She was arrested in August 1915, court-martialled, found guilty of treason, and shot by a German firing squad on 12 October 1915.

[3][4] In 1916, the Edith Cavell Trust Fund was officially inaugurated in Victoria, and received significant financial support.

[5] The bust of Cavell in her nurse's uniform was sculpted in Carrara marble by Australian sculptor Margaret Baskerville, who had created a number of civic memorials in Melbourne and in rural towns.

The bust sits atop a granite pedestal, which has cast-bronze relief panels on its sides depicting scenes from Cavell's life, arrest and execution.

At the back of the base is the inscription "Nurse Cavell's last message to the world "But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God and Eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough.