The First to Fall
Henry C MouldsImmediately beneath the statement “IN MEMORY OF THE BRAVE WHO FELL IN THE 2ND WORLD WAR 1939-1945” on the Bellingen War Memorial is the name Sister M. A. DeMestre.
Sister Margaret Augusta De Mestre (NFX70211) was born in Kalang via Bellingen, New South Wales, on 16 November 1915. Her parents, James and Alice, owned and operated a dairy farm and she was the first of six children, four girls and two boys.
Sister De Mestre received her nursing training at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, beginning in 1935 when she was just 19 years old. Her aunt, Sarah De Mestre, had served as a nurse at the 3rd Australian General Hospital during the First World War, after also having trained at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
In early August 1940, Sister De Mestre enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service. She was posted to His Majesty’s Australian Hospital Ship (HMAHS) Manunda and twice sailed to the Middle East as a member of the nursing staff aboard. After a brief period at the 113 Australian General Hospital at Concord in 1941 she rejoined HMAHS Manunda in January 1942.
On the 19th of February 1942 HMAHS Manunda was anchored in Darwin Harbour when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched its first air attacks on Darwin. Manunda was first hit by shrapnel and then a bomb, as a result of which twelve members of the crew and hospital staff were killed, including Sister De Mestre. She died of shrapnel wounds received to her back and abdomen. Forty-seven others were wounded.
The ship was heavily damaged yet the medical and nursing staff continued to treat incoming wounded and staff manned the life-boats rescuing injured men from the sea.
Margaret De Mestre was twenty-six years old and was the first Australian Imperial Force nurse to be killed in action on Australian soil. Her name can be found on panel 96 in the Second World War section of the Roll of Honour, in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.
In an interesting postscript to the story of Margaret De Mestre, in 1945 the surviving members of the Australian Army Nursing Service who had left Singapore on the 12th of February 1942, aboard the ship SS Vyner Brooke, were repatriated after being captives of the Imperial Japanese in Sumatra. They were returned to Australia aboard HMAHS Manunda.
Sources:
The West Australian Perth, W.A - Friday, 13 March 1942
May Wiseman (niece).
Australian War Memorial
National Archives of Australia
