Lila Rowley - Rye Historical Society

 

Lila Rowley (1920–2004) was a remarkable figure whose life spanned significant periods of social and cultural change. Born in 1920, Lila’s contributions to her community and her dedication to her family and the wider Mornington Peninsula are part of the fabric of the region's history. Her legacy lives on as an inspiring example of resilience, community spirit, and the quiet but impactful roles that women have played in shaping local history.

At just twenty-two years old, Lila made the courageous decision to volunteer for service in World War II. Born and raised in Rye, she had completed her schooling in the Old Schoolhouse, finishing her education before the age of fourteen. Like many young women of her time, she entered the workforce early, taking on domestic roles before finding her true calling in nursing.

Lila’s journey was one of resilience and determination. From the bustling streets of Melbourne to the vast landscapes of Alice Springs, from the frontline hospitals of New Guinea to the aftermath of war in Rabaul, her service was marked by dedication in the face of adversity. She witnessed the harsh realities of infectious diseases before vaccines were available, cared for wounded soldiers, and endured the hardships of war firsthand. Despite being repeatedly told she lacked the formal education required for nursing, Lila proved her capability through sheer perseverance, ultimately earning her place among Australia’s wartime nurses.

Image: Lila Mary Rowley  Credit: Rye Historical Society

In her own words:

I left school before I turned 14 and didn’t go to Frankston High because we couldn’t afford the expenses. I stayed at home and helped to look after my young 14 brother Des. Later I took a position as a housemaid in a house in Elwood. This soon palled and I went home. The great thing was … there was always HOME to go to, so one never felt abandoned.

While working in Elwood where my sister worked next door, we would go into the city together and also to Luna Park. We mostly looked but didn’t buy because our wage was 10 shillings. However, one day I bought a ticket in a raffle for the Children’s Hospital, for sixpence. I had to give a title to a picture on the ticket and send it in for judging … and, bless my soul, I won it. The prize was a Shetland pony and small gig or 50 pounds. Guess which one I took? This money launched me on my career.

SO; I now have the means to take the first step on the road to my future. A holidaying family, who rented a house near us had dealings with the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital and suggested that if I wanted a live-in job I should apply for a position as a nurses’ aide. Now I could afford to attend a dentist in Frankston instead of the one who visited Rosebud and saw his clients in the kitchen behind the milk bar while they sat on a kitchen chair! I also had money for uniforms.

I had an interview with the Matron also a medical examination, and was taken aboard, even though I was less than 17. As it happened, there was a diphtheria epidemic as well as a polio epidemic, so the work was hard and the hours long but I had found my niche. Treatment was primitive by today’s standards and there was no immunization so the diseases spread rapidly. How fortunate we are today to be able to protect our children from such horror diseases.

It was terrible to see little children needing a tracheotomy (a metal tube inserted into their trachea through a hole in the neck) to help them to breathe because their windpipes were blocked by diphtheria membrane. Parents were not allowed to visit these little children, nor the polio victims, for fear of spreading the diseases further. I dread to think what effect this had on the children in the long term.

Many of the trained staff told me I should do my general training because I was a willing and able nurse but, of course, I didn’t have the necessary educational standard (Leaving). However, through some contacts I had, I got an interview with the Matron of the Alfred Hospital in Prahran.

The Matron [Director of Nursing] at the Alfred at this time was Grace Wilson, CBE, RRC, FNM, a highly decorated nurse from WWI. She had been in charge of nursing at the Alfred since 1933. At this time she was also Matron-in-Chief, AANS, CMF, and AIF. (Helen Patterson,’5.30, Nurse,’’ The Story of the Alfred Nurses’, p102) after I finished my year at Fairfield. I was accepted into the three month preliminary training school but warned not to be too hopeful because all the other girls were “educated” and I would be left behind. As it happened, I was way ahead of them because I already knew how to empty bedpans without being sick, clean up dirty beds, take temperatures and make patients comfortable. After 3 years at the Alfred I became a trained nurse [graduated 1941 Helen Paterson, ‘5.30, Nurse!’ The Story of the Alfred Nurses, Appendix IV, ‘Graduates of the Alfred School of Nursing’, p 228. ]. By this time World War Two had begun and I was fired with enthusiasm to join the Army Nursing Service, but, once again, I was too young at 22. I needed to be 25. My hounding paid dividends when the war escalated and Australia was threatened and I joined when I was 23. Looking back, I’m sure I was too young but like most young people I thought I was 10 feet tall and bullet proof!

I did 6 months at Heidelberg Military Hospital before being eligible to join the AIF, which meant I was prepared to serve overseas with the rank of Lieutenant. I was at Heidelberg when the hospital ship Centaur was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the Queensland coast in May 1943. The shock waves fairly shook the walls. The sadness and horror was palpable; so many of the staff had lost a friend, a colleague, and some, a relative.

[In November 1943] I was posted to 109 Australian General Hospital at Alice Springs which was a very different experience because we nursed not only service personnel but Aboriginals as well. I travelled to Alice on a train called the Ghan, short for Afghan because the original train hauled by camels in charge of an Afghan and took weeks to make the journey. My train was a steam train and did the trip in 4 days and 3 nights, and that was boredom personified…

From Alice Springs I was posted to Aitape in Northern New Guinea (in April 1945). This entailed returning to Melbourne, a troop train to Sydney and then boarding the hospital ship Wanganella for Aitape via Lae.

We were now aware that the illuminated red crosses that these ships carried, which was supposed to protect them, actually made them prime targets for the Japanese as the Centaur proved to be. I can’t remember being afraid because I was with my colleagues and we were all in the same boat – so to speak!

After about 7 months in Aitape, the atom bomb (Hiroshima August 6, Nagasaki, August 9). Japan surrendered, but the Japanese soldiers would not believe such a thing was possible, so they fought on….

I was then sent to Rabaul, which was now freed from the Japanese. We cared for the troops and the prisoners of the Japanese who were in a deplorable state of health and waiting to be repatriated to the mainland. Because all available transport was used for this purpose the hospital remained to care for the less urgent cases for another three months or so.

Rabaul was a rather awesome place, surrounded as it was by volcanoes, some smoking and steaming all day and always an overpowering smell of sulphur. My journey from Aitape to Rabaul was punctuated by a period of duty for some weeks at a Casualty Clearing Station in Wewak, also on the New Guinea coast.

I returned to Heidelberg Hospital in 1946 to find I was a victim of malaria and intestinal parasites. The malaria was kept at bay with medication while in the islands, but when the suppressants were discontinued after reaching home, the disease took over, so I spent some time as a patient before being discharged from the AIF in September 1947 – 5 years to the months since I joined in 1942.

Lila’s service records include copies of letters she wrote inquiring about her eligibility for the 1939-45 Star medal. She first reached out in November 1987, followed by additional letters in 1989 and 1995.

“I spent 391 days outside Australia in the Lae, Aitape, Wewak, Jacquinot Bay and Rabaul theatres of war where hostilities did not necessarily finish on a given date…..I remained in the area some 3 or 4 months after September 2 1945…where I was required to care for Japanese prisoners of war as well as released Australian and US prisoners while conditions were worse than before hostilities ceased”

Following a change in regulations, Lila was finally awarded her medals in September 1996.

 

Image:Jo Stone and Aitape -Lila Mary Rowley (an older sister of RJ Rowley)

Credit: Rye Historical Society

 

Images: Extract from the Rye Historical Society White Cliffs Newsletter Issue 3, 2024