Ethel Stalker – war time nurse

Today is Remembrance Day. We pause to remember those who served in the military in all conflicts and those that made the ultimate sacrifice. I also like to pay homage to those that have preserved the history of their service such as the National Archives of Australia and the Australian War Memorial.

The National Archives have been working tirelessly to digitise and upload service records from World War II so they are available to everyone free of charge. You can check what has been loaded hour by hour on their ‘recently added‘ page.

I like to check this page regularly and see what is being uploaded and on one occasion was intrigued to read about a nurse named Ethel Lane who served in the army during WWII.

Ethel was born Ethel Marion Stalker on 5 Jul 1918 at Ulverston, Lancashire. Her parents, Ernest and Gertrude Stalker (nee Piggott), moved to Australia when Ethel was two and lived near Port Kembla.

After attending college in Wollongong, Ethel trained as a nurse at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service in 1942 and served at Concord, Dubbo and Tamworth before going to Morotai, an island off Indonesia. There she met Captain Raymond Lane, a doctor treating casualties from the Borneo Campaign and Australian prisoners of war rescued from Japanese captivity.

Raymond and Ethel got married in December 1946 and had their first child the next year. On 1 August 1948, Raymond developed peritonitis and tragically passed away, leaving Ethel and their infant son.

After Raymond’s death, Ethel ran a stationery shop in Five Dock before devoting her time to causes including the RSL, the Nurses Memorial Club and the War Widows Guild. The first elected Australian woman member of the World Veterans Federation, she led delegations overseas. Awarded the MBE in 1978, she became a Member in the Order of Australia in 1990. A professorial chair in nursing with the University of Sydney and Concord Hospital was named in her honour.

Ethel’s obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 November 2007 tells the story of her war time service as well as her lifetime dedication supporting war widows. She devoted much of the rest of her life, until her death at 89, to fighting for issues affecting war widows, nurses and veterans.

Lest we forget.

Grave tales – East Ballina Cemetery

High on the hill, with a magnificent view of the surf rolling onto Shelly Beach, is the monument to William Webster. The ornate celtic cross that marks the grave is carved in white marble. It stands over three metres tall, far higher than any other monument in the cemetery.

The obituary published in The Richmond River Herald, gives a clue to the immense contribution William made to the community of Ballina and the establishment of the town. It states, ‘one who had seen the rose and progress of the district for the past 54 years, who had consistently thrown in his lot with the workers for the public weal and who had done as much or more then any other man of his time for the advancement of the town where he lived.’

William was born in 1845 at Llangollen station, Casillis, near the Hunter Valley, New South Wales. In 1853 the family moved to the Richmond River area where his father worked as a butcher. William learnt the trade of butchering and worked in the timber industry.

In 1870 William, at age 25, married Ann Taylor. They had nine children. The family moved to Ballina in 1890 where William purchased a butcher store from James Bryant. Ann passed away on 25 Apr 1891. A year later William married Annie Maria Moore, 19 years his junior. Annie was the sister of the publican of the Freemason’s Hotel in Lismore. They had four children.

In 1896 William gained the publican license for the Australian Hotel in Ballina after constructing the building on land he purchased on his arrival in Ballina. The Australian Hotel was recognised as one of the leading hotels on the Richmond River.

A year later he was elected as an alderman to Ballina Shire Council and later became Mayor. He fought to establish a water supply, implemented harbour works, added a creamery, fire brigade, hospital and jockey club.

He died on 22 Jan 1910 at age 65. A large cortege followed his remains to the cemetery for his burial service. He is buried with his second wife Annie and his son William John Webster.

Large celtic cross adorns the gravesite of William Webster surrounded by other graves.

Grave Tales are researched from online records available from NSW Births Deaths and Marriages, Australian Electoral Rolls, NSW Police Gazette, Trove, National Archives of Australia and NSW State Archives. The photo of William Webster was published in From The Webster Weavings, J.C Newman & M. Battis, Published 1997.

Bringing the dates to life

Creating a family tree starts with the date of a birth, death or a marriage but delving deeper into details of a life can uncover secrets and experiences not even a close member of the family may know about. Stories can be pieced together from records from genealogy sites but searching beyond these sites both online and offline

My great-grandfather, James Whirisky died in 1955, well before I was born. When I was older my mum and her sister’s stories of him were of a distant, cranky man who resorted often to alcohol. There were no happy memories or cheerful stories of trips to the pictures or days at the beach. I carried this perception of him into my adult life until the tools became available to fill in the blanks through research.

James Whirisky was born in Dumbarton, Scotland on 9 February 1880 to John and Jane Whirisky, nee Haggerty. John Whirisky was an Ironstone miner of Irish descent. They had a daughter, Jane, in 1881 and then no further children. James and Jane’s mother died in 1884 when James was four years old, and it is unknown who looked after James and Jane after her death. In 1901 John Whirisky appeared on the Scottish census as a labourer and boarder, his children no longer with him.

By 1907 James Whirisky emigrated to Australia to live in Sydney, his sister Jane followed with her husband and two children a few years later. On 25 September 1907, James Whirisky was appointed as a probationary constable with the New South Wales police force, a career he stayed with his entire working life. A year after his appointment, on 21 October 1908, James marrieds Annie Hanson, daughter of a Norwegian waterman and Irish mother, who were both deceased. Annie was living in Paddington and James at Central Police Barracks. She was 24 and James, 28. During her life she had experienced poverty and hardship on the streets of Sydney, living amongst the Irish Catholic population.

Soon after his marriage to Annie, James received a black eye whilst on duty. Richard Long was drunk and disorderly and fighting another man on Liverpool Road, Ashfield. A crowd of over 50 people gathered to witness the brawl and James moved in to arrest him and march him towards the police station. The crowd followed and incited Long to resist arrest. Long fought back and the result was a punch to James’ left eye.

In 1922, then a Constable first class, James was assigned to the historic town of Windsor. The family had grown to five. Phyllis was 13, Hilton, 11 and Edna, 10. Windsor was not quiet country life for James. In his first two months on the job, he attended a robbery of railway tickets at Mulgrave Station and a suicide in the river. James pulled out the body of a stranger to the town. Despite an inquest and witnesses seeing him alive days before, the man’s identity remains unknown. In February 1924, the river again claimed a victim, James assisted to recover the body of 13-year-old Madge Farrell, who losts her life during a day swimming with friends.

Ten months later the family move back to Sydney, living in a house in Carlingford. James was posted to Darlinghurst Station. His visits to see friends in Windsor are reported in the local newspaper. An article in 1931, talks of his ‘kind and gentle disposition’ and his popularity amongst the locals. The same article also mentions his daughter Edna was to be married the following week.

On 11 July 1931, Edna Whirisky married Thomas Nolan at St Georges Church, Hurstville . She was 19, he was a 21-year-old police officer. Their marriage was tumultuous, marred with violence and abuse. By 1936, Edna had left her husband and was living with her parents at their home in Daisy Avenue, Hurstville. She found work as a typist.

On 16 December 1935, James was the victim of an accident not related to his work. He was knocked down by a push bike as he walked home from work. He was taken to hospital, suffering from a fracture of the skull, a broken right forearm, and cuts to the face.

During the early years of World War II, Edna told her family she was leaving to work in Victoria. When she returned to Sydney in 1943, her mental health declined to where she was hospitalised. James, now retired, and Annie take her to Sawtell in the hope the sea air and simple life improved her health. In December 1947, Edna returned to Sydney, booking a room at the People’s Palace in Pitt Street. When she was not seen for several days, the door was forced open. She was found dead, lying on the bed. Beside her is a glass containing the remains of a powder and a handwritten note. She was 36. Fifty years later a woman contacted Phyllis, Edna’s sister, and tells her she is the daughter of Edna Whirisky.

In her later years, James’ wife, Annie lived with her daughter Phyllis in a Sydney unit. She spent her days in a chair by the lounge window, dressed in a housecoat, holding a small transistor radio. Close by is the form guide. I don’t remember her saying a word to me or my sister when we visited, but we had to approach her and kiss her cold, sagging cheek. She died, aged 97, in 1981, taking her family’s secrets with her.

As a couple and a family, James and Annie experienced trauma and stress no family should bear. When I look at the photo I have of them they seem stoic, bravely putting on a veneer of strength, despite what life dealt them. The records can help unearth the experiences a person may not tell anyone in their life and help develop an understanding of who they were as a person, not just a list of dates.