This window was made by Brooks, Robinson & Co. from a cartoon that was supplied by William Mathieson (1897-1961) of Mathieson & Gibson. It was commissioned by Sister TF Surridge (née Hance) of Liebig Street, Warrnambool in October 1952. The subject of the design was Love with symbols of service and sacrifice (torch, cross, lamp) in the upper and lower panels of the window. The AIF Badge was inserted into the lower panel. A small notice appeared in the Melbourne Argus, noting the unveiling of the memorial stained glass window to a nurse, Mona Wilton, who lost her life in the evacuation of Singapore. In 2010 the window was removed and placed in storage.
Mona Margaret Wilton (1914-1942) completed her general training at Warrnambool Hospital and then specialised in midwifery. She joined the Australian Army Nursing Service in 1939 at the age of 27 years and was later attached to 13 Army General Hospital. She first travelled to Singapore then Johore Bahru before her unit was forced to retreat again to Singapore as the Japanese invaded from the north. Mona was one of the group of nurses who was evacuated on the inadequately small vessel, Vyner Brooke, which was bombed and sunk by the Japanese on the 13 February 1942. Of the 65 Australian nurses embarked upon the Vyner Brooke, 12 were killed during the air attack or drowned following the sinking, 21 were murdered on Radji Beach, and 32 became internees, 8 of whom subsequently died before the end of the war. At first she was reported missing, but in a letter from the army to her father Frederick Wilton, "Bellbraes", Allansford on 12 February 1945, this was amended 'for official purposes presumed to be dead' on 14 February 1942, at Banka Island, Indonesia.
References & Acknowledgements
AWM Roll of Honour; NAA: B883, VX61225; Argus, 30 March 1953, p.2; Brooks, Robinson & Co. Job Books (1923-c.1966)
With thanks for Wayne Hay, Warrnambool Base Hospital for photographs of the window
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