Betty Jeffrey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
14 May 1908 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Died | 13 September 2000 (aged 92) |
| Occupation | Nurse |
| Nationality | Australian |
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. Betty Jeffrey was freed and returned home on October 24, 1945. She partnered with another former prisoner to open the Melbourne Nurses Memorial Centre in 1949 to honor the heroism of nurses. 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 .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
Further reading
- Shaw, Ian W. (2010). On Radji Beach. Sydney, NSW: Pan Macmillan Australia. ISBN 978-1-4050-4024-2. OCLC 610570783.}
- Biography of Betty Jeffrey
- "Betty Jeffrey". The Times. London. 5 October 2000. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- Hutchinson, Garrie (2005). Eyewitness: Australians write from the front-line. Black Inc. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-86395-166-1. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- Kizilos, Kathy (30 September 1981). "Prisoners of time survive as friends". The Age. p. 24. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2009.