Serbian postage stamps honour Australian medical volunteers in the First World War

On 8 November 2024, at a ceremony in Belgrade, the Serbian Post Office officially issued stamps featuring 6 Australian medical personnel to represent all Australians who had served with the Serbs throughout the First World War. With Australia’s Ambassador to Serbia Daniel Emmery in attendance, the stamps were launched by George Milicevic, Minister for the Serbian Diaspora. 

A delegation from Australia travelled to Belgrade for the launch and Armistice (Remembrance) Day 2024 ceremonies. It included Ruth Stephens and Cathy Bromilow, grand-daughters of Nursing Sister Ethel Gillingham, who had served in Serbia during 1915–1916. Also present were Kathy Hancock and Ava Hancock, great-niece and greatgreat- niece of Dr Mary de Garis, who had served with a hospital set up by the Scottish Women’s Hospitals in support of the Serbian Army in 1917–1918. 

Joining the group were Dr Robert Webster OAM, Victorian State president of the RSL and Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Michael Buckridge RFD, President of Military History and Heritage Victoria. The initiative was the culmination of efforts by Bojan Pajic, whose books on the ‘the forgotten Serbian campaign’ have attracted considerable attention to Australia’s contribution to this theatre of the war (see Vetaffairs Vol. 40 No.1, April 2024). 

‘Australian and New Zealand participation on the Serbian Front in World War One was not mentioned in Australian, New Zealand and Serbian histories,’ says Bojan. ‘So when my book, Australians with Serbs in World War One, was translated into Serbian by the Australian Embassy to Serbia, it garnered significant local media interest as well,' says Bojan. 

‘After consultation with Serbian historians, I then proposed to the Australian Embassy that it request the Serbian Post Office to issue commemorative stamps about some of these Australians. To my delight, the Post Office agreed to issue several stamps on the 110th anniversary of the arrival of the first Australian medical volunteers in Serbia in November 1914.’ 

Australian and New Zealand medical volunteers began arriving in Serbia in November 1914 and served with the Serbs throughout the war. Their letters and memoirs show that they joined the war effort to ‘do their bit’ and were inspired to go to Serbia by the dogged resistance the Serbs were putting up against repeated invasions by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 

In late 1915 Serbia was again invaded and occupied by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. French and British forces then joined the Serbian Army in the fight to liberate the country. Australian and New Zealand soldiers, Air Force personnel and 6 Australian River Class destroyers participated in that campaign, as well as the medical volunteers. 

The Serbian Post Office has published 6 stamps featuring 6 individuals from Bojan’s books who represent all Australians who served with the Serbs throughout the war. Accompanying the stamps were collectors’ items: 2 First Day Cover envelopes (a special release) each with 3 franked stamps of the Australians marked with the official stamp of the Serbian Post Office. At the back of the envelopes were short biographies of each featured Australian. 

‘My wife Robyn and I were very proud to lead the Australian delegation in Serbia for this special occasion,’ says Bojan. ‘We visited memorials to the medical volunteers in 2 towns where Australians had served. I understand that this is the first time that another country has commemorated Australians who had served as allies in a war in this way.’ 

The Serbian commemorative stamps were presented to the Australian public at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne on 23 November 2024. The Serbian Ambassador to Australia presented a folder of the stamps and First Day Cover envelopes to a representative of each of the 6 families of the commemorated Australians. 

You can find a video of the presentation of the stamps in Australia on YouTube.  

The Australians commemorated with Serbian stamps 

• Dr Thomas Alexander Benbow, served in Serbia, 1914–1915
• Nursing Sister Ethel Gillingham, served in Serbia, 1915–1916 
• Dr James Blair Donaldson, served in Serbia, 1915
• Dr Mary de Garis, Chief Medical Officer of field hospital supporting the Serbian Army, 1917–1918
• Ambulance driver Olive Kelso King, served on the Serbian Front, 1915–1918
• Author and Orderly Miles Franklin, served with hospital supporting the Serbian Army, 1917–1918 

Image: Minister George Milicevic; Director of the Serbian Post Office; Kathy Hancock, great niece of Mary de Garis; Bojan Pajic

Stamps image guide

Top left to right: Individual commemorative stamps of Dr James Blair Donaldson, Nursing Sister Ethel Gillingham and Dr Thomas Alexander Benbow. Behind the figure of Donaldson is a graphic from a photograph of a Serbian hospital in Kragujevac, where he was stationed in 1915 operating an X-Ray machine. Behind Gillingham is a graphic of a photograph of her in a nurse uniform from the war. Behind Benbow is a graphic from a photograph of a wounded Serbian  soldier being evacuated as the enemy was approaching.

In the middle, top, left to right: Graphics of a photograph of Sister Ethel Gillingham in a group (in the top middle position); a scene from an operating theatre in Kragujevac where Donaldson served.

In the middle, bottom, left to right: Graphic of a photograph of Miles Franklin with Serbian orderlies; Graphics of photographs of two Serbian medals that were awarded to Australian medical volunteers; the Serbian Cross of Mercy (with the inscription “For Care of Wounded and Sick, 1912), awarded to Ethel Gillingham and others; and the Serbian Order of St Sava, Serbia’s patron saint), awarded to Benbow, King and de Garis and others; Australian nurse writing “Kangas only” on a petrol tin. 

On the bottom, left to right: Individual commemorative stamps of Orderly Miles Franklin, Ambulance driver Olive King (who joined the Serbian Army) and Dr Mary de Garis (who commanded a tented field hospital in support of the Serbian Army). Behind Franklin is graphic from a photograph of an Australian nurse writing “Kangas only” on a petrol tin. Behind King is a graphic of a full figure photograph of her in Serbian uniform. Behind de Garis is a graphic of a photograph of her with a Serbian officer at her field hospital.