Who’s Who
Australian Army General
Tag Archives: military personnel
Margaret Blackwood
Group Captain Tracy Smart (1963- )
A woman of many firsts in Aviation Medicine
A specialist in aviation medicine, Group Captain Tracy Smart became the first woman appointed Chief Instructor and then Commanding Officer at the RAAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, holding the latter post from 1997-99 and 2003-04. Her special interest in women in aviation is evident in her published articles and papers presented nationally and internationally.
Captain Kath Evans (1963- )
With service on Army medical missions on Bougainville, in Indonesia and in the Solomon Islands as well as inland Australia, Captain Kath Evans advises anyone wanting an adventurous or unusual career ‘if you want to do something, find someone else who likes doing it and ask them for encouragement and motivation – it’s easier than you think!’
Commander Jenny Daetz and Lieutenant Commander Jan Noonan
Commander Jenny Daetz (Morrison) (1968 - )
In 2001 Royal Australian Navy hydrographic officer, Lieutenant Commander Jenny Daetz became the first RAN surveyor in seventy years to visit Mawson’s Hut in isolated Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. Lieutenant Commander Daetz charted navigational hazards in previously poorly-charted channels and also updated the tidal data collected by Sir Douglas Mawson in 1912.
Major General Elizabeth Cosson, CSC (1958- )
Australia’s first female General, Major-General Cosson’s work in defence logistics has contributed to peace operations in Cambodia, East Timor, and Bougainville. Continue reading
Aileen Palmer 1915-88
Poet and peace activist
As a 19-year-old student at Melbourne University Aileen Yvonne Palmer joined the Australian Communist Party in 1934 and the following year graduated with Honours in French and German. The elder daughter of Australian writers Vance and Nettie Palmer, Aileen served as an interpreter and secretary for the British Medical Aid Unit during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1938).
Joice Nankivell Loch 1887-1982
Joice Loch was an extraordinary Australian. A freelance journalist, published novelist and self-trained doctor, she allied herself closely with the Society of Friends (the Quakers) and went on a Quaker mission to Poland with her husband, Sydney, after World War I. For the rest of her life she dedicated her time and resources to helping refugees who were victims of various wars.
Sister Narrelle Hobbes 1878-1918
Florence Narrelle Hobbes was born at Merriwinga Tilba Tilba, on the south coast of NSW on 21 August 1878. She was never known by her first name, but as Narrelle, after Queen Narrelle, wife of King Merriman, or Umbarra, the local Aboriginal tribal leader. Narrelle was the second youngest child of John T Hobbes, Police Magistrate, and his second wife Margaret Goldie. Her father had five children from a previous marriage, and then a son and seven daughters.
Alice Chisholm and Rania MacPhillamy
Alice Chisholm (1856-1954) and Rania MacPhillamy (1886-nd)
During the First World War Alice Chisholm and Rania MacPhillamy were prominent among the Australian women volunteers working in Egypt. The two in partnership ran canteens for the men of the Light Horse, in the malarial heat and dust of Cairo, Suez and Rafa from 1916 to 1919.
