Betty Jeffrey

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Betty Jeffrey
File:Agnes Betty Jeffrey OAM 1908 2000.jpg
Born(1908-05-14)14 May 1908
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Died13 September 2000(2000-09-13) (aged 92)
OccupationNurse
NationalityAustralia

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.[1] Betty Jeffrey was freed and returned home on October 24, 1945.[1] She partnered with another former prisoner to open the Melbourne Nurses Memorial Centre in 1949 to honor the heroism of nurses.[1] 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 .[2] 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

Further reading