From the Archives – Olive May Kelso King

Earlier this year Mrs Phyllis Rogers contacted me with the extraordinary news that a SCEGGS Old Girl was on a set of Serbian postage stamps commemorating the service of six Australian medical volunteers in the First World War. Mrs Rogers is the grandmother of three current SCEGGS girls.

This week, as the school commemorates Anzac Day, I thought you might like to hear Olive Kelso King’s story and see these Serbian stamps.

‘110 Years Australian Medical Mission in Serbia’ stamps, 2024. Centre stamp on the fourth row: Olive Kelso King.

Olive was one of our earliest students, attending SCEGGS from 1898 to 1900. As an Old Girl she continued to support SCEGGS and remained in contact with the Old Girls’ Union for many years.

In 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War, Olive was in England. She purchased her own converted ambulance nicknamed “Ella”. Initially working in France and Belgium where she was briefly arrested as a spy, she was soon transferred to the Balkans where medical support was very limited. It was here that she served for the remainder of the war.

By 1916 she had enlisted in the Serbian Army as a driver and eventually rose to the rank of Sergeant. During this time, Olive learnt to speak Serbian, evacuated patients from hospitals under enemy fire, and regularly drove the difficult and dangerous roads to the front line, transporting men to battle and carrying the wounded back to the hospital.

Olive Kelso King with ‘Ella’ at the Scottish Women’s Hospital, Troyes. Photo courtesy of the Australian War Memorial.

After the war ended, Olive was instrumental in organising substantial humanitarian aid to Serbia and Montenegro. For this work King Alexander of Serbia presented her with the Samaritan Cross and the Cross of the Order of St Sava.

Speaking to SCEGGS students in 1921, she said

The war brought a terrible amount of suffering and evil, which seems almost interminable, but it did at least bring one blessing.

It taught us the value of cheerful, self-sacrificing service. … [Service for others] trains us to think, and to realise that it takes all

sorts to make a world, and that there are many others in it beside ourselves …

For further details of her extraordinary courage during this conflict see here.

Many thanks to Mrs Rogers for taking the trouble to share this interesting news with SCEGGS.

Prudence Heath
Archivist