Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is 75 years since the fall of Singapore, and I rise to speak on Wilma Young, nursing sister and war hero. She was born in Glenorchy, Victoria on 17 August 1916 and died in Melbourne on 28 May 2001, aged 84. A Woman's War is the book written about Wilma Young. Wilma Young was a customer in my drapery store. She was a farmer's wife. To me, she was a woman who had cred around the community that I could not understand, but that was because of not only her war service but everything that she did after that time. This woman was an amazing activist, even after the tragedy of war that she went through. She was aboard the Vyner Brooke when it was bombed by the Japanese. Her best friend died beside her in the water. She survived that and survived the incarceration of the war. More than that, after she came back to her farm at Cardinia, she lost her 18-year-old daughter to a drunk driver. You would have thought that would have been the end of the story, but Wilma Young then campaigned to have the state laws changed with regard to drink-driving. She was the driving force behind the support of people emerging from the armed forces with post-traumatic disorders. She was one of the early pioneers to support our troops in those times. I was just reminded on the phone by Anne Wetherill that, when she had her car accident and Wilma was campaigning for the women's war memorial, Wilma walked into Anne's hospital room and handed her the biggest bunch of flowers she had ever seen. For the whole of her life, Wilma Young protected and looked after other people.