Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Betty Bristow Docker, known to her family as 'Boo', was the only child born to John and Ellen Docker. Betty had an adventurous streak, which evolved during her childhood spent at 'Marree', her family's property on the outskirts of Wagga.

On the same day WWII was declared in September 1939, Betty enrolled in nursing at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. There, she remained on staff until February 1944, when she joined the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service (RAAFNS) as a Sister.

In 1949 she signed up with the British Allied Occupation Force and was appointed to the 77th RAAF Hospital at Iwakuni, Japan, situated just 30 miles from Hiroshima. After working with air evacuation of casualties from the Korean War in 1950-52, Betty returned to Japan where she was appointed Sister in Charge of a RAAF Hospital there, also serving aboard a helicopter picking up servicemen from close to the border between North and South Korea.

Between 1967 and 1969 she supervised the flight nursing staff in and out of Vietnam. Following a string of promotions Betty went on to serve as Matron of the No 4 RAAF Hospital in Butterworth, Malaysia. Her official rank was then Wing Commander. On her retirement, she had spent a total of 28 years with the RAAFNS and was highly decorated, having been awarded the Royal Red Cross (2nd class), the Royal Red Cross, the Florence Nightingale Medal for distinguished service and the National Medal.

When Betty died in 2001, her funeral was held at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and despite the lofty heights she had achieved in her career, her funeral notice closed with two simple words 'Farewell Boo'.

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Group Officer Betty Docker, who has died aged 81, assisted in and supervised the evacuation of sick or injured Australian Servicemen from three wars, and rose to become Matron-in-Chief of the Royal Australian Air Force.

In an adult life devoted to nursing and the RAAF, she received numerous medals and commendations including the Royal Red Cross, the Florence Nightingale Medal, Fellowship of the College of Nursing Australia and Queen's Honorary Nursing Sister. She twice attending royalty during visits to Australia, but was also known to sit up all night at the bedside of critically injured Servicemen. She fought for the rights of others — for equal Service pay for women, retention of married women, and for men to be given equal opportunity within the nursing service.

In retirement in Canberra, she retained a passionate interest in the RAAF, working for the establishment of a national memorial to Service nurses on ANZAC Parade. Nothing gave her more satisfaction than to be present at the ANZAC Day march in Canberra in 1999 when, to mark the centenary of the Service, returned nurses led the parade up to the Australian War Memorial.

Betty Bristow Docker was born into a long-established pioneering family in St Kilda, Victoria, on 26 March 1920, the only child of John and Ellen Docker. After finishing her schooling she began her nurse training at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne the day war was declared in September 1939. She joined the RAAF Nursing Service in 1944, and apart from a three-year break in the 1950s to care for her father, remained a member until retirement in 1975.

Her speciality was in aerial medical evacuations, and one of her first was to help bring Australian Servicemen home from Japanese prisoner-of-war camps at the end of World War II. The experience gained here was invaluable in later years when she supervised others in similar operations during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

In 1957 she was seconded to the 34th VIP Squadron to attend Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother while flying on her tour of Australia, and performed a similar duty for Princess Alexandria the following year. She later served in England on an exchange tour of duty with the RAF from 1963 to 1965, an opportunity offered only to the Service's best officers. She was appointed Matron-in-Chief of the RAAF Nursing Service in March 1969.

A former head of the RAAF, Air Marshal Jake Newham (Ret'd), described her as a thorough professional who would have succeeded in any command. 'She insisted on high standards, she was very firm but always had an unfailing dignity and courtesy,' he said. 'She got loyalty from those who served under her, and gave loyalty in return.'

Air Force News (National : 1997 - 2020)Saturday 1 September 2001 - Page 16