Peggy Everett Farmaner (1913 - 1942)

Born 8 Mar 1913 in Koombana, Lapsley-road, Claremont, Western Australia, Australia

Ancestors

Died 16 Feb 1942 at age 28 in Banka Island, Sumatra

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Biography

Sister Peggy Farmaner was killed in action at Bangka Island during the Second World War.

Peggy Everett Farmaner was murdered by Japanese soldiers on 16th February 1942 at Bangka Island, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia).

PEGGY EVERETT FARMANER (Farmaner-7)

PARENTS. George Frederick Farmaner & Susan Flora (Everett) Farmaner

BIRTH. 8 Mar 1913, Koombana, Lapsley-road, Claremont, Western Australia, Australia

BIRTH. WA BDM Birth Reg: #80/1913

Family name Farmaner

Given names Peggy E

Place of birth District of Claremont

BIRTH NOTICE. FARMANER.—On March 8, at Koombana, Lapsley-road, Claremont, to Mr. and Mrs. G. F. Farmaner—a daughter.

WWII Service Record:

Name FARMANER, PEGGY EVERETT

Service Australian Army

Service Number WX3438 (W233413)

Date of Birth 8 Mar 1913

Place of Birth CLAREMONT, WA

Date of Enlistment 14 Aug 1940

Locality on Enlistment CLAREMONT, WA

Place of Enlistment PERTH, WA

Next of Kin FARMANER, GEORGE

Date of Death 16 Feb 1942

Rank Sister

Posting on Death 2/4 Casualty Clearing Station

WW2 Honours and Gallantry None for display

Prisoner of War Yes

Roll of Honour CLAREMONT WA

DEATH. 16 Feb 1942, Banka Island, Sumatra

A.I.F. NURSES. MALAYAN EVACUATION. "Ship Bombed and Sunk." After Singapore fell on February 15, 1942, a party of AIF nurses, including two from this State, reached Fremantle safely on February 23, 1942, having survived bombing raids between Singapore and the Dutch East Indies. There was no news of the other AIF nurses, including six from this State, who were later posted as missing. Last year one of these six WA nurses was reported to be a prisoner of war in Sumatra. On Saturday, the mother of Sister Peggy Everett Farmaner, of Clare- mont, received the following letter from the Army:

"Information has been received from a source that is considered to be reliable but which, for security reasons, cannot be made known, that your daughter is reported to have been evacuated with other members of the AANS from Singapore about February 11 or 12, 1942, on a small ship. The vessel was bombed and machine-gunned by the enemy near Sumatra and eventually foundered. The information received indicates that some nurses reached the shore and were subsequently concentrated in a POW camp in Sumatra. "But your daughter was one of a number of whom no further report was received and who still remains posted as missing. The information above mentioned appears to be authentic, particularly in the absence of any report from the International Red Cross, Geneva, or of any communication from your daughter and it must be reluctantly accepted that there must be little hope that she survived. Therefore it is with very much regret that I have to advise you that the records of Sister Farmaner will now be endorsed: 'Previously reported missing. Now posted missing, believed killed on or after February 12, 1942 "

Sister Parmaner trained at the Perth Hospital and remained on the staff for the next two years. To gain experience she went to Syndey and was nursing at the Masonic Hospital until the outbreak of war, when she returned to WA to enlist from her home State. While waiting to be called up she worked at the Mount Hospital until August, 1940. Sister Farmaner was posted to No 110 AGH, then at Claremont, and left with the first party of nurses for Singapore in January, 1941. When the Japanese invaded Malaya Sister Farmaner was attached to the Fourth Casualty Clearing Station, which handled frontline casualties at Segamat and Kluang before being moved back to Johore and then to Singapore. The last letter her mother received was written in Singapore on February 9. 1942, when she was attached to No 10 AGH.

DEATH NOTICE. FARMANER. Lieut Peggy. AANS (4th CCS), killed by enemy action, February, 1942, on or near Banka Island, beloved youngest daughter of Mr and Mrs G. F. Farmaner, of Claremont; much-loved sister of Eileen (Mrs F. L. Squire, Mt Barker), Sgt Harold (Hill), 9th Division (Tarakan), Molly (Mrs E. A. Warne, Mt Barker). Fragrant memories always.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Sister FARMANER, PEGGY EVERETT

Service Number WFX3438

Died 16/02/1942

Aged 28

A.I.F. 2/4 C.C.S. Australian Army Nursing Service

Daughter of George Fred and Flora Susan Farmaner, of Claremont, Western Australia.

Commemorated at SINGAPORE MEMORIAL

Location: Singapore

Cemetery/memorial reference: Column 141

PEGGY EVERETT FARMANER |1930 COLLEGIAN, MLC Western Australia) ^[1]

Nurse Peggy Farmaner's tragic wartime death in 1942 after the fall of Singapore is remembered by her family to this day. "Her death was absolutely devastating for everyone," says Peggy's grandniece, Susan Thomson.

Peggy completed her primary school education at MLC, and then attended St Mary's Anglican Girl's School for her senior years. After leaving school Peggy trained as a nurse, and when war broke out signed up to the 2/4th Casualty Clearing Station in Malaysia.

Tom Hamilton, the doctor who headed the station, described her as "a pretty little Western Australian, who was full of fun." When war was declared on the Japanese on December 8, 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbour, the 2/4th CCS was relocated to the OldhamHallSchool.

Over the next few months the nurses were evacuated from Singapore and Malaya. On February 12, 1942, Peggy was among 65 Australian Army nurses evacuated on the Vyner Brooke, the last boat out. There were 300 men, women and children on board as well. At 2.00pm on 14 February the Vyner Brooke was bombed by Japanese aircraft. The ship sank in Banka Strait within 20 minutes and 50 people died.

Peggy, one of a group of 22 nurses who survived the sinking, held onto a rope which hung from a lifeboat, spending up to eight hours in the water before being washed ashore on Radji Beach, Banka Island. The nurses stayed with wounded civilians and 20 British soldiers who were survivors of another ship. A Japanese patrol found them and the group surrendered.

On February 16 the Japanese took the men around a headland and shot and bayoneted them. They then forced the 22 nurses to wade into the sea, where they were shot in the back. Peggy's body was never recovered. The horrific incident became known as the Banka Island Massacre.

Peggy's sister, Eileen, who attended MLC from 1916-1920 and was dux for two years, died seven years later. "She contracted polio but my father, Peter, maintains she died of a broken heart," says Susan. "She had never gotten over the loss of her sister."

In 2012 Susan took part in the Premier's Anzac Student Tour to Malaysia. "Every memorial service, every memorial that we visited, made me think of Peggy."

Peggy's name can be found on Panel 96 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Sources

1. ↑ PEGGY EVERETT FARMANER |1930 COLLEGIAN, MLC Western Australia): https://www.mlc.wa.edu.au/our-community/our-voices/peggy-everett-farmaner

• Birth: WA BDM Birth Reg: #80/1913

• Birth Notice: Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954) Fri 14 Mar 1913, Page 35: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37955575

• WWII Service Record: https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=739899&c=WW2

• A.I.F. NURSES. MALAYAN EVACUATION: The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) Mon 12 Jun 1944, Page 4: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/44812457

• Death Notice: The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) Wed 19 Sep 1945, Page 1: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51769218

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission: https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/4018736/farmaner,-peggy-everett/

• Virtual War Memorial Australia. FARMANER, Peggy Everett: https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/627599