Australian Women at War! Trivia Quiz

Answer: The White Mouse

Nancy Wake was born in New Zealand but grew up in Australia and is one of the most decorated women of WWII. She was code-named the 'White Mouse' by the Gestapo because she continuously eluded capture. Living in Marseilles, France, between 1940 and 1942 she fought with the 'Resistance' and helped sabotage the Nazis thus saving the lives of hundreds of Allied Troops! Nancy was awarded the George Medal in July 1945 and was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in February 2004.

Answer: Vera Deakin

In 1915, just before the outbreak of WWI, Vera Deakin volunteered and established the 'Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau' of the Australian Red Cross, initially in Cairo and later in London. Between 1915 and 1919 the 'Bureau' sourced information on Australian soldiers who were listed as wounded, missing, killed or as prisoners of war. Vera was awarded The Order of the British Empire - Officer (Civil) in 1918 and continued her work with the Red Cross during WWII as director of the Victorian Division of the 'Bureau' and later was vice chair of the Australian Red Cross. Vera died in 1978. Mary Hughes, Thelma Reid and Margaret Fisher were all related to former Australian prime ministers.

Answer: Vivian Bullwinkel

Born in South Australia in 1915, Vivian Bullwinkel, AO, MBE, ARRC, ED, FNM, FRCNA, enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service in 1941 and embarked for Singapore. She served until evacuated in February 1942, just days before Singapore fell to the Japanese.

The evacuating ship, the 'Vyner Brooke' was sunk by Japanese bombers and the survivors were machine-gunned, in an incident known as 'The Bangka Island Massacre', all except Vivian were killed. Vivian then spent three-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war on Bangka Island and in Sumatra but went on to work tirelessly for Nurses throughout Australia receiving the Order of the British Empire - Member (Civil) in 1973 and becoming patron of the National Service Nurses' Memorial in Canberra. Vivian died in July 2000. Mary McFarlane, Ellen Rutherford and Margaret Adams died on the Hospital Ship 'Centaur' in May 1943 when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, even though it was clearly marked with red crosses.

Answer: Phyllis Schumann

The withdrawal of forces from Vietnam was ending in 1975 when the Australian Government made a decision to evacuate war orphans from near Saigon before they were overrun by the advancing North Vietnamese. Phyllis Schumann volunteered; as a senior operating theatre registered nurse from the Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria, RN Schumann was well qualified having been a member of the RAAF Nursing Service from 1959 to 1966. Patricia (Pat) Deal served in Vietnam at Long Xuyen Hospital as a member of the SEATO medical and surgical team in 1968 and 1969. Kay (Kathleen) Parker and Mavis Cullen were prisoners of war in Japan during WWII.

Answer: Wilma Oram Young

Born in 1916, Wilma was a prisoner of the Japanese from 1942 to 1945 and spent the rest of her life helping war veterans - especially those with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and was Australia's first female President of an RSL (Returned Services League).

She was also patron of the Vietnam Civilian Nurses Group. Wilma died in May 2001. Kay (Kathleen) Parker, Lorna Whyte and Mavis Green were prisoners of war in Japan during WWII.

Answer: Betty Jeffrey

In 1987, Agnes 'Betty' Jeffrey, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her services to ex-servicemen and women and her novel 'White Coolies' was the basis for the Bruce Beresford film, 'Paradise Road'. Betty died in 2000 at the age of 92 after being awarded Life Membership of the 'Returned Services League'. Mona Wilton died after the sinking of the 'Vyner Brooke', Jean Anderson and Mavis Cullen were prisoners of war in Japan during WWII.

Answer: Jan Rayner Mills

Jan Rayner Mills spent just over twelve months in South Vietnam, 'til September 1968. When the Tet Offensive occurred, Jan was with an Australian surgical team at Vung Tau, enroute to a meeting with the Ministry of Health of Vietnam, in Saigon. She witnessed the continual Medivac choppers arriving with dead and injured Australian soldiers, a memory she will never forget, noting that Jan was a civilian nurse with no military experience. Maureen Spicer served at Bien Hoa in Vietnam in 1966, Kay Parnell and Pat Deal served in Vietnam between 1968 and 1969.

Answer: Lorna Johnston

Lorna Johnston served in Rabaul, arriving on Anzac Day 1942. When the Japanese overran Rabaul, the nurses, including civilians, were taken back to Japan! There were 18 women, six army sisters, eleven civilian sisters and one civilian. After three years in Yokohama the women were moved to the village of Totsuka, west of Yokohama, in the country where they worked as slaves for the Japanese villagers.

They had no war news but, when the Japanese got them to enlarge an air raid shelter, they guessed it couldn't be long, not knowing that the order had been given to execute all prisoners of war if the allies landed and the 'air raid shelter' was their own grave they'd been digging! They were not even told when the war was over but they sensed it when things improved after the second atomic bomb was dropped.

They were, however, kept under guard against retaliation from the villagers, and nobody appeared to be aware that the women were even in Japan and they were found by accident by General MacArthur's troops, on the march into Tokyo, and rescue quickly followed! Maureen McLeod served at Bien Hoa in Vietnam along with Dot Angell who served between 1966 and 1967, and Sr Berenice Twohill who was teaching in Rabaul when WWII broke out was interned by the Japanese until the end of the war.

Answer: Dot Angell

Dot Angell wrote in a letter home, "We suffer from a gross lack of medical supplies, it seems the Australian Government do not know us, and our whole life is spent scrounging from the Americans!" Bien Hoa was roughly 25 miles north east of Saigon, and because of large troop concentrations in the vicinity it was very noisy and dirty with shanty like suburbs due to an influx of refugees from the north. Bien Hoa was described in early 1967 as "... frontline surgery under frontline conditions." Mavis Cullen and Kay Parker were prisoners of war in Japan during WWII, and Margaret Hamilton was onboard the 'Empire Star' when she was bombed and strafed by machine-gun fire by the Japanese.

Answer: Margaret Anderson

Margaret Anderson was awarded the George Medal in 1942 for throwing herself over wounded soldiers bodies under machine-gun fire onboard the deck of the 'Empire Star', a cargo ship coopted for the evacuation of Singapore. The 'Empire Star' was torpedoed north of the Azores and sunk on 23rd October 1942. Margaret Hamilton was onboard the 'Empire Star' when she was bombed and strafed by machine-gun fire by the Japanese, Mona Wilton died after the sinking of the 'Vyner Brooke', and Margaret Adams died on the Hospital Ship 'Centaur' in May 1943 when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, even though it was clearly marked with red crosses.