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Person
Mayo, Edith (Janet) Allen
(1915 – 1995)

Community worker

Formerly President of the War Widows’ Guild of South Australia, Janet Mayo was elected National President of the War Widows’ Guild of Australia following the death of her predecessor, Jessie Vasey, in 1966.

Person
Palmer, Helen Gwynneth
(1917 – 1979)

Political activist, Teacher, Writer

The second daughter of Vance and Nettie (née Higgins) Palmer, Helen Palmer spent a year in London after being educated at Presbyterian Ladies’ College (Melbourne) where she was dux in 1934. Returning to Melbourne she won a scholarship to the University of Melbourne and graduated with a BA and DipEd in 1939. She later obtained a B.Ed. (1952). From 1940 until 1942 she was a teacher in Victorian State schools.

Helen Palmer enlisted in the Women’s Australian Auxiliary Air Force on 18 February 1942 and during her service worked in the education division. After the war she worked with the Commonwealth Office of Education (Sydney). In 1948 she returned to Melbourne teaching in private schools.

She made several trips to China and in 1953 published her observations in An Australian Teacher in China. Through the bi-monthly publication Outlook (1957-1970), Helen Palmer provided a forum for vigorous discussion of all issues which were part of a radical critique of Australian politics and society.

The author (with Jessie MacLeod) of First Hundred Years (1954) and After the First Hundred Years (1961), she also authored books on Australian literature, popular culture and history. Helen Palmer was also a prominent poet and balladist and is remembered for ‘The Ballard of 1891,’ that describes the shearers’ strike.

Helen Palmer died on 6 May 1979.

Person
Inglis, Amirah
(1926 – 2015)

Author, Political activist

Amirah Inglis was a devoted and active member of the Communist Party in Australia during the politically turbulent Menzies era. Her autobiographical works describe the difficulties and confusion of growing up a migrant in Australia, born of Polish-Jewish parents. She has also written essays, reviews and books on Papua New Guinea, and on the Spanish Civil War.

The hammer & sickle and the washing up: memories of an Australian woman Communist includes descriptions of Amirah’s life in Canberra in the 1960s, and her marriage to academic Ken Inglis.

Person
Boyce, Una Parry
(1911 – 2003)

Community worker, Nurse

Una Boyce was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on 10 June 1991 and appointed an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) twenty years earlier, on 1 January 1971, for services to War Widows. She was state secretary of the War Widows’ Guild of Australia (New South Wales) from 1961 until 1989, becoming a life member of the War Widows’ Guild in 2000.

The daughter of Charles and Kate E. D (née Swan) Robertson, Boyce was educated at Abbotsleigh School for Girls, Wahroonga, and completed her education at the University of London. On 26 April 1940 she married war veteran Norman Boyce and the pair had three children. Boyce joined the War Widows’ Guild of Australia (New South Wales) in 1946 after her husband’s death.

Una Boyce enjoyed reading, travel, gardening and music and was a member of the Royal Automobile Association of Australia and Victory Services, London.

Person
Burchill, Dora (Elizabeth)
(1904 – 2003)

Author, Historian, Nurse

The daughter of Alholstane Chase and Rosina (née Sherrin), Elizabeth Burchill completed her education at the Camberwell State School and the Ladies Business College, Melbourne, as well as at Melbourne and Monash Universities.

Before World War II Burchill worked at the Australian Inland Mission, Innamincka, Labrador, Grenfell Mission, and was a member of the British Ambulance Unit, caring for refugee children during the Spanish Civil War. She enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service on 21 December 1939 and was one of the first nurses from Victoria to go to the Middle East with the 2nd Australian Imperial Force in 1940. After the war she combined nursing with writing – particularly about the area in which she had nursed. Her publications include Australian Nurses since Nightingale: 1860-1990, a largely biographical history published in 1992.

On 8 June 1998, Sister Elizabeth Burchill was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to nursing, particularly as an historian, author and philanthropist. Also she has won the Jessie Lichfield Annual Award and the Veterans’ Affairs Writers Award.

Person
Scotter, Sheila Winifred Gordon
(1920 – 2012)

Author, Broadcaster, Columnist

On 8th June 1992, Sheila Scotter was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the Arts, particularly through fundraising. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) on 13th June 1970 for services to journalism and commerce.

Person
O’Neil, Pamela Frances
(1945 – )

Feminist, Tribunal Member

Pamela O’Neil was Australia’s first Sex Discrimination Commissioner.

Person
Marfell, Helena Catherine
(1898 – 1981)

Community worker

Helena Marfell was the inaugural national president of the Country Women’s Association of Australia in 1945.

Person
Laidlaw, Annie Ina
(1889 – 1978)

Matron, Servicewoman

Annie Laidlaw devoted her life to nursing and served in both world wars. She completed her nursing training at the Children’s Hospital (later Royal), Melbourne. In 1917 Laidlaw joined the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) and served in military hospitals at Bombay and Poona.

After the war Laidlaw returned to the Children’s Hospital as ward sister. In 1925 she was granted a year of leave to complete midwifery training at the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney. Returning to Melbourne, Annie became assistant lady superintendent (assistant-matron) at the Children’s Hospital. In 1930 she was promoted to lady superintendent of the hospital’s orthopaedic section at Frankston. She held this position for 12 years.

Selected to head the Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service (RANNS) in 1942 she was in charge of the Flinders Naval Depot hospital as well as being in charge of the RANNS. After her discharge from the navy Laidlaw returned to her position at the Children’s Hospital until 1950.

From 1951-52 she worked in London. On her return to Melbourne she took the position of Matron at the Freemason’s Homes of Victoria, Prahran until her retirement in 1957. Aged 89, Annie Laidlaw died on 13 September 1978 at McKinnon, Victoria.

Person
Abbott, Joan Stevenson (Judy)
(1899 – 1975)

Nurse, Servicewoman

Judy Abbott was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 1st Class on 18 February 1943 for her leadership while matron with the 2/6 Australian General Hospital in the Middle East and Greece. After the war Abbott won the 1946 Florence Nightingale International Foundation scholarship, and studied at the Royal College of Nursing, London for 18 months. In 1948 she returned to her pre-war position on the tutorial staff at the Brisbane Hospital.

Abbott was appointed principal matron of the Citizen Military Forces and served with the 1st Camp Hospital, Brisbane, for a short time during the Korean War. From 1954 until 1956 she was president of the Australasian Trained Nurses’ Association (Queensland Branch) and a member of the Queensland State Nurses and Masseurs Registration Board. Nearing the end of her career, she worked as a staff nurse with the Commonwealth Savings Bank for five years and then in a doctors’ surgery before retiring in 1970.

Judy Abbott fractured her spine in 1975 and suffered quadriplegia. After her death on 27th November her body was given to the school of anatomy, University of Queensland.

Person
Darling, Honor Brinsley
(1918 – 2000)

Journalist, Servicewoman

Honor Darling was a journalist who played a significant role in the Girl Guide Movement in Australia. She held various roles, including that of local publicity officer and ultimately, Chair of the Australian Publications Committee. Whilst a member of the armed services (the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force) she edited the members’ magazine.

Person
Syer, Ada Corbitt (Mickey)
(1910 – 1991)

Servicewoman

Mickey Syer enlisted at Claremont, Western Australia, in the Australian Army on 6 February 1941. A member of the Australian Army Nursing Service, she was stationed with the 2/10th Australian General Hospital when captured by the Japanese during the fall of Singapore. Mickey spent three and a half years in Japanese prisoner of war camps in Sumatra.

During October 1945, she returned to Australia and was discharged from the Army on 10 August 1948.

Person
Darling, Janet Patteson (Pat)
(1913 – 2007)

Servicewoman

A nursing sister serving with the 2/10th Australian General Hospital, Pat Gunther (later Darling) was one of the Australian nurses taken prisoner by the Japanese in Sumatra during World War II. She writes about her three and a half years incarceration and survival in Portrait of a Nurse published in 2001.

Person
MacPherson, Daisy Cardin (Tootie)
(1911 – 1989)

Servicewoman

Tootie Keast (later MacPherson) was one of six Australian Army Nursing Service sisters who were taken Prisoner of War on 23 January 1942 in Rabaul, New Britain. The sisters spent three and a half years interned with civilian nurses and missionaries. At first they were held at Vunapope Catholic mission before being transferred to Yokohama and then Totsuka.

After the War in the Pacific had ended a Japanese official told the women that their imprisonment was over. At the end of August an American officer found them, and arranged for their repatriation. They were flown back to Australia via the Okinawa Islands and Manila. [1]

On 10 April 1946, MacPherson was discharged from the Australian Army.

[1] Guns and Booches p. 149

Person
Pemberton, Jean Keers
(1913 – 2001)

Servicewoman

Jean Greer (later Pemberton) enlisted in the Australian Army on 16 December 1940. Attached to the 2/10 Australian General Hospital she was posted to Malaya in 1941.

On 14 February 1942, Jean was one of the 65 nurses aboard the ship Vyner Brooke when it was sunk by Japanese bombing. After reaching the shore she was captured by the Japanese and was a Prisoner of War for the next three and a half years before being liberated.

Jean Greer was discharged on 23 September 1946 and married Scotsman Duncan Pemberton in Singapore in 1947.

The couple moved to England where Jean died on 7 December 2001.

Person
Provan, Frances Betty
(1911 – 1963)

Servicewoman

Frances Provan was one of the first 14 females posted to HMAS Harman, the communications station in Canberra, on 28 April 1941, making her one of the first members of the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS).

Person
Batt, Elva May
(1920 – 2022)

Servicewoman

Elva Batt enlisted in the Australian Army on 29 October 1941. Originally a Voluntary Aid she later joined the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service. Batt was then transferred to the Australian Women’s Army Service.

Before attending the Australian Women’s Services Officers Training School, Batt was a sergeant working as a clerk in the orderly room. Upon completion of the course she was promoted to Lieutenant (later Captain) and became an Amenities Officer with the Australian Women’s Army Service.

It was Batt’s job to organize sporting events (i.e. swimming carnivals, basketball matches, etc.) and entertainment and to oversee the supply of goods from the Canteen Funds, such as bedspreads, irons, jugs, sewing machines etc., to make a servicewoman’s tent or hut seem like home. [1]

Nearing the end of the war, Batt was transferred to Melbourne Headquarters to oversee the disbanding of the Australian Women’s Army Service. She was discharged on 28 June 1946.

Later, in 1946, she married Barry Batt and they had two children. Batt states that one of her major challenges was now having to cook, as during the previous five years all meals had been cooked for enlisted personnel.

In retirement Batt and her husband became volunteer members of the Royal Blind Society (New South Wales). She was also president of the ex-AAMWAS Association of New South Wales for many years. In 2020, Elva was living in a retirement home in Sydney, where she celebrated her 100th birthday. She died in 2022.

[1] From Blue to Khaki p. 217

Person
Dynon, Moira Lenore
(1920 – 1976)

Scientist, Servicewoman, Welfare worker

The eldest daughter of medical practitioner, Percy and Lily (née Johnston) Shelton, Moira Dynon was educated at Presentation Convent, Elsternwick, Loreto Convent, Toorak and the University of Melbourne. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1941, Dynon was commissioned in the Women’s Australian Auxiliary Air Force and assisted Wing Commander R J W Le Fevre with chemical warfare munitions. Following her discharge she became a research officer with the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and later with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

On 2 December 1950 she married John Dynon and they had five children. At this stage Dynon became involved with community organisations. These included the Catholic Mothers’ Club Federation, the Catholic Women’s Social Guild and the Australian Council of Catholic Women. In 1952 the Dynons established the Malvern branch of the United Nations Australia Association, Victorian division. In 1960 she initiated and ran an appeal to provide secondary education for Japanese children of returned Australian servicemen. Moira Dynon became chairman of the Aid for India and president of its successor Aid India. She also helped with famine-relief campaigns in Bengal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Person
Stevens, Marion
(1920 – 2015)

Servicewoman

In 1941 Marion Stevens was one of the first 14 women to join the Royal Australian Navy. After two years at Harman she was transferred to Molongo and later to Cerberus for the Officer Training Course and then returned to Harman. After the war, with her beautiful singing voice, she joined the Gilbert and Sullivan Company and toured with them for two years. When the WRANS were reformed she was recalled and transferred back to HMAS Harman as Second Officer. Stevens stayed until 1956. On retirement she joined Paton and Baldwins. At HMAS Harman a street called ‘Marion Stevens’ honours the work she did there during the war. [1] Steven’s achievements were acknowledged with the renaming of the HMAS Harman Wardroom Dining Room in her honour.

Person
Taylor, Marjorie Elsie
(1920 – 2011)

Servicewoman

Marjorie Elsie Taylor was a foundation member of the Ex-WRANS Association. She served as a telegraphist with the Naval Control Office in Melbourne during the Second World War.

Person
Doyle, Jess Scott
(1921 – 1988)

Servicewoman

Jess Prain was one of the first fourteen women to join the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1941 and was stationed at Harman. From here she was drafted to Kuttabul where she was the first Petty Officer in Sydney. She did an Officer Training Course and returned to Harman as Third Officer. After her discharge in 1946 she was a welfare officer for Berlei and was recalled to the Navy in 1951 to train new recruits. Prain was Officer-in-Charge Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) at Flinders Naval Depot until 1954 and retired as First Officer. Married to Denis, Jess Doyle became Appeals Officer for Legacy (Sydney). [1]

Person
Meyer, Hilda Florence
(1899 – 1989)

Servicewoman

Major Hilda Florence Meyer was appointed Assistant Controller Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS) Land Headquarters (L.H.Q) and she served in this capacity from November 1942 until August 1944. She attended the third Australian Women’s Services Administrative School in Melbourne, which was established in 1943, to gain advanced training in Army organisation and administration. Courses were held at the school between October 1943 and July 1945. Major Meyer was appointed Deputy Assistant Controller AAMWS Headquarters, Western Command, to administer the movement and placement of AAMWS in Western Australian medical units between 1944 and 1945.

Hilda was born on 31 December 1899 and died in the year 1989.

Source used to compile this entry: From Blue to Khaki by Betty Mount-Batten p. 48

Person
Christie, Joan Lora
(1918 – 2001)

Educator, Local government councillor, Servicewoman

Joan Christie was promoted to the rank of Major during the Second World War. In 1943 she worked in New Guinea supervising members of the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service.

Joan is acknowledged as the driving force behind the establishment of both the Orana Community TAFE College and the Dubbo campus of Charles Sturt University.

Person
Snelling, Joyce Mary
(1904 – 1988)

Servicewoman

Mrs Joyce Snelling, who enlisted in the Australian Army in 1942, had previously been the Voluntary Aid Commandant of the Scottish Detachment No. 9218 (which was affiliated with the New South Wales Scottish Regiment), was commissioned as a Lieutenant and organised the first Voluntary Aid training school at Ingleburn. In April 1942 Mrs Snelling was appointed Assistant Controller and Honorary Secretary of the Joint State Council whose membership included the Order of St John and the Australian Red Cross Society and held this post until her enlistment in the Army. Lt Joyce Snelling served at Victoria Barracks where she attained the rank of Major on 28 February 1943 when she became Assistant Controller Australian Army Medical Women’s Service NSW Lines of Communication Area.

In 1950 Major Snelling was elected President of the Ex-AAMWS Association and held this position for 25 years. She was a Vice-Patron of the Association and a life member. From 1966 until 1973 she was President of the Ex-AAMWS Association of NSW.

On 1 January 1972 Joyce Snelling was appointed to the Order of the British Empire – Member (Civil) for her service to ex-servicewomen.

Person
Lane, Ethel Marion
(1918 – 2007)

Community worker, Nurse, Servicewoman

From the 1960s Ethel Lane devoted her time to helping service organisations. A member of the Australian Army Nursing Service during World War II, Lane was associated with the Returned & Services League as well as the War Widows’ Guild of Australia.

Lane was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on 11 June 1990 and appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire on 30 December 1978 for service to the community, in the field of veterans’ welfare.

Person
Penman, Alice Maud
(1918 – 2008)

Community worker, Servicewoman

President of the Women’s Services Sub-Branch of the RSL, Alice Penman served with the Australian Army during World War II. She served in the Middle East as a Voluntary Aid Detachment member and then in Far North Queensland. Penman later served with the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS) after the Government of the time decided to distinguish between military and non-military Voluntary Aids.

During the ‘Australia Remembers, 1945-1995’ celebrations Penman participated in a number of functions emphasizing the work carried out by the Voluntary Aid Detachment Red Cross members.

On 13 June 1993 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to veterans particularly through the Returned & Services League New South Wales and to the Friends of the Northcott Neurological Centre.

Person
Feltham, Juanita Cecila

Servicewoman

After the death of Colonel Kathleen Best, an appeal was launched to erect memorial gates at the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corp (WRAAC) School at Georges Heights. Members and ex-members of the Corps were encouraged to submit designs and ideas. Sergeant Juanita Feltham’s design was selected. [1]

Juanita Feltham had joined the WRAAC to combine her wartime skills and experience with her post-war training in fine arts. Janette Bomford states in Soldiers of the Queen that Feltham had a successful army career producing training aids, posters, book illustrations, and terrain model making. [2]

Feltham’s design for the gates feature 47 gumleaf-shaped spikes that denote each year of Colonel Best’s life and her Australian nationality. The gate on the left represents her nursing career and the one on the right her contribution to the army, especially the WRAAC. The central cruciform design symbolises Christianity and her Royal Red Cross.

The memorial gates and commemoration plaque on the left pillar were made by apprentices at the Balcombe Army School and the stone-work carried out by the 17th Construction Squadron of the Royal Australian Engineers. The ceramic tiles on the right pillar were made by Klytie Pate and feature formation signs of all Australian commands. Prominence is given to the waratah, the emblem of New South Wales, and Colonel Best’s home state. [3]

Feltham became responsible for the graphics section of the newly formed Australian Army Audio-visual Unit, which had not had a female member until 1970 when two WRAAC members were appointed to the staff. [4]

On 13 June 1964 Warrant Officer 2 Juanita Cecila Feltham was appointed to the Order of the British Empire (Military).

[1] Soldiers of the Queen by Janette Bomford p. 47
[2] ibid p. 26
[3] ibid p. 47
[4] ibid p. 73