After war broke out in 1914, Helen Sexton, who was travelling in England, offered her surgical services to the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC).

[1] Sexton approached the Australian Government, and offered to equip a hospital unit and staff it with women.

Her younger sister, Charlotte Crivelli, was the founder of the French Red Cross Society of Victoria, which was involved in fundraising for the hospital.

Sexton was assigned the Medical Officer in Charge, and the Military provided three male consulting surgeons.

[7][2] In 1919, Sexton, Mrs R. O Blackwood, and Mrs William Smith were each awarded a gold Médaille de la Reconnaissance française or Medal of French Gratitude for their work at the hospital, and Charlotte Crivelli was awarded a silver Médaille de la Reconnaissance française for her fundraising efforts.