The Nightingale Legacy: Agnes Macready, nurse and correspondent at the Boer War.

This article focuses on Agnes Macready, an Australian nurse trained in the Florence Nightingale method, who served as both a nurse and war correspondent during the Boer War. Macready, influenced by Nightingale’s principles and trained at Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, volunteered to nurse wounded soldiers in South Africa and reported for the Catholic Press under the pen name “Arrah Luen.” Despite initial resistance from British military authorities, she was eventually placed in charge of hospital wards and provided detailed, compassionate accounts of the war’s human cost, including the suffering of soldiers, Boer civilians, and the harsh conditions in military hospitals and internment camps. Macready’s writings, widely republished internationally, reflected her anti-war stance and highlighted the paradoxes of wartime society, while her career exemplified the enduring influence of Nightingale’s nursing legacy.