| Betty Jeffrey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1908-05-14)14 May 1908 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Died | 13 September 2000(2000-09-13) (aged 92) |
| Occupation | Nurse |
| Nationality | Australian |
Agnes Betty Jeffrey, OAM (14 May 1908 – 13 September 2000) was an Australian writer who wrote about her Second World War nursing experiences in the book White Coolies.
Life
Jeffrey was a nurse in the 2/10th Australian General Hospital during World War II; she was taken captive 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. Betty Jeffrey was freed and returned home on October 24, 1945.
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 M. Sage. The Melbourne Nurses Memorial Centre opened in 1949 to honour the heroism of nurses.
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. Margaret Dryburgh, Vivian Bullwinkel and Wilma Oram were fellow internees with Jeffrey.
Works
- White Coolies, Betty Jeffrey, Eden Paperbacks, Sydney, 1954 ISBN 0-207-16107-0
References
- ^ 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
- 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.
- 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