Eva King

AANS │ Lieutenant │ Second World War │ 1st Netherlands Military Hospital Ship Oranje & 2/3rd Australian Hospital Ship Centaur

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Evelyn Veronica King, known as Eva, was born on 31 December 1905 at Tubbo Station, near Narrandera on the Murrumbidgee River in southern New South Wales. She was the daughter of Mary Anne (Annie) Gallagher (1874–1954), born in Sydney, and Richard (Dick) King (1870–1958), born in Young, New South Wales. Annie and Dick were married in 1900 at Narrandera and took up residence at nearby Tubbo Station until 1913, when they moved to Darlington Point, 60 kilometres to the west of Narrandera.

Eva had five siblings. Richard Lawrence was the eldest, followed by John Cyril (known as Robert), Elizabeth Irene (known as Beatrice or Bessie), Edward Francis and Leslie James.

Eva grew up in Darlington Point and attended the local public school. She was a very popular young person, with many friends in town and a number in Narrandera, but she was also unassuming, quiet and inclined to be reserved.

NURSING

As a young woman, Eva decided to become a nurse, and in September 1928 began training at the Cootamundra District Hospital, 150 kilometres east of Narrandera. She became a sister in 1933 and passed her final examination in May 1934. Eva made many friends in Cootamundra and district, and was greatly admired, both for her cheery personality and for the ability she displayed at her profession. After she gained her registration in general nursing on 20 June 1935, she moved to Sydney and trained in obstetrics at the Crown Street Women’s Hospital, where she met a nurse by the name of Nell Savage, with whom she became good friends. After she completed her obstetrics course, Eva joined the staff of Tumut District Hospital, in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains 80 kilometres south of Cootamundra.

ENLISTMENT

When war broke out in Europe, Eva joined the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) and on 24 June 1941 enlisted in the Australian Military Forces (AMF) for home service with the AANS. She was appointed to the rank of staff nurse and detached to the 113th Australian General Hospital (AGH), which was also known as Yaralla Military Hospital and was located in Concord, Sydney.

Eva King, paybook photo (profile), 24 Nov 1941. (NAA)

At the 113th AGH Eva saw Nell Savage again. Nell had also enlisted in the AMF and been posted to Yaralla as a staff nurse. A little later Eva and Nell met Staff Nurse Myrle Moston, who was posted to the 113th AGH on 12 July and would later serve with the two friends aboard the AHS Centaur.

On 17 November Eva’s and Nell’s appointments to the AMF were terminated upon their secondment the following day to the Second Imperial Australian Force (2nd AIF). Both had been earmarked for service on a hospital ship. In the meantime, they remained at the 113th AGH. On 21 November Staff Nurse Joyce Wyllie was posted to Yaralla. She too would later serve on the Centaur.

There was great excitement in Darlington Point when it became known that Eva, already the first woman from the town to be accepted for military service in the Second World War, had enlisted in the 2nd AIF. On 1 December the Shire Hall was full when a large number of friends and well-wishers attended a social evening arranged in her honour by the War and Patriotic Committee. Eva had to endure standing on the platform with her parents and other relatives in front of everyone, while one by one they came up to laud her. “I think Sister King was the first person I knew upon my arrival in Darlington Point,” recalled Mrs. C. B. Filstoft, who had come to know her intimately. Mrs. N. A. King stated that she was proud to be present on such a unique occasion. Mrs. McKay noted that Sister King and she had been school mates. She was proud to have been associated with Eva and hoped to meet her again upon her return.

THE ORANJE

The hospital ship on which Eva and Nell had been chosen to serve was the 1st Netherlands Military Hospital Ship Oranje, a Dutch luxury liner that had been loaned to the Australian and New Zealand governments in February 1941 for use as a hospital ship. In the latter half of 1941 it had completed two voyages to Port Tewfik in Egypt to embark wounded and ill Australian and New Zealand servicemen. For these voyages its enormous medical staff had been predominantly Dutch, but following the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific, the Dutch staff had been reposted to the Netherlands East Indies and their places taken by Australian and New Zealand staff. Now the Oranje was ready to embark upon its third voyage.

Eva King in AANS outdoor uniform, c. 1941. (Ancestry)

On 26 January 1942 Eva met other AANS nurses assigned to the Oranje, among them Sister Cynthia Haultain and Matron Annie Jewell. Unfortunately, her friend Nell Savage had not been chosen for this voyage but would join the ship for the next and subsequent voyages. The following day Eva, Cynthia, Annie and other nurses boarded the ship and met Sister Mary McFarlane, a South Australian nurse who had completed the first two voyages as a liaison officer.

Later that day the Oranje embarked upon its third voyage. It arrived in Melbourne the following day, where more staff boarded, including Staff Nurses Margaret Adams and Jenny Walker and Sister Eileen Rutherford – all three of whom would also serve on the Centaur. The ship left Melbourne that same day and set out for Port Tewfik, where more than 600 Australian and New Zealand patients were embarked. The Oranje returned to Sydney on 9 March.

Eva completed four more voyages on the Oranje with Cynthia, Annie, Mary, Margaret, Jenny, Nan – and Nell Savage, who had joined them on 24 March. The final three voyages were in reality one long voyage for the nurses. They were away from home for nearly four months. Between 6 November 1942 and 1 March 1943 they sailed from Australia to Port Tewfik, to Durban in South Africa, back to Port Tewfik, back to Durban, back to Port Tewfik, then to New Zealand and finally home to Australia.

THE CENTAUR

The Oranje’s return to Sydney on 1 March 1943 marked the end of Australian involvement with the ship. Medical staff were urgently needed in Australia and New Guinea due to the growing Japanese threat, and the Australians were withdrawn.

Many of the Australian staff were reassigned to a newly commissioned hospital ship, the 2/3rd AHS Centaur. Among them were Eva and her seven AANS colleagues. They were joined by Sisters Myrle Moston, Alice O’Donnell, Edna Shaw and Joyce Wyllie.

On 17 March, as part of the ship’s trial run, the 12 nurses and other staff boarded the Centaur and departed four days later for Townsville. There they collected Australian casualties repatriated from New Guinea and transported them to Brisbane. The ship then sailed further north, to Port Moresby, and picked up more Australian wounded before returning once again to Brisbane.

On the morning of 12 May the Centaur, having passed its shakedown voyage, departed Sydney for Port Moresby. It was tasked with delivering 193 members of the 2/12th Field Ambulance and then embarking Australian casualties.

On the evening of the 13 May, when the Centaur was off the northern New South Wales coast, a party was held to celebrate Matron Annie Jewell’s birthday two days earlier. A special menu was served at dinnertime and then a birthday cake was brought out for her. It was an enjoyable evening.

The next morning at 4.10 am, while most of the 332 people on board were asleep, a Japanese torpedo slammed into the Centaur. It struck the fuel tank, which ignited, causing a massive explosion. The bridge collapsed, and the funnel crashed onto the deck. Fire spread throughout the ship as water rushed in through a gaping hole in the portside hull. Many of those not killed in the explosion or fire were trapped as the ship started to capsize. It was gone in three minutes.

Eva had been in a cabin next door to Nell Savage and Myrle Moston. When the torpedo crashed into the Centaur, Nell and Myrle rushed to a porthole, looked out, and saw the ship ablaze. They raced for their lifebelts. Meanwhile, Eva ran in from her cabin and called out, “Up on deck, Savage.” Eva and Nell had often talked of what they would do if the ship were torpedoed and had planned to stick together. Eva was a poor swimmer, but Nell was a good one and would look after her. Together with Myrle, they ran out of the room but in the confusion on deck became separated. Nell jumped into the water with Myrle, but Myrle was struck on the head by falling debris and disappeared.

Eva, Myrle and nine of their AANS colleagues died that day, as did 178 members of the 2/12th Field Ambulance and 79 others. Nell Savage was among 64 people to survive. They clambered onto rafts and bits of wreckage and floated on the sea for 34 hours.

IN MEMORIAM

On 20 May 1943 Matron Bennett of the Cootamundra District Hospital, together with members of the nursing staff, placed a wreath in memory of Eva on the town’s cenotaph in Albert Park. Leaves of the wreath came from the trees in the grounds of the hospital.

In January 1944 a memorial was unveiled at the hospital in memory of Eva, and in February 1946 a memorial prize in the form of a book was established at the hospital. It was to be awarded each year for general proficiency and good behaviour among the trainee nurses. The inaugural winner was Launa Finley, who was born and grew up in Darlington Point.

In memory of Eva.

SOURCES

Australian War Memorial, ‘The sinking of the Centaur,’ Karl James (2 May 2023).
Goodman, R. (1992), Hospitals Ships, Boolarong Publications.
Goossens, R. SS Maritime (website), ‘MS Oranje.’
Howlett, L. (1991), The Oranje Story, Oranje Hospital Ship Association.
Milligan, C. and Foley, J. (1993), Australian Hospital Ship Centaur: The Myth of Immunity, Nairana Publications.

SOURCES: NEWSPAPERS

The Argus (Melbourne, 24 Apr 1953, p. 2), ‘A memory of the Centaur.’
Catholic Weekly (Sydney, 3 Aug 1944, p. 1), ‘Hospital Chapel in Memory of Medical Staff on ‘Centaur.’’
Cootamundra Herald (21 May 1943, p. 2), ‘Sister E. King.’
Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser (5 Dec 1941, p. 2), ‘Darlington Point.’
Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser (23 Jun 1942, p. 2), ‘Personal.’
Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser (25 May 1943, p. 1), ‘Late Sister E. King.’
Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser (28 May 1943, p. 1), ‘Lieut Sister E. King.’
Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser (7 Jan 1944, p. 2), ‘Personal.’
Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser (5 Feb 1946, p. 2), ‘Local and General.’
The Riverine Grazier (Hay, 11 Jun 1954, p. 1), ‘Obit. – King.’
The Sydney Morning Herald (22 Jun 1934, p. 6), ‘Nurses.’
The Tumut and Adelong Times (25 May 1943, p. 2), ‘Sister Eva King.’