The Australian Women's Register

From 1976 until 2002 Helen Crisp was an Honorary Fellow with the University of Canberra (formerly Canberra College of Advanced Education). She was made a Member of the Order of Australia on 8 June 1981 for service to education.

The daughter of E and D Wighton, Crisp completed her education at Girton (Adelaide) before graduating from the universities of Adelaide and Oxford. She married Leslie Crisp (later a professor at the Australian National University) on 22 June 1940. Helen Crisp, a feminist who worked in the field of education, was a member of several women’s and social welfare organisations.

The daughter of grazier Authur John Scott and his wife Thelma, Jean Eales was educated at New England Girls’ School. From 1936 until 1938 she attended the Women’s College within the University of Sydney. In 1938/1939 she was a University hockey blue. After completing her BSc (VetSc) she assisted her father on the family property. On 13 March 1945 she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) and at the time of her discharge (3 December 1945) she was attached to the 1 Flying Personnel Research Unit.

After the war, Jean worked as a librarian at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, until her marriage to farmer Kenneth Eales in February 1951. The pair had one son.

A member of the Victorian Agricultural Society, Jean Eales was for many years secretary and president of the Lilydale Agricultural Show. She was also secretary and member of the Country Fire Authority at Coldstream. Not only was she a recipient of many community awards, but the pavilion at the Lilydale showgrounds (27-29 Market St.) is named after her.

Jean Eales died on 3 January 1989.

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.

Betty Twynam-Perkins and Leith Cameron married in July 1940. They both joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in April 1941. After the war Betty Cameron joined the WAAAF Branch of the RAAF Association. She held various positions including president, secretary and treasurer. She also has been the convenor of two national reunions for the WAAAF, as well as a committee member. Her other community work included being a member of MU (Mothers’ Union) Australia and a voluntary driver at Concord Hospital.

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]

Jo Cheers served with 10 Force Support Battalion in East Timor and was posted to Sydney early in 2002. She was presented with a Meritorious Unit Citation in the 2002 Australia Day Honours list (for sustained outstanding service in the provision of logistic support to warlike operations in East Timor) by the Commanding Officer of her present unit in the presence of military and civilian members of the unit.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

During World War II Betty Mount-Batten served with the civilian Voluntary Aid Detachments, the Army Voluntary Aid Detachments and later the Australian Army with the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service. At the time of her discharge on 14 November 1945 she was posted at the 113th Australian General Hospital, Concord, New South Wales. Mount-Batten is a member of the Ex-AAMWS has been minute secretary since 2000, as well as secretary for the Women’s Services Sub-Branch of the RSS & AILA.

As part of the Australia Remembers 1945-1995 celebrations in 1995, Mount-Batten compiled the publication From Blue to Khaki: The enlisted voluntary aids and others who became members of the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service and served from 1941-1951.

In October 2002 Betty Mount-Batten became a participant of the “Australian Women in War Project” working group.

Isobel Humphery was three when her father was killed in France in 1917. She and her three elder siblings were educated with the help of the Soldiers’ Children Education Scheme. Before marrying Ronald Humphery, at the outbreak of World War II, Isobel obtained a Bachelor of Arts with a Diploma of Education. She became a teacher and later a member of the Australian College of Education.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ronald Humphery was accidentally killed while serving in Borneo. Survived by his wife and five-month old son, Isobel returned to the teaching profession. She became headmistress of the Sydney Church of England Girls’ Grammar School, Redlands, a position she held for 28 years until she retired.

Isobel became a foundation member of the War Widows’ Guild of New South Wales and in 1947 accepted the appointment (in a voluntary capacity) to the State Board of the Soldiers’ Children Education Scheme.

Isobel Humphery was the first person educated under the Board to become a member of the Board.

Before enlisting in the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) in 1960, June Healy was a member of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corp. She attended the 9/60 Officer Cadet Course (OCS) and was then posted as Adjutant/Quartermaster at 31 WRAAC Barrack Melbourne and in 1962 to WRAAC School as Adjutant (CMF).

After her marriage to Major John Healy in 1963, June held an assortment of positions, usually in the area of training and office management, wherever her husband was posted. Also she worked as a volunteer on numerous Army Wives Committees and helped in setting up the first Thrift Shop at the Canungra Land Welfare Centre to assist in the funding of the local Girl Guides. In 1978 Healy became a member of the WRAAC Association and has served as the State vice-president and president of the ACT Association. From 1995 until 1999 she was National president. Since 1981 Healy has been a foundation member of the Defence Widows Support Group. This group assists defence widows whose husbands were not killed during war service, did not die of war caused disabilities and therefore do not qualify for a War Widows’ Pension. On 11 June 1990 June Healy was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to veterans. In 1994 she became a member of the War Widows’ Guild of Australia (ACT) and was State president from 1995 to 1998 and National president from 1998 to 2002.

In October 2002 June Healy joined the Australian Women in War Project representing the War Widows’ Guild of Australia.

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

Nora Fisher represents the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) Association of New South Wales on the Australian Women in War Project working group. Fisher has been active in both the state and national WRAAC Associations since joining in 1977. She has been the New South Wales secretary and editor of the newsletter Best Times. Fisher is the current secretary of the WRAAC Association Australia.

On 29 June 1985 Meta Williams was appointed to the Order of the British Empire – Officer (Civil) (OBE) for services to the Girl Guide Movement.

Williams’ association with Guiding commenced at the end of 1930 when she became a member of the 1st Coorparoo Company (23rd Brisbane) and was enrolled in early 1931. She went on to hold a variety of positions at local, state and national levels.

In 1984 Williams researched and complied the publication The Continuing Challenge: a history of Queensland Guiding from 1919-84 which was launched by Senator Lady Bjelke-Petersen. This was followed by The Continuing Challenge Part 11 1984-91 in 1992 as well as histories of four former State Commissioners’ terms of office.

Williams was also a member of the state executive of the YWCA Queensland, member of the Victoria League for Commonwealth Friendship in Queensland and the Pan-Pacific and South-East Asia Women’s Association (Queensland).

In March 1981 Meta Williams was honoured in being elected Mother of the Year (Queensland).

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 Dynon’s 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.

Betty Ball, the daughter of Frederick (Australian Infantry Force World War 1) and Emily Newlyn, was educated at Manly West Public and Manly Domestic Science Schools. She joined the Brownies and later became a member of the Girl Guides. Ball was employed as a clerk with H V Leckie & Wilkinson, Insurance Supervisors until she joined the services.

In 1938 Ball joined the Australian Women’s Flying Club and had her first flight in a Gypsy Moth with pilot Gwen Stark, who later became Wing Officer with the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF). At the beginning of World War II the clubs lectures were centred on air raid precautions, first aid, Morse code etc. In the early 1940s the club amalgamated with the Women’s Australian National Service.

On the 16 January 1942, Ball enlisted in the WAAAF and served as a stores clerk. After completing a photographic course at Fairbairn Canberra, in 1943, she was promoted to the rank of Corporal. She was stationed at Bankstown, Waterloo, Mildura, Canberra, East Sale and Brisbane before being discharged from the Central Photo School at Bradfield Park on 29 November 1945. Betty Ball served a total of 3 years 11 months.

In 1947 she married ex-serviceman Reginald Arthur Ball and they had two sons (one deceased) and two daughters. The family moved from Sydney to Perth (1950), to Brisbane (1963) and back to Sydney in 1967. While in Brisbane Betty Ball became a member of the local branch of the WAAAF Branch of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Association.

Betty Ball joined the New South Wales Division of the WAAAF of the RAAF Association in 1982 and was editor of the WAAAF Chat magazine for 9 years. Ball was a delegate on numerous occasions to RAAF Association Assemblies, held the position of vice-president of the WAAAF Branch and was a member of the State Council of RAAF Association. Ball was also on the committee for the Seniors Club of St Johns Church, Sutherland. In November 2002 Betty Ball became a participant in the Australian Women in War Project.

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.

Sergeant Joy Linnane served with the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during World War II. She enlisted on 11 April 1942 and was discharged on 7 December 1945.

After the war Linnane joined the Sydney WAAAF Branch and has been a member since 1956. During that time she has held the positions of vice-president, treasurer, state councillor and delegate to country branches.

Patricia Rawlings served with the WRAAC for 23 years. She has held executive positions with state and national WRAAC Associations.

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

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.

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.

Marjory Taylor became a Member of the Order of Australia on 9 June 1980 for her service to nursing.

During World War II she served with the Royal Australian Airforce Nursing Service (1944-1946) and worked voluntarily as senior nursing officer with the Girl Guide International Service in the British Zone, Germany, for three years.

From 1950 until 1981 Marjory worked with the Geelong Hospital, first as supervisor of the Maternity Wing and then Director of nursing. For 17 years – two as president – Marjory was a board member of the Intellectually Handicapped (Karingal) and was a founder and Board Member of the Geelong Hospice Care Association.

Beryl Evans was a Liberal Member of the Legislative Council in the New South Wales parliament from 1984-1995. She later ran unsuccessfully for the Senate as an independent, and for the New South Wales Legislative Council as a member of the Seniors Party. She was an official candidate for the 1998 Constitutional Convention, representing the One Australian Monarchist League, but was not elected.

During World War Two, Evans served in the Royal Auxiliary Australian Air Force with distinction. She became president of the WAAAF Branch of the RAAF Association New South Wales Division on 25 March 1997.