Bernie McMahon

AANS │ Lieutenant │ Second World War │ Australia & New Guinea │ 118th AGH, 110th AGH & 2/7th AGH
Family Background

Theresa Bernadine McMahon, known as Bernie, was born on 15 May 1915 in Boulder, in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields region. She was the daughter of Bridget Theresa (Dolly) Lane (1884–1968) and John McMahon (1878–1922).

Dolly was born in Eltham in Victoria. She travelled to Western Australia as a child with her family, who established a bakery in Boulder in the mid-1890s, the very early days of the town. John was born in Victoria as well, in Wangaratta in the northeast. He was also a pioneer of Boulder, arriving at the age of 19 or 20 to try his luck. Around 1905 he entered into a grocery business, which he carried on until his health failed later in life.

In time Dolly and John met and on 19 May 1909 were married at the All Hallows’ Roman Catholic Church in Boulder by the Very Rev. Dean Brennan. As both families were well known and respected, there were a good many people in the church. After the ceremony the guests adjourned to ‘Clan McNoise’, the residence of Dolly’s parents, where over 180 guests sat down to a tastefully arranged wedding breakfast. Among a bounty of presents, Dolly and John were given a block of land in Perth by Dolly’s father.

Dolly and John settled in Boulder and the following year Dolly gave birth to their first child, Mary Honora, known as Bonnie (1910–1948). Three more children followed, Ellen Kathleen, known as Nell or Nellie (1912–1990), John Francis, known as Jack (1914–1994), and Bernie in 1915.

Growing Up

Along with her siblings, Bernie attended St. Joseph’s Convent School in South Boulder. She gained her Intermediate Certificate, perhaps here or at another school.

On 15 August 1922, when Bernie was only seven years old, her father died at the family home on the corner of Forrest and Thompson Streets in Boulder. He was buried at Kalgoorlie Cemetery.

By May 1932 the family was living on Hannan Street in Kalgoorlie and Bernie was a young adult. She was taking a typewriting course at Boulder Technical School and passed in December of that year. The following year, on 14 June, she made her society debut along with seven other debutantes at the St. John of God Hospital Ball held at the Kalgoorlie Town Hall.

Nursing

In the mid-1930s Bernie decided to become a nurse and gained a place as a trainee at Perth Public Hospital. She completed her training in 1939 and became registered in general nursing on 19 November. She then worked at Laverton District Hospital, 300 kilometres north of Boulder.

After completing her general nursing, Bernie travelled to Victoria to undertake midwifery at the Women’s Hospital in Melbourne. In June 1941 she successfully sat her Nurses’ Board of Victoria examination and gained her certificate of competency. Bernie was now a double-certified nurse. She spent more time nursing in the Eastern States before returning to Western Australia to enlist in the army.

Enlistment

By now war had been raging in Europe for three years, and already many thousands of Australian women had joined the services in support of Australia’s war effort. Bernie wanted to do her bit, and in 1942 she volunteered for service with the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). She received her call up and on 26 October presented at the recruitment depot in Claremont to enlist. She was posted at the rank of staff nurse to the 118th Australian General Hospital (AGH) in Northam, in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt, before being transferred on 5 November to the 110th AGH in Perth, also known as Hollywood Military Hospital.

On 23 March 1943 Bernie was seconded to the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) and appointed to the rank of lieutenant, the newly instituted military equivalent of staff nurse. She was now eligible for overseas service but for the time being stayed at the 110th AGH. On 26 October that year she was promoted to the rank of sister, but remained, militarily speaking, a lieutenant.

Lieutenant Bernie McMahon, c. 1942. (Ancestry)

Bernie remained at the 110th AGH until the start of 1945. On 18 January of that year, she was appointed to the 2/7th AGH and was marched in on 5 February. After being raised in Seymour, Victoria in August 1940, the 2/7th AGH had served in the Middle East before being transferred to Buna in New Guinea in August 1943. In May 1944 the unit had moved to Lae, and to Lae Bernie was bound.

New Guinea

Bernie travelled to Sydney and on 4 March embarked on the Charon. The ship arrived in Lae on 11 March. As the year wore on, however, Bernie started to become ill. On 13 August she was evacuated from Lae by plane and flown to the 2/14th AGH in Townsville before transferring the next day to the 2nd Australian Women’s Hospital at Yeronga in Brisbane. Finally on 16 August she was evacuated to the 115th Heidelberg Military Hospital in Melbourne. Bernie’s condition deteriorated and on 3 September she succumbed to the illness she had contracted in New Guinea. She was buried at the Springvale War Cemetery in Melbourne.

On 30 October 1945, a notice appeared in the personal columns of the West Australian. It was from Bernie’s fiancé and read as follows:

In loving memory of Sister Bernie (A.A.N.S., 2/7th A.G.H., N.G.), who passed away at Heidelberg Military Hospital, September 3. Inserted by her fiancé, Lieut. Commander William Burns, U.S.N. (China Seas).

Sweet memory is the golden chain

That binds us till we meet again.

In memory of Bernie.

Sources
  • Ancestry.
  • Carnamah Historical Society and Museum, Western Australian Nurses 1919–1949.
  • Government of Western Australia, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
  • National Archives of Australia.
  • Virtual War Memorial Australia, ‘Bernadine Theresa McMahon.’
Sources: Newspapers
  • Kalgoorlie Miner (22 May 1909, p. 9), ‘Marriage Ceremony.’
  • Kalgoorlie Miner (21 Aug 1920, p. 5), ‘All Hallows’ Juvenile Ball.’
  • Kalgoorlie Miner (16 Aug 1922, p. 4), ‘Family Notices.’
  • Kalgoorlie Miner (23 Aug 1922, p. 3), ‘Obituary.’
  • Kalgoorlie Miner (16 Jun 1933, p. 3), ‘St. John of God Ball.’
  • The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, 11 Jul 1941, p. 21), ‘Midwifery Results.’
  • The West Australian (Perth, 8 Sept 1945, p. 1), ‘Family Notices.’
  • The West Australian (Perth, 12 Sept 1945, p. 1), ‘Family Notices.’
  • The West Australian (Perth, 30 Oct 1945, p. 1), ‘Family Notices.’
  • Western Mail (Perth, 10 Jan 1946, p. 26), ‘Personalities.’