WOMAN'S GRIT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 123, 27 May 1941, Page 8

WOMAN'S GRIT

MISSION OF MERCY

SEVENTY MILES IN A CANOE

(0.C.)

SYDNEY, May 20,

The small body of police who maintain order in the vast and sparselypopulated Northern Territory of Australia have earned a reputation for "getting their man" in the traditions of the Canadian "Mounties." But little is heard of the heroism of their wives, who spend lonely lives in outback posts, who may not see their for weeks on end and whose nearest white neighbour is 100 miles away.

However, proof that they are not only brave in keeping a home in such conditions, but are capable of sharing perils and acting on their own initiative, is illustrated by a story from Darwin this week. The wife of Constable Ted Heathcock, of Booroloola, a dot on the map, made a 70-mile canoe journey along i-ivers and through dangerous seas to reach a dying white man.

I A letter brought to the Booroloola police station by an aboriginal from Mr. H. M. Foster, owner of Wearyan Station, read: "Shot myself accidentally. I think I am settled. May get over it if can get plane in time." Canstable Heathcock was away at Darwin, and Mrs. Heathcock, a trained nurse, was at the station alone. She sent a pedal radio message immediately to the flying doctor at Cloncurry, some hundreds of miles away. The doctor was unable to land at Wearyan Station | because the aerodrome was under water. DID EVERYTHING POSSIBLE. Mrs. Heathcock set out, with two aboriginal boys, in a native canoe. They travelled two days and nights down the McArthur River to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Through heavy seas they travelled 15 miles of open water —it took them 24 hours to cover the 15 miles. Then they paddled six miles up the Wearyan River to Foster's Station.

Foster had shot himself above the knee, shattering the bone. The wound had become septic, and tetanus had set in. Mrs. Heathcock cleaned the wound and gave it what attention she could. She put the station blacks to work clearing a landing ground, and sent a messenger on foot to McArthur Station —the nearest pedal radio set —to summon the flying doctor. Next day, an hour before the doctor arrived, Foster died.

Only by clever handling of his plane did the doctor avert a crash, both landing and taking off again.