| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | PR01675 |
| Collection type | Private Record |
| Record type | Collection |
| Measurement | 5 wallets: 10 cm; 1 album: oversize; 5 oversize folio: flat |
| Object type | Album, Photograph, Certificate, Newspaper cutting, Papers, Letter |
| Maker |
McFarlane, Mary Hamilton |
| Place made | At sea |
| Date made | 1940-1992 |
| Access | Open |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 British Commonwealth Occupation Force, 1946-1952 (Japan) |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
| Copying Provisions | Copyright expired. Copying permitted subject to physical condition. Permission for reproduction not required. |
McNab, Flora
Description
Collection relating to NFX77216 Captain (later Major) Flora McNab of the Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS) covering her service in the Middle East during the Second World War and in Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupational Force (BCOF) after the war.
At the time of her enlistment in 1941, McNab had already been a member of a Voluntary Aid Detachment for two years, including a period at 113 General Hospital (Concord), and aboard the Dutch hospital ship Oranje. After the formation of the AAMWS in 1942, she was promoted to a commissioned rank and served in the Middle East before her appointment in the Adjunct General's Branch dealing with administrative matters affecting Army Women's Services. In 1945 she was selected as Administrative Officer in charge of AAMWS working with BCOF, primarily with the 130 Australian General Hospital in Eta Jima, Japan.
Material includes a large number of photographs, menus from the Oranje, service documents and some post service papers. Collection also includes an original letter and photograph of a friend of Flora McNab, SFX11679 Lieutenant Sister Mary Hamilton McFarlane, who had been Deputy Matron of the Oranje. McFarlane was one of the nurses who drowned at sea on 14 May 1943 when the Centaur 2/3 Hospital Ship was sunk off the coast of south-east Queensland. The letter is dated April 1943 and was written from Sister McFarlane, to Captain McNab. The photograph is an original studio portrait of Sister McFarlane in uniform. A related Private Records Collection is PR05058, relating to Mrs Winifred Mary (Freda) Duckworth, YMCA representative in Japan with BCOF.