Elaine Lenore Balfour-Ogilvy

History

Elaine Balfour-Ogilvy, or Lanie as she was known to her friends, was born on 11 January 1912 to Major Harry and Jane Balfour-Ogilvy of Renmark, South Australia.

She attended Woodlands School Adelaide as a boarder from 1928–29. She excelled in her studies and was a member of the dramatic and debating societies. She was a capable swimmer and tennis player. She was also a singer and was invited to join the Adelaide Choral Society.

She trained at Adelaide Children’s Hospital and completed her training in 1934. She won the silver medal for her final results.

Sister Balfour-Ogilvy enlisted on 13 September 1940. She was appointed to the 2/4th Casualty Clearing Station of the AANS and in February 1941 embarked on the Queen Mary, bound for Singapore and Malaya. She worked with the 9th Field Ambulance and the 4th CCS in Lampai, South Johore. She remained there until the inevitable fall of Singapore. She, along with the remaining nurses, would leave on the SS Vyner Brooke on 12 February 1942.

When the fall of Singapore was imminent, most nurses were evacuated, but a few, including Lanie, assisted to the last before loading children and injured men onto a small coastal steamer, the SS Vyner Brooke. On 14 February, Japanese planes bombed and sank the steamer. Lanie, who learned to swim in the Murray, swam to a rope trailing from a lifeboat and assisted and encouraged others.

Several hours later, around 80 survivors, including Lanie, had reached shore. She and 21 other nurses tended to the needy. Two days later, the group had split, and those that remained decided to surrender. They were met by Japanese soldiers who took the men behind a bluff. The soldiers returned wiping their bayonets. The nurses were then made to walk into the sea, and as they did, were shot from behind.

The longest north–south road in the Loxton Settlement and a wing in the Renmark Municipal Library recognise this young, beautiful, laughing Riverlander who died so tragically aged just 30.