Major General Neville Howse, the director of the medical services in the AIF stated:"The female nurse (as a substitute for the fully trained male nursing orderly) did little toward the actual saving of life in war... although she might promote a more rapid and complete recovery”[7]Jane Bell had been the Lady Superintendent of the Third Military district, and when the war broke up she was responsible for enlisting the Victorian contingent of the 1st Australian General Hospital (1AGH).

She put pressure on the Army Medical Service to clarify the roles of the AANS staff, and allow them autonomy over the control and discipline of their own members.

[8] She had a number of serious disagreements regarding the control of the nurses with the commanding officer of the 1AGH, Lieutenant-Colonel William Ramsay Smith, and the Registrar, James Barrett, an ophthalmologist from Melbourne.

On 1 January 1919 King George V appointed Conyers a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and in 1921 she was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal with diploma.

[18] They were working on the Western Front, at the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station which was near the trenches at Trois Arbres near Armentières when on 22 July 1917, there was a German raid and five bombs hit the hospital.

[18] Pearl Corkhill (1887-1985) nurse, who was awarded a Military Medal for showing courage when attending to wounded during an enemy air-raid.

[20] Alicia Mary Kelly (1874–1942) Irish born, Australian nurse who won the Military Medal for gallantry under fire, and the Royal Red Cross, 2nd class (A.R.R.C.).

With all these opportunities nearly 36,000 women enlisted during World War II, and of those, 3,500 served in the AANS, in general hospitals and clearing stations.

[22] Following the war several AANS nurses were posted to Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force.