Commemorating Prominent Women

ELIZABETH BAILLIE [1863? – 1939]

Nurse, midwife and original owner-builder of The Rotunda Hospital (now Edward Millen House)

• Born: [more research needed]
• Maiden name: Howden [TBC]
• Husband: John Baillie, a marine engineer
• Lived at 64 King George Street, Victoria Park
• Died: 1939. Her body was discovered sadly about a week after she had died. It is believed that she died from a fall.
• Trained at the Sefton Hospital, Melbourne.
• One of the first women approved by the newly created Midwives Registration Board of Western Australia.
• Bought the land in Canning Location 2 now known as Edward Millen Park on the 22 September 1911 for £650.
• Built The Rotunda Hospital in the Queen Anne style as a maternity hospital.
• In 1919 the hospital was taken over by the State Government to cope with the Influenza pandemic.
• In 1920 the Commonwealth Government compulsory acquired the hospital for repatriation purposes.
• The hospital was renamed Edward Millen Home in 1921 after the first Minister for Repatriations. Later it became a mental health facility under various guises and management. Ownership of the site was transferred to the Town of Victoria Park in 2006.

MYRTLE ROSE BARNETT (1920-2003)

Corporal in the RAAF in WWII

• Born 05/05/1920, Victoria Park WA
• Date of enlistment: 19/08/1942, Victoria Park WA
• Date of discharge: 14/05/1946
• Married: 1947 David EATON of Goomalling
• Died: 20/03/2004 Como, aged 83

ELLIS MAY BENTON (1923-1993)

Corporal in the RAAF in WWII

• Born: 13/06/1923 Victoria Park WA
• Date of enlistment: 22 May 1942 Victoria Park WA
• Date of discharge: 12/04/1946
• Died: 16/09/1993 Embleton aged 90 years.

AGNES CARMEL EDMISTON (1922-2010)

Aircraftwoman in the RAAF in WWII

• Born: 06/06/1922 Victoria Park WA
• Date of enlistment: 10/06/1942 South Perth, WA
• Date of discharge: 26/11/1944
• Died: 16/9/2010 Como aged 88

CLARE STEPHANIE FITZPATRICK (1888-1964]

Nursing in local area and WWI service

• Born: 1888, Hunters Hill NSW
• Lived: 35 Shepperton Road, Victoria Park WA
• Occupation: Certified nurse
• Enlisted: 21/8/1917
• Embarked: 23/11/1917 Fremantle
• Served in: The Middle East
• Returned to Australia: 1/1/1919
• Discharged: 15/3/1919
• Married Francis L ODONOHUE in Perth 1926 (reg. no. 397)
• Died 1964, in Perth, aged 75 years.

ALICE HANNANT [1882-1979]

Principal of East Victoria Park Primary Infants School from 1930-1947

• Born 1882
• Died: 22 August 1979 in Como aged 97 years
• Retired from the education department in 1947 after serving 36 years in the Department of Education in Western Australia in many schools. The last 18 years of which was as the headmistress of East Victoria Park Infants School.
• She promoted the serving of fresh milk to school children, even personally serving hot cocoa to students during lunch times.
• Pioneered a program of education, little heard of at least in state schools, of having classes for students who learned at different rates and needed either more tuition as they were not very advanced or more stimulating resources as they were more advanced.
• Miss Hannant remembered as “the most wonderful head mistress you could wish for… She was so gentle, I never heard her raise her voice even when she stood out on the verandah, for assembly. She always addressed the children in a pleasant manner; there were no threats or anything from her” (Beyond Matta Gerup:…, pp. 114-115)
• Very fondly remembered by many past students, which is documented in research in the Local History Collection and also in a forthcoming oral history interview to be conducted in September 2019 with Bill Bickerton who went to East Victoria Park Infants School towards the end of Miss Hannant’s career and had great memories of her.

JOYCE DOROTHY HILL (1923-1961)

Corporal in the RAAF in WWII

• Born: 22/05/1923 Victoria Park WA
• Date of enlistment: 21/04/1942 Victoria Park
• Date of discharge: 12/10/1945
• Died: 11/01/1961 aged 37 at Como

PEGGY JOAN HOOD (1923-2014)

Corporal in the Australian Army in WWII

• Born: 03/09/1923 Carlisle WA
• Date of enlistment: 20/12/1942 Victoria Park WA
• Date of discharge: 21/11/1945
• Married: Harry MILLAR
• Died: 1/3/2014 at Bentley aged 90.

NANCY CAROLINE MARTIN (1924-1991)

Private in the Australian Army in WWII

• Born: 30/03/1924 Victoria Park WA
• Date of enlistment: 15/06/1942, Victoria Park WA
• Date of discharge: 19/04/1944
• Died; 12/05/1991 aged 67 at Mandurah.

MARGARET WINIFRED MEAGHER (Lady MEAGHER)

Lady Meagher (wife of Sir Thomas Meagher, Lord Mayor of Perth from 1939-) – Lived in Victoria Park

1952 'Death Of Lady Meagher', The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), 24 July, p. 7. , viewed 16 May 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49043147

• Mother of six children;
• Hostess to formal events attended by Dukes and Duchesses
• Interested and supportive of the welfare of mothers and their children
• President of the War Nurses’ Memorial Fund, Ord Street, West Perth from 1941-1945
• Patron of the WA Housewives’ Association from 1939-1945
• Foundation member of the Infant Health Centre in Victoria Park
• Lived at 787 Albany Road, Victoria Park.

DORIS EILEEN MENNER (1921-2017)

Private in the Australian Army in WWII

• Born: 26/11/1921 Victoria Park WA
• Date of enlistment: 27/12/1942 Victoria Park WA
• Date of discharge: 07/11/1945
• Died: 20/3/2017 in West Perth aged 95.

ALICE MAUDE MOFFLIN (1878-1961)

Community worker

• 1910 Raised money for the establishment of the Methodist Home for Children, Victoria Park and was its President from 1921-1954 and life president from 1954.
• A founder and office-bearer of the Methodist Women's Federation in Western Australia.
• 1958 she was appointed M.B.E.
• Parents: Margaret A. and William (unsure of surname)
• Wife of H.E. Mofflin, Mother of Donald Elgar (d. 1922 aged 20 months) and others to be researched
• Died 23/3/1961, in Mount Lawley.

PATRICIA MAY QUAIN (1926-2013)

Aircraftwoman in the RAAF in WWII

• Born: 18/06/1926 Victoria Park WA
• Date of enlistment: 5/06/1944, Victoria Park WA
• Date of discharge: 13/09/1946
• Married: 02/1950 Sydney Ayliffe BRAIN at St Joachim’s Church, Victoria Park
• Died: 26/12/2013 aged 87 in Rockingham.

JESSIE THORNTON RAFFERTY (1891-1980)

Local Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD) Quartermaster and Secretary for St John’s Ambulance during World War I and after

• Born: 5 November 1891, Paisley Scotland. Mother: Annie Rafferty (nee THORNTON) and Thomas Rafferty a crucible maker (journeyman) by trade.
• Siblings: three that can be confirmed at present: James Rafferty, b. 1890 Paisley Scotland; Maggie McKendrick Rafferty b. 1902 Paisley Scotland; and Jeanie McDonald Rafferty b. 1902 Paisley Scotland.
• Died: 21 December 1980, Victoria Park, aged 89.

NANCY REHFELDT AM (1924-2019)

Champion of sexual assault victims, and former resident of Victoria Park

• Born: 17/10/1924 Clifyndd, Wales
• Married: 1946 – Gunther Rehfeldt
• Immigrated to Australia with her family in 1966 (arrived South Australia)
• 1968 Moved to Perth.
• Late 1960s - Joined and was involved with the Victoria Park Branch of the Australian Labor Party, and in the 1970s was a delegate of the WA State Executive
• 1974 – began working as a rape counsellor in North Perth
• 1976 – Became a founding member of the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC)
• 1977 – Started working as a counsellor at Women’s Health Centre, West Perth
• 1984 – established the Incest Survivors’ Association, now known as the Phoenix Support and Advocacy Service Inc.
• 1986 – Presented at the 6^th International Congress on Child Abuse in Sydney and was a member of the WA State Government’s Task Force on Child Sexual Abuse.
• 1986 – Named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to welfare, particularly in relation to women and children.
• 2013 – Phoenix Support and Advocacy purchased a new premises and named it in honour of Nancy.