Pat Darling (31 August 1913 in
Casino, New South Wales
Casino (Yugambeh-Bundjalung_languages, Bundjalungic: ''Djanangmum'') is a town in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia, with a population of 12,298 people at the . It lies on the banks of the Richmond River and is situated at ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
– 2 December 2007) was an Australian servicewoman and nursing sister with the 2/10th Australian General Hospital.
Early life
Born as Janet Patteson Gunther, her great grandfather, Archdeacon James Gunther, was a missionary to indigenous Australians at
Wellington, New South Wales
Wellington is a town in the Central Western Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, located at the junction of the Wambuul Macquarie River, Wambuul Macquarie and Bell Rivers. It is within the Local government in Australia, local government ...
. Her grandfather, Archdeacon William Gunther, was rector of St John's,
Parramatta
Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...
. The second eldest of eight children, she attended bush schools before leaving school at 12 to help out at home in the farm.
Her mother Jane Gunther née Thomson is descended from Mary (Molly) Reibey, whose image now appears on the Australian twenty dollar note.
World War II
She trained in general nursing at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown, and worked as a private nurse until enlisting in 1940 with the 2nd/10th Australian General Hospital. She sailed to Singapore in February 1941. She was one of the Australian nurses taken prisoner by the
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese in
Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. She wrote about her three and a half years incarceration and survival in ''Portrait of a Nurse'' (published in 2001).
Personal
She married Major George Colin Darling (NX101315 2/5 Infantry Battalion), a manager with the Port Kembla steelworks in 1957 and a widower with four children in 1949. She stopped nursing in the late 1940s/early 1950s.
Darling died on 2 December 2007, aged 94. Her husband George Colin Darling predeceased her on 6 August 1983, aged 76.
See also
*
Vivian Bullwinkel
Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Statham, ( Bullwinkel; 18 December 1915 – 3 July 2000) was an Australian Army nurse during the Second World War. She was the sole surviving nurse of the Bangka Island Massacre, when the Japanese killed 21 of her fe ...
References
External links
''Women of Australia'' website
note: same link as "^ POWs of Japan above under References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Pat
1913 births
2007 deaths
Australian nurses
Australian prisoners of war
People from New South Wales
Women in the Australian military
Women in World War II
World War II prisoners of war held by Japan
Place of death missing
Australian women nurses