Although the window is unsigned, it is attributed to Mathieson & Gibson on stylistic grounds. The female figure of Hope may be a portrait of the nurse, Alice Margaret O'Donnell.
Alice Margaret O'Donnell was born on 15 June 1901 at Myrtleford. She was single, atrained nurse, aged 41, when she enlisted at Heidelberg on 29 October 1942. She volunteered for service with the AIF and allotted duty with 115 General Hospital, Heidelberg. On 8 April 1943 she embarked Sydney for the 2/3 Australian Hospital Ship Centaur. When the ship was torpedoed off Moreton Island, Queensland on 14 May 1943, Sister O'Donnell was posted among those 'missing believed drowned by enemy action'; this was confirmed two months later. Her five brothers served with the AIF, two of whom were POWs under the Japanese. She is remembered on the Sydney Memorial, Rookwood Necropolis, Sydney NSW.
References & Acknowledgements
AWM Roll of Honour; NAA: B883, VX112194; Argus, 24 April 1953, p.2; Camperdown Chronicle, 25 May 1943, p.4.
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