- page -
http://www.cdu.edu.au/cdupress
Go Back >> List of Entries
There she was met by paid officials from Adelaide who said ‘now you will find that the Red Cross is not all tea
and cakes’. They claimed they had been trying to locate her for some time, despite the fact that her home is visible
down the hill from the Red Cross building, and refused to allow either her or her committee to become involved
in any of the relief work. She resigned at once. She later discovered that her sister-in-law from New Zealand,
naturally anxious about her family members, had got through to the Red Cross in Darwin and been told that no-one
knew the name ‘Washington’!
For more than 20 years Betty ran a studio in Darwin from her home and taught a variety of dance techniques to
dozens of the town’s children, at least one of whom has gone on to further ballet training. She gave regular recitals,
often for fund raising purposes, and her pupils performed regularly at Bougainvillea Festival events and at other
community events. Following Tracy, she put programmes on for a number of charities. As might be imagined these
were very good for morale at the time.
She was an enthusiastic golfer and in her early days in Darwin, she played three times a week on the old
East Point links, the back nine holes of which always flooded during the wet season. She also played regularly
on the Royal Australian Air Force and Army golf courses, and when it was new, at Marrara, though it was rather
treeless at first and very hot. She was an inveterate traveller and her annual trip to London always included visits to
many other parts of the world. Her main recreation is bridge and she was a founding member of the Darwin Bridge
Club. Over the years, she won many trophies in competitions. In poor health in her old age, she kept up her interest
by playing at her home with friends.
Northern Territory Women’s Register, 1948–1988, 2nd edition; personal information.
HELEN J WILSON and ELIZABETH HAMILTON, Vol 3.
WASHINGTON, JAMES DESMOND (GEORGE) (1923– ), Air Force officer and commercial pilot, was born
in Auckland, New Zealand, on 24 October 1923, only son of Jim Washington and Linda, nee Pearce. Although
christened James Desmond, he inevitably collected the nickname ‘George’ by which he was always known.
His father worked for the Salvation Army and during George’s boyhood was farm manager for an orphanage near
Dunedin in the south island. The local school was at Andersons Bay but by the time George was 13 his family had
moved back to Auckland. His father died in late 1936, so instead of attending secondary school, he decided to seek
employment. After about 18 months at a sheet metal fabricating firm he was apprenticed as a fitter and turner in
the toolroom of Edward & Sons, wooden heel and saddle tree makers, now antiquated crafts. The training was to
stand him in very good stead in later years.
At the age of 18, George joined the New Zealand Army and transferred to the Royal New Zealand Air Force
(RNZAF) in August 1943 when he was not quite 20. He completed pilot training in New Zealand and was
commissioned Pilot Officer in November 1944. He saw service in Bougainville, flying F4U-1 Corsairs until the
end of hostilities. During 1946, he was a ferry pilot round the various Air Force stations in New Zealand. The year
1947 saw him with the 14 Squadron in Japan with the occupation forces. On his return to New Zealand, he was
involved for a short time with the RNZAF search and rescue team.
In 1949, after a demand by the New Zealand Farmers Association, the RNZAF agreed that its pilots would
begin experiments in aerial top dressing, a first worldwide for this technique. George was among the first pilots
who flew demonstrations over Masterton. The experiments continued the following year and in 1951 and 1952,
George made two return trips to the United Kingdom to ferry small DH Dove aircraft to New Zealand to be used
for navigation training. When the Queen visited New Zealand in 1953, he was ‘Queen’s Courier’, that is, captain
of the aircraft that carried her personal documents and the Crown Jewels; for this a high-level security clearance
was necessary and he was awarded a Queens’ Commendation.
He was promoted to Flight Lieutenant and took command of the unit providing aircraft for navigation schools
until he left the RNZAF in 1956. He recalls that promotions were frozen at the end of the war, his promotion was
backdated three years but he only got three months’ back pay.
George married Elizabeth Agnes Carnochan on 5 January 1955 and their daughter, Elizabeth, was born in
August the following year. In July 1956, he joined Fiji Airways (now Air Pacific) and the family moved to Fiji.
At first the flights were domestic but by the time George left in 1962 the routes had been extended to Samoa,
Tonga and Guadalcanal and he was the captain of the inaugural flights on each route, due to his qualifications, not
to his seniority in the company.
Between 1963 and 1966 George was operations manager with Polynesian Airlines based in Apia, Western
Samoa. Their initial route was only to Pago Pago (American Samoa) and he oversaw the establishment of additional
routes to the Cook Islands, then Fiji and Tonga.
In January 1967, after a personal recommendation, he joined Connellan Airways. Following a few days orientation
in Alice Springs, the family settled in Darwin in March 1967 where George was Operations Superintendent.
The following year he spent some months in Alice Springs as Operations Manager and then returned to Darwin as
Regional Manager at the end of 1968. At that time in the Top End Connair was using 15 seater De Havilland Heron
and 9 seater Beech Twin Bonanza aircraft. There were 125 ports of call in all, many more than those of the major
commercial airlines, and they included every strip between Derby, Western Australia and Mt Isa in Queensland.
The position of Regional Manager was officially a desk job but due to staff shortages and other needs, George still
flew frequently himself.
When the DC3 was introduced in December 1972, he returned to full-time flying. These aircraft carried two
pilots and an airhostess. A typical run would leave Darwin about 8.00 am and call at Maningrida, Milingimbi,
Elcho and Gove. Darwin would be reached about 5.00 pm on the same evening, all the ports having been called at