A search to find the owner of an album filled with World War I photos has revealed details about the life of one of Queensland's trailblazing female veterans.
But the true identity of the original owner of the album remains a mystery.
Tucked away alongside a visitors' book at the Bolton Clarke Fernhill aged care home in Caboolture, the album was discovered during recent renovations.
Executive general manager for care, innovation and quality Wendy Zernike said it was suspected the album was owned by Martha Burns, a resident of the centre in 1959.
"Sister Burns lived on the top floor of the building, which was reserved for female veterans, and in 1959 she was the only female veteran on that floor," Ms Zernike said.
The centre was the first veterans' home in Queensland when it opened in 1950.
Sister Burns originally trained as a nurse at the Royal Brisbane Woman's Hospital in 1896 before becoming Queensland's first female dentist.
"She was a very interesting lady who had a long life of 86 years and a full life of service, having trained as a nurse and then graduated and wanting to become a dentist, much to her father's disgust," Ms Zernike said.
"While in London for a dental conference, World War I broke out and she took herself to the War Office.
"At first she had a lukewarm response, until she told them she was a nurse and a dentist with a licence."
Among the historic images in the album are social photos of soldiers and nurses along with many depicting people aboard ships about to join the war effort.
"There really are beautiful photos with handwritten captions, including her setting sail from Brisbane, as well as photos of the trenches back in 1915," Ms Zernike said.
Mistaken identity or friend's album?
After the photo album was handed over to the State Library of Queensland, Sister Burns was judged unlikely to have been the original owner.
Librarian India Dixon said her research suggested the timing of Sister Burns's service did not quite line up with the photographs.
"She served on the Western Front from August 1914 until November 1914 and was invalided back to Australia in December 1914 and went the long way around travelling to London then to the US before making her way back to Australia," Ms Dixon said.
"The photos in this album, though, don't quite intersect with Martha Burns's service records."
Ms Dixon said the photos showed the embarkation of the first and second Australian General Hospital ships on November 21, 1914, making the story "more complicated", because Sister Burns was on her way back home at that point.
"As this mystery unfolds, our current theory is that the young woman that produced the photos in this album was a member of the Australian General Hospital," Ms Dixon said.
"We think this because there are photos of her at Heliopolis which was the base camp for the hospital in Cairo along with photos of her in front of pyramids while Martha Burns was already back in Australia advocating for veterans' rights and services at this time."
Ms Dixon said the captioning in the photo album had helped narrow down who owned the album while also unearthing the history of one of Queensland's true trailblazers.
With Sister Burns's work as a passionate veterans advocate solidifying lasting friendships with soldiers and nurses alike, the current theory is that she became the album's caretaker.
"I was aware of her [Martha Burns] story in the same way I was aware of Simpson and his donkey — it's one of those amazing Anzac myth-making stories and you hear the stories of mateship and sisterhood as it is," she said.
"After deep diving into her life, I really wish I had met her, as she really is someone you would invite to your historical figures' dinner table.
