The history of RAANC can be traced back to the formation of the Army Nursing Service on 13 August 1898. At the time it was made up of one Lady Superintendent and 24 nurses. The service saw its first action in the Boer war, when the New South Wales and Victorian governments arranged for a detachment of nurses to deploy with their troops to Africa. Groups and individual nurses from Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland also served in the Anglo-Boer War. Due to the performance of the nurses in that conflict, an order was given in 1902 for the formation of the Australian Army Nursing Service under the control of the Federal Government. It is this order's promulgation, 1 July 1903, which is celebrated as RAANC Corps day.