Marion Allnutt

MBE
Born
Marion Ellen Lea Allnutt

8 September 1896 (1896-09-08)
Woodville Park, Adelaide, South Australia
Died10 November 1980 (1980-11-11) (aged 84)
Norwood, South Australia
Other namesPolly
OccupationWelfare worker

Marion Ellen Lea "Polly" Allnutt MBE (8 September 1896 – 10 November 1980) was a welfare worker, and full-time secretary and commanding officer of the non-governmental Women's Australian National Services (WANS) from 1940.[1]

Early life

Allnutt was born in 1896 at Woodville Park in Adelaide to Earnest Allnutt, merchant, and Marion Anderson (née Fowler). She was educated at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, studying piano and accompanied soloists in concerts at the Adelaide Town Hall.[1][2]

Career

Her early career involved voluntary work, where she simultaneously served on the committee of the Walkerville Church of England Boys' Home between 1927 and 1952, the executive of the Kindergarten Union of South Australia between 1928 and 1938, and acted as a transport officer for the South Australian division of the Australian Red Cross Society between 1939 and 1941. She became a charter member of the Soroptimist Club of Adelaide and was its president between 1951 and 1953.[1] During this time she was a founding member of WANS in South Australia.[3][4] WANS was established as a non-governmental organization in World War II to provide assistance and training on the home front. She became its commanding officer in 1942 and in 1944, despite criticism, she organized WANS members to act as strikebreakers during a strike by domestic workers at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.[1][5] She later helped organize the Wanslea Emergency Home for Children, which was opened at Payneham in March 1947 and later moved to Kingswood,[1] before it phased out residential care and became a childcare centre in 1980.[6] She did work on Wanslea council from 1947 to 1969 and then from 1975 to 1980.[1] In 1951 she was made an M.B.E. "in recognition of service to the social welfare services in South Australia."[1][7]

Death and recognition

🌍
Allnutt Crescent in Forde, ACT.[8]

Allnutt died on 10 November 1980 at Wynwood Nursing Home, Norwood, and was cremated.[7] Marion Allnutt House at Wanslea Child Care Centre, Kingswood, was named after her in 1991,[7] and Allnutt Crescent in Forde, Australian Capital Territory was named after her in 2007.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jones, Hellen (1993), "Allnutt, Marion Ellen Lea (1896–1980)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, vol. 13
  2. ↑ "Elder Conservatorium". Adelaide: The Mail. 6 December 1919.
  3. ↑ "Marian March announces details of the new W.A.N.S. for South Australia". Adelaide: The Advertiser. 4 June 1941. The members of the executive committee of the W.A.N.S. are Mrs. Carlile-McDonnell (chairman), Mrs. J. T. Sandow (commandant), Mrs. C. H. Lang (deputy commandant), Miss Marion Allnutt (secretary), Mrs. C. Yeatman and Miss Margaret Berry (officers in charge of training), and Miss Rosemary Sawers (records officer)
  4. ↑ "W.A.N.S. Launched In S.A." Adelaide: The Advertiser. 1 July 1941. As each girl arrived she was drafted into one of four platoons, and these were given definite time and place of lectures and parades by officers in charge of training (Mrs. C. Yeatman and Miss Margaret Berry), Miss Rosemary Sawers (records officer) and Miss Marion Allnutt (secretary)
  5. ↑ "Women strike at hospital". Sydney: The Daily Telegraph. 30 July 1944.
  6. ↑ "Wanslea Children's Home (1946 - 1980)". Find and Connect. Australian Federal Government. Wanslea Children's Home was established by the Women's Australian National Services (the WANS) in Payneham in 1946. It operated as a Home for children whose mothers could not care for them due to illness and took in between 18 and 30 children. Wanslea also trained Wanslea Aids to care for children in their own homes in times of emergency. Wanslea Children's Home moved to Kingswood in 1958. By the 1980s Wanslea had phased out residential care and became a day care centre.
  7. 1 2 3 "Miss Marion Ellen Lea ALLNUTT, Award extract". Australian Honours Search Facility.
  8. 1 2 Public Place names (Forde) Determination 2007 (No 1) (PDF), ACT Parliamentary Counsel
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