WHITE, Jessie McHardy (1870-1957)
Jessie's father John Williamson was one of four Scottish brothers who selected 80 acres each in Dixons Creek in the 1860s. They named the landmark hill on which they settled High Bow Hill. Their holdings expanded and at one stage John and James shared 350 acres to the east of High Bow Hill. John married a young widow Mary Durward (née McHardy) in 1859. Jessie, born in 1870, was their seventh child and she and her siblings (and cousins) attended the Dixons Creek school.
Jessie, like her mother, was also widowed at a young age; she was only 26 when her husband of three years was tragically killed in 1896. She then trained as a nurse and midwife and by 1906 was running her own private hospital in East Melbourne. She enlisted as one of the original members of the Australian Army Nursing Service 3rd District.and left Australia with the convoy in October 1914. During the Dardanelles campaign she worked on a hospital ship which carried patients from Gallipoli to Lemnos Island. Following the evacuation from Gallipoli in December 1915 Jessie White was transferred to England where she was appointed Principal Matron of the Australian Army Nursing Service. She returned to Australia to attend to personal matters in September 1916 but rejoined the AANS in June 1917 and took charge of a British Hospital in Salonika. Jessie continued with the AANS until August 1919 and received many awards including the Royal Red Cross (1st class) and an MBE. She resumed her civilian nursing career and was constantly active in the affairs of returned nurses. Her name is recorded on the Dixons Creek Honor Roll.
Jessie died on 26 October 1957 at her home in East Hawthorn.
