A rare example of an honour board in an all girls' school

This War Service Honour Board commemorates Old Scholars of St Peter’s Girls’ School who served in the Second World War. Dating from 1995 it was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the war’s end. Mrs Noeline Hormann led the project to identify former pupils who enlisted, or who worked with the Australian Red Cross and other civilian agencies in Australia and overseas.

The Honour Board is rare example of a war service honour board in all girls’ school. It hangs in the foyer of the School Chapel in Stonyfell, South Australia.

There are 95 names on the Board listed under seven headings. Two died on active service: Ellen Keats who was killed in Bangka Island and Bryant Sedgley (a kindergarten pupil) who was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea.

Stories behind the names on the Board reveal the wide variety of roles undertaken by women in the Second World War. The women commemorated include a physiotherapist who survived the Singapore evacuation and served overseas again, a doctor who worked in England and India, a nurse caring for displaced persons in Germany and Italy with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Association, a technician involved in chemical warfare trials in Far North Queensland, a Red Cross worker assisting Australian POWs on their release in England, and a nurse working on a hospital train in the Northern Territory.