The death of Mrs Marion Fisher (nee Robertson) on 11 April 2024, just a couple of days shy of her 101st birthday, marked the end of an era for the Coonamble district.

Mrs Fisher was the last known surviving World War II veteran in the area, following soon after the passing of serviceman Michael (Mick) Leonard on 21 March 2024, at the age of 101.

With the Second World War raging as she left secondary school in Sydney, Marion joined the Women's Australian National Service in 1941 at the age of 18.

The girls did a mechanical course, learning how to change tyres, oil and the basics of engines.

They also volunteered to make and serve meals to servicemen who were on leave in her home town of Wollongong.

"I got my licence to drive very early in the peace," she told the Coonamble Times last year. "The second World War had broken out and I joined up."

Marion was also called on to drive trucks for the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAF), including trips carrying troops between Sydney and Wollongong under cover of darkness.

On 19 April 1943 she joined the Australian Army Medical Women's Service.

After three months the unit was posted to Australian General Hospital 101 at Colonel Light Gardens in Adelaide, where they were trained to be nursing orderlies.

In November 1944 Marion travelled from Adelaide by train to Quorn in South Australia and then on an American Truck Convoy to Katherine in the Northern Territory.

PHOTO: Marion Fisher (nee Robertson) as a young WWII servicewoman.

It was a journey that took 14 days and she was in the last of two hundred trucks and spoke of how dusty it was.

It was then on to Adelaide River and finally Darwin.

They arrived in Darwin only a few weeks after it had been bombed.

She left Darwin in December 1944 aboard the hospital ship Wanganella.

"I remember Mum mentioning that the nurses were using long sticks to push mines away from the side of the ship in the Arafura Sea," said her son Bill Fisher.

The hospital ship carried wounded soldiers and Prisoners of War (POWs) from New Guinea, the Middle East and the Solomon Islands.

The ship returned to Sydney via Townsville and Marion was posted to Herne Bay (now Riverwood) to the Australian Hospital 101, where she continued nursing wounded soldiers for another two years until she was discharged from service in December 1946.

PHOTO: Michael (Mick) Leonard

"A lot of people she nursed were from Changi POW Camp," said Bill. "She said a lot of them were so malnourished you could see every bone in their body and they struggled to keep them alive."

After caring for the wounded Marion settled back into civilian life with some difficulty at the end of her war service but returned to Mt Kembla to her parent's home where she cared for her ailing father who was carrying injuries from his time in the trenches in France in World War I.

She moved with her new husband Alan Colwell Fisher to Coonamble in 1954.

Despite multiple inquiries by friends and family members, throughout her long life Marion was never officially recognised for her military service until after her death. 

Earlier reasons given were that she did not serve a long enough period in a war zone.

However, on her passing her family were assisted by Bruce Horwood, the President of the Gilgandra RSL Sub-branch and others to receive from the Department of Defence the honours of a War Medal 1939-45; an Australia Service Medal 1939-45; and a Returned from Active Service Badge.

Her family were pleased to see Marion's dedicated service finally marked as they farewelled her at St Barnabas Anglican Church, Coonamble on Friday 19 April.

Lest we forget.