Elizabeth Bourne (Betty)

BARLING

Elizabeth Bourne Hooper entered this world on the 11th of April 1929, to Isabel and Cyril Hooper, a younger sister to Ben.

Her early life was in Rosanna – when Rosanna was an outer suburb of Melbourne. Life rotated around family and friends and their church at St Andrew’s Anglican Church, just down the road in Grandview Grove. It was there she met and forged a lifelong friendship with Margaret Eccles , later Stevens, around the age of 4 and lasted a lifetime .

Betty was schooled first at Heidleberg State School and in Grade 5 / 1940  moved across to the newly built  Rosanna Primary.

Later secondary schooling was at East Ivanhoe Central then Preston Girls.

Marg’s memories are of a lively friend, talented pianist, and later a proud owner of a Morris Minor and enjoying her independence. A great mate on many activities and outings with the group of young people from the church. And little time for boyfriends.

Betty trained as nurse at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital graduating in August 1949 , undertaking additional training to become a triple certificate registered nurse , including midwifery at the Melbourne Women’s Hospital in August 53 ( It wasn’t until 1954 that the hospital was conferred the title Royal by Queen Elizabeth the second, who ascended the throne in 1952 )  , Warnambool until October 55 then back to Melbourne at Diamond Creek and the Repat.

It was there that she used to work alongside Dr Don Cordner, one of the four Cordner boys that played football for Melbourne Football Club , Don going on to captain and also win a Brownlow Medal. He was also highly regarded as a doctor and Marg recalls it was the closest she saw Betty came to swooning.

Later, as her boys played football she could be found sitting in a car on the fence of country football matches or up in the stands at VFL games when Tim made the move down to Richmond and then Sydney. She wasn’t great to sit next to – the protective mother hen would be in full voice “ That was a bit rough! Don’t you touch my boy!” But Tim learnt lessons well and when he came back to play for Birchip in 1986 he helped them to a Premiership.

Marg recalls that on the birth of her first child in 1955, Marg’s mother had already died, and Betty took a week off work to be a help at home with the new baby. Much appreciated by Marg and her husband Norm.

And it was also a little later in her nursing career that her life was to take a further turn.

Caring for a patient, a young man who had to have a toe amputated after crushing it under a 44 gallon drum.

He promptly went home, dropped his then girlfriend and went a courting.

 John Christopher Barling went from patient in bed 41 to boyfriend and then husband!! I’m not sure how it would be regarded back then – a nurse dating a patient. But all ended well.

They married on 10 April 1957 with Marg as bridesmaid, Betty having been bridesmaid for Marg several years earlier.

John’s sister Mary had trained as a teacher and went to Birchip up in the Mallee , and there met and married a local farmer , Ross Smith.

Following Mary to Birchip, John first worked for AD Hillgrove then began share farming for Alan Lee, John was already share farming when they married according to the listing of his occupation on the Marriage Certifcate.

It was on this property that Betty and John built their home and then set about filling it with Steven , Jackie, Peter, Andrew and Tim. Betty and John later bought the farm from Alan.

The kitchen was warm and often the centre of activities in the house. Her cooking was often constrained by John’s preference for meat and three veg. But her corned beef , tuna mournay and curried sausages remain my comfort foods. She would also make custard from scratch – but we would eat it from the billy, while still warm – leaving little for the meal it was intended.

Betty and John’s Christian Faith had been very much a part of their upbringing. Another very formative influence for Betty and John was the Billy Graham Crusades in  1959 .

 More than 3 million people—nearly a third of Australia’s 10 million population at the time—attended a 1959 Crusade event around Australia in person. Venues in Melbourne needed to accommodate larger and larger crowds, ultimately at the MCG including allowing seating on the hallowed turf!

There, a young couple, John and Betty, recommitted their lives to the service of Jesus Christ – a pledge they honoured for all their lives.

John as a lay minister for the Methodist church, Betty as an organist, enthusiastic singer of hymns and involved in Sunday School, bible study groups and prayer groups, work for missions – including hosting visiting missionaries such as John and Shirley Jones, John and Hazel Walker, Betty Kirsch to name a few, on furlough from their postings far and wide – New Guinea , Africa, Asia – their slide shows and stories were mesmerising.

Through that influence , Prompting son Andrew to follow one such missionary couple to Liberia in West Africa for an elective term in his final year at university.

Betty started working at The Birchip Bush Nursing Hospital in 1968, Tim the youngest having been born in 1965,  and continued there until her retirement in 1991 , having taken on roles including Director of Nursing from 1988.

In 1978, when it became evident that none of the children would stay on at the farm, it was sold and the family made the move in to the township of Birchip.

Many in Birchip remember Betty’s care with great fondness. Whether it was in the delivery suite , post operatively or at end of life care . She was remembered for compassion, professionalism, being a great nurse, a great person and a great leader:  by colleagues, patients and community.

There would be many highlights for Betty in her working life.

Two stand out – in January 1983 she was able to work alongside her daughter, our sister,  Jackie as nurses in Birchip when Jac came back from a period in the US at Bible College.

 And secondly, when the Management Committee of the Hospital saw fit to confer on her a Life Governorship of Birchip Bush Nursing Hospital  in 1991, one of only two Life Governorships in the hospital’s history made to former staff.

It wasn’t that retirement was to be a rest for Betty. Jackie had returned to the US in 1984 and continued to work in nursing in New Hampshire and Vermont. But it was the slow and insidious onset of a progressive neurological condition that took some time to diagnose as Motor Neurone Disease, that led to her returning to Melbourne initially, wanting to maintain her independence for as long as possible, then moving back to Birchip with Betty and John for assistance with her care.

For many years, Jackie in her motorised wheelchair was a feature around Birchip and a deep involvement in advocacy with Motor Neurone Disease Association of Victoria.  Supporting others and their families in the district also affected by MND. Computers and emerging technologies were breaking down the barriers of distance and impaired mobility for Jackie with little more movement than her index finger, a roller ball for typing and computer. They were the subject of a documentary called Each New Morning in 2001 for Screen Australia telling Jackie’s story.

All the time, Betty nursing and attending to Jackie as her physical needs for support increased until Jackie’s passing in June 2005.

Betty and John’s work supporting Jackie and in turn supporting the work, care and advocacy for MND in Australia led to International recognition and an award from the US- MND / ALS Association.

At the same time – Betty’s work continued with supporting missions – including knitting clothes and quilts , collecting clothing for distribution to Ukraine and Timor L’Este. Hers was a life of service.

They left Birchip for Bendigo in 2007 – after 50 years as residents of the area.

Those with a country connection will understand that there is often a lot of discussion and debate about what constitutes a local. Dad was once dismissed in an argument – “What would you know, You’re just a blow in !!”

But after careful consideration of the numbers of babies delivered by Betty, having 5 children born locally and having a daughter in the Birchip Cemetery , and 50 years of habitation that I’m pleased to advise that the unofficial mayor of Birchip , John Richmond , has been able to confirm that Betty has been conferred the title of being a “Birchip Local !!” Another badge of honour!

Betty grew up in a time when there was little choice for jobs for women – basically it was nursing , teaching, secretary, retail and once you married – the expectation was that you would resign. It is probably a reflection of challenges in country towns sourcing staff that Betty returned to nursing as a married mother of five.

Betty was a strong, capable woman who achieved many things quietly and without fuss– we sometimes  wonder what she would have tackled if she had been born now, given the opportunities and possibilities. Potentially, in her own quiet and determined way, she and many other strong capable women have helped challenge and change the status quo – to open the range of possibilities available to the next generations.

Her life may not have been heralded , won’t hit the front page of Women’s Weekly, or have a state funeral– but had no less of an impact on those she loved and those she nursed, those she cared for.

To all her grand children and great grand children – Jackson, Corey, Jamison , Tyson and Kobe , but especially to Amanda and Holly, Izzy and Maddy – your grandmother and great grand mother is one of a wave of women that have made the world more open and available to you , for you to take in your grasp and make of it as you will , unconstrained by convention and expectation.

Betty’s was a life of service.

Not servitude, servitude is about the perception that one doesn’t have a choice and is obliged to serve.

True service is about a free and intentional choice to help, support and give aid to another.  

It is both honorable  and noble,  and for Betty, to the glory of her God.

Well played Betty!! And may you now rest in eternal peace.