Joyce Ethel Whitworth

Whitworth was born in Randwick, a suburb of Sydney, and was the second of three daughters born to John and Florence Sophia (née Miller) Whitworth; both of whom were born in New Zealand. Her father worked as a racehorse training and, when the family experienced financial difficulties, she was forced to withdraw from the Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School in Darlinghurst around the age of 16. At 18, in 1929, she began training as a nurse at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children but her traineeship was ended after she contracted and had to recover from scarlet fever. In this same period she also cared for her father, who died in May 1938, before undertaking a secretarial course and becoming a stenographer and secretary. == World War II service ==

In June 1940 Whitworth joined the Women's Australian National Service where she participated in outdoor exercises and undertook courses in map-reading, signalling and military administration. She was soon promoted to honorary lieutenant and, by June 1941, honorary captain and commandant of the Eastern Suburbs defence unit which was made up of over 100 women. In August 1941 Whitworth volunteered for the newly formed Australian Women's Army Service following her recommendation by Margaret Loder Wakehurst who called her a 'born leader' and 'very steady and dependable'. There she was made a captain in January of 1942 and soon after she was appointed chief instructor of an AWAS recruit training school in Killara. In July 1942 Whitworth was promoted to temporary major, a role that would become permanent in 1944, and from September 1942 took over the 2nd AWAS Training Battalion where she gained the nickname 'Bertha Blitz'. For the remainder of the war she worked in various positions in one of which she met and formed a close friendship with Barbara Gilchrist Donkin, a captain within the Australian Army Medical Women's Service and they became lifelong companions. == Post World War II ==

When Whitworth was demobbed and moved to the reserves on 28 June 1946 both Whitworth and Donkin, alongside Donkin's mother a brother, purchased a small farm in Dural where , with the help of a small government allowance from the army and family support. Whitworth said of this: At the farm, which was , they grew fruit trees and raised animals and Whitworth called them peasant farmers and stated that they worked seven days a week. In 1981 Whitworth and Donkin retired and moved to a retirement village in Castle Hill, where they lived in nearby units and Whitworth continued to volunteer. She died on 19 September 1998. == References ==