Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Patsy Adam-Smth (1924-2001)

Patricia Jean Adam-Smith, AO, OBE (31 May 1924 – 20 September 2001) known as 'Patsy', was an Australian author, historian and servicewoman.

Best known for her signature work 'The Anzacs', published in 1976, she had a host of titles to her name including a three-part autobiograpy. comprising 'Hear the Train Blow' about growing up in a railway family in Victoria's Mallee in the 1930s,  'Goodbye Girlie' about her service in WW2, and 'There Was a Ship' describing hert time as Australia's first licenced female radio operator on a sea-going ship, one of hundreds of coastal traders plying Australian waters after WW2.

The Anzacs was written with a different perspective, that of a woman reflecting with great compassion on the diaries and letters of the men whose stories she was documenting. Beautifully written,  poignant, insightful with a level of intimacy not seen previously in hostories of that kind.  The timing and content of the book helped invigorate a new appreciation of the service of the AIF in WW1 along with 'The Broken Years' by Professor Bill Gammage in 1974..  

She was a prolific writer on a range of subjects covering history, folklore and the preservation of national traditions. following the success of 'The Anzacs'(1978), Australian Women at War (1984) and Prisoners of War (1992).

Born out of wedlock, Patricia Jean Smith was adopted by railway workers.  Her mother was a Caretaker and her father a fettler.  She moved with her family to a succession of of small Victorian country towns mainly in the Mallee, and was educated at small country schools.  'Hear the Train Blow' charted this course of events.

In WW2, she enlisted as a nursing Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) during the Second World War, serving from 17 March 1943 to 14 July 1944 transferring to the Australian Women's Medical Service folliwng a re-structure part-way through her service. This period of her life including her 1944 marriage, was recounted in 'Goodbye Girlie'.

Later, she was the first female Australian licenced radio operator she worked on a merchant ship from 1954 to 1960,  described in 'There was a Ship'.  She then lived in Hobart, Tasmania, from 1960 to 1967, working as an Adult Education Officer. In 1970, she took the position of Manuscripts Field Officer for the State Library of Victoria, a job she held until 1982.

She was a member of the Board of Directors for the Royal Humane Society Australasia from 1976 to 2001, and from 1983 to 2001 she was a Committee Member of the Museum of Victoria. Patsy Adam-Smith was appointed to the Order of Australia, as an Officer of the Order, for her service to community history,  through the preservation of national traditions and folklore and the recording of oral histories.

Author's note

Based on information in her book "Goodbye Girlie' (Penguin, 1994), the following relates to her service during World War 2. 

Before her marriage to Clarence William Beckett in 1944, Patricia Jean Smith (later known as Patsy Adam-Smith) enlisted in the Volunteer Aid Detachment in 1941. She was posted to 108 Australian General Hospital, located in Ballarat, Victoria.

In 1942 the VAD changed to khaki uniforms and Army basic training was instituted. She became a member of the Australian Army Medical Women's Service and was sent to Darley Camp about 5 km north west of Baccus Marsh. On completion she was sent to the 1st Orthopaedic Hospital near Toowoomba, Queensland. 

She qualified on a Warrant Officer's School in Liverpool, near Sydney, and was promoted to Corporal. Four days after her marriage in Tasmania in 1944 she returned to her unit until discharged.