Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Biography courtesy of Kay Taylor and Brighton Cemetorians (mailto:[email protected])

Graduated 1937 (Children's and Allied Hospitals)

Betty was born in Beechworth, Victoria - the sixth of eleven children born to Thomas George and Elizabeth Catherine Smith. She attended school in the area and it was in December 1934 that Betty left home to start her training in Melbourne at the Children's and Allied Hospitals, where the training comprised three years with children and six months with adults. In an article about her in Nursing Notes in 1999 Betty recalls being very forlorn and homesick at first. After graduation Betty did her midwifery training at the Women’s Hospital and then was in charge of the children’s ward at the Mercy Private Hospital. 1941 saw Betty doing her Infant Welfare training before she entered the Air Force in 1942 for the next four and a half years. During this time Betty tutored medical orderlies in NSW and was in New Guinea with the No.1 Medical Air Evacuation Transport Unit.

After the war Betty was exhausted and ‘never wanted to nurse again’, so, after a brief stint at Beechworth Hospital, Betty successfully applied for the position of second in charge at Hamilton Russell House (HRH) – the Alfred’s thirty-nine bed private wing. Shortly after Betty started, Matron Mary Vasey became ill and Betty was soon appointed as Matron herself. She held the position for seventeen years. Betty recalled that time as the happiest years of her life.  A great variety of nursing skills were required to deal with all kinds of surgery and with many of the Alfred’s best surgeons. Only trained nurses were employed and there was one RN to every three patients, until 1957 when second and third year students were brought in to gain some experience in private nursing. Betty recalls one of the great innovations of that time as the wonderful ‘taxi’ chair, which allowed patients to be wheeled to the bathroom.

Robin Benjamin, worked at HRH and recalls Betty, or "Smithy", as a person she admired and respected enormously and who demanded a high level of nursing care for her patients, but who was always fair. Each patient's meal at lunchtime was served by Betty, who knew precisely what diet they were allowed. Betty’s rule with the Honoraries was that, if they ever had a problem with a nurse, or the care being delivered, they were to speak with her and she would deal with it. Robin remembers Betty almost chasing an Honorary around the Birdcage reiterating that it was her job to deal with her nurses, not his - he had forgotten her golden rule. The nurses in HRH were nurses and expected to act accordingly, but they were also her "girls”.

Betty left the Alfred when she married Laurie Hassett in 1964 and it was Robin who gave them an engagement party. Stephanie Coote, who also worked at HRH with Betty around the time she became engaged to Laurie, remembers the look of absolute happiness on Betty's face when she showed her engagement ring. She looked, and was, delighted to be engaged to be married. Betty and Stephanie had the same style of engagement ring - a sapphire with diamonds, and this provided a fruitful topic of conversation at morning tea. Betty and Laurie shared nineteen years of a very happy marriage, until Laurie died on 30 December, 1983.

In 2000 Betty left Melbourne and returned to live in Wangaratta to be close to her youngest sister, nieces and nephews. She lived at St. John's Retirement Village and enjoyed the activities provided there, keeping up her hydrotherapy at the local pool and also going to an activity class once a week. Her brain remained active almost to the very end - she loved reading the newspaper and was a whiz at the cryptic crossword. Robin Benjamin sent Betty a copy of Nursing Notes shortly before she died, and, according to her sister, she thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Betty died on 14 January 2013 and, according to her wish, was buried at Brighton Cemetery, Melbourne next to her husband. A relaxed and meaningful graveside service was attended by many of her extended family.

Nursing was a big part of Betty’s life - she talked often about her time at Hamilton Russell House and the many friends made there. She will be remembered by many for the fine nurse and leader, she was. A dedicated and fine nurse...one of the 'old' school. Rest in peace, Betty.

Compiled from Nursing Notes (1999 Vol 4 No.1 Page 7) and information supplied by Betty’s nieces Mary Hill and Kay Taylor (Ficken), Group Z Graduated 1960 as well as Robin Benjamin and Stephanie Coote both from Group Z.