Betty Jeffrey
Betty Jeffrey | |
|---|---|
 Jeffrey in c. 1980s | |
| Birth name | Agnes Betty Jeffrey |
| Born | 14 May 1908 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Died | 13 September 2000 (aged 92) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | Australia |
| Service | Second Australian Imperial Force |
| Years of service | 1941–1946 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Unit | 2/10th Australian General Hospital |
| Battles / wars | Second World War |
| Awards | Medal of the Order of Australia |
| Other work | Writer, White Coolies |
Agnes Betty Jeffrey, OAM (14 May 1908 – 13 September 2000) was an Australian nurse, prisoner of war and writer, who wrote about her Second World War nursing experiences in the book White Coolies.
Second World War
[edit]Jeffrey was a nurse in the 2/10th Australian General Hospital during the Second World War. She was taken a prisoner of war by the Japanese Imperial Army and interned in the Dutch East Indies. While in the Japanese internment camp on Sumatra, Jeffrey joined the female vocal orchestra.[1] Margaret Dryburgh, Vivian Bullwinkel and Wilma Oram were fellow internees with Jeffrey. Jeffrey was freed following the end of the war and returned home on 24 October 1945.[1]
Charitable activities and writer
[edit]Jeffrey and Vivian Bullwinkel visited every sizeable hospital in Victoria to raise the money that created the Australian Nurses Memorial Centre. She is noted as a founder together with Edith Hughes-Jones, Wilma Oram and Annie Sage.[2] The Melbourne Nurses Memorial Centre opened in 1949 to honour the heroism of nurses.[1]
She later wrote about her experiences in the book White Coolies, which partially inspired the film Paradise Road and the 1955 Australian radio series White Coolies.[3]
Works
[edit]- White Coolies, Betty Jeffrey, Eden Paperbacks, Sydney, 1954 ISBN 0-207-16107-0
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Brown, Kellie D. (2020). The Sound of Hope: Music as Solace, Resistance and Salvation During the Holocaust and World War II. McFarland. p. 261. ISBN 978-1-4766-7056-0.
- ^ "About | ANMC". Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ "White Coolies Radio Series". Retrieved 19 October 2011.
Further reading
[edit]- Shaw, Ian W. (2010). On Radji Beach. Sydney, NSW: Pan Macmillan Australia. ISBN 978-1-4050-4024-2. OCLC 610570783.}
- Biography of Betty Jeffrey
- "Betty Jeffrey". The Times. London. 5 October 2000. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- Hutchinson, Garrie (2005). Eyewitness: Australians write from the front-line. Black Inc. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-86395-166-1. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- Kizilos, Kathy (30 September 1981). "Prisoners of time survive as friends". The Age. p. 24. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
- 1908 births
- 2000 deaths
- Australian military nurses
- Female wartime nurses
- Military history of Australia during World War II
- Australian Army personnel of World War II
- Australian women in World War II
- Women in the Australian military
- World War II prisoners of war held by Japan
- 20th-century Australian writers
- 20th-century Australian women writers
- World War II nurses
- Australian prisoners of war
- Australian women nurses
- Australian Army officers
- Writers from Hobart