most other people hadn ’ t either . So my selfappointed mission began .
I have met the most wonderful people in the last two years as a result of hearing and sharing these stories . And as dramatic as it might sound , if I never publish another word , I will always feel as though I ’ ve done something really important in bringing to light the stories of these Australians who nursed in Vietnam .
Storytelling has been a wonderful experience for me all round and I ’ ve learned a lot about the craft of writing and the processes of publishing . And with all this experience writing about nurses in particular , I ’ ve come to know for sure that I really should have trained as a hairdresser ! However , since my journey has led me to telling other people ’ s stories , I now can ’ t think of anything I ’ d rather be doing .
Annabelle ’ s books can be found at https :// penguin . com . au / authors / 54-annabelle-brayley . On Facebook you will find her at Annabelle Brayley - Australian Outback Storyteller .
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