Muriel Matthew Slater was born in Melbourne but trained as a nurse in Ballarat before joining the Australian Army Nursing Service on April 24th 1917 at the age of 25. Her unit embarked from Melbourne on board RMS Khiva on May 29th 1917, bound for India. On arrival in Bombay, she was posted to Deolali transit camp, about 160 km north-east of the city. Fifteen months later, she was transferred to the Station Hospital in Bangalore where she spent a couple of months before leaving via Colombo for the UK. During nearly five months in England, she was posted at various times to both the No 1 and No 3 Australian Auxillary Hospitals. She left England on board the Karagola in April 1919, arriving back in Australia on June 12th 1919.

Her brother Jack also served in the AIF and is honoured with a tree in the Avenue.