'Concern and care'

The RAAF squadron leader and nurse passed away earlier this year but not before she had a huge impact on anyone she met.

Barbara Ann Fillery McKeown (nee Carroll) grew up in Tambo in Queensland but began her career as a nurse in Broken Hill in NSW. It was here that she found her comfort zone, where most people wouldn’t, dealing with emergencies and trauma.

She was once tasked to surgery for 26 hours after an iron-ore train crashed into a bus loaded with passengers.

“Although she was exhausted, the opportunity to provide nursing to multiple injuries and wounded must have had some influence on her decision to join the military,” Barbara’s husband Graeme said.

“As she had a number of friends that flew in World War II it seemed logical to select the Royal Australian Air Force.”

She was posted to Laverton where the RAAF had a base hospital and was later posted to the sick quarters on RAAF base Sale in Victoria in 1962.

As the only medical person on base, she was confronted with the catastrophic results of the then RAAF aerobatic team – the Red Sales - crashing into a paddock.

All four aeroplanes and six pilots were lost in horrific circumstances on August 15 1962. Barbara had to cope with all the retrieval aftermath. It was made more poignant for her as all the pilots and their wives and families were her friends. With only the Padre for support, she had the job of counselling wives and retrieving their husband's bodies.

She was posted to Malaya – now Malaysia - in 1964 as the senior ward sister during Indonesian confrontation, with Australian troops operating in Borneo.

Whenever a medevac was required she went, following the retrieval and, if needed, she doubled up to work in the operating theatres.

In 1965 Barbara’s exceptional medevac skills were in demand in Vietnam. She would climb aboard a DC3 and fly to Vung Tau, Saigon, Ben Hoa and Phan Rang to collect and care for Australian soldiers.

The casualties were flown back to Butterworth where she assisted in their stabilisation, before accompanying them back to Australia in a Hercules C130.

Those medevac trips home sometimes took three days and required a flight from Butterworth to Perth via Cocos Island, then to Richmond, slinking into Richmond so the public could not know the numbers of casualties.

Barbara was later attached to the United States Air Force to assist in evacuating five to six thousand American wounded from Vietnam to Clarke Air Base in the Philippines.

At the time of her marriage to Graeme McKeown, nurses who married were required to resign their commissions in the RAAFNS.

Arriving in Canberra, Barbara threw herself into planning a better way to undertake medevacs. Having had such a good understanding of the practicalities of moving casualties by air, her input into the planning of replacement equipment and transport options was instrumental in the design of the roll-on, roll-off medevac capsule. She also was pivotal in designing a transportable operating theatre for disaster relief.

Barbara and Graeme purchased a property in Jerrawa and Barbara threw herself enthusiastically into community activities. Her love of horses and equine sports had her active in the local show society. She also supported those housebound members of the community by volunteering as a HACC driver to transport people to hospital and community services. She surprised a lot of people by also gaining her certificate as a powder monkey.

She was involved in the local RFS and travelled away to Narrabri to assist in the fighting of fires ravaging the area. She was personally commended by the Commissioner for her efforts.

The life lived by Barbara McKeown has given us an example of what it is to be a loyal Australian.

Barbara’s husband Graeme said the most extraordinary things about his wife were her generosity, friendship and staunch loyalty.

These same traits were noted by good friend and fellow nurse Del Heuke.

“What a woman!” Del said at Barbara’s funeral. “Her ability to turn a disaster into a light-hearted experience was renowned.

“She paid the respect due to rank, however, that was no different to the way she treated everyone – with concern and care.”