Nancy Dillistone Binks
Nancy Dillistone Binks was born on 29th November 1929 in Geraldton, Western Australia. She was the sixth child of Yuna, Western Australia farmer William Alexander Ivan Binks and the only child of nurse Esther ("Nellie") Eleanor (nee Dillistone). 'Nellie' was the sister of Arthur Dillistone who owned a farm in the nearby community of Dindiloa.
The depression, difficult times on the farm and the death of her father when she was 6 made for an unsettled childhood. She moved with her mother to Perth and attended Claremont School and Perth Girls School.
Nancy worked as a typist before starting a career in nursing in 1949. She worked at the Princess Margaret Hospital and King Edward Memorial Hospitals in Perth, Western Australia before moving to Sydney, Australia and working in Crown Street Hospital. She then moved to the southern island of New Zealand where she worked as a midwife at Blenheim.
Nancy married Industrial Chemist Bertram Boyd Janes of Melbourne, Australia on 24th October 1959 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Nancy and Bert moved to the picturesque Wellington bayside suburb of Eastbourne and started a family. They had three children – Stephen Trevor (born on 28th August 1960) Karen Maree (20th May 1962) and Ruth Dianne (2nd February 1966).
The family moved to Lae, Papua New Guinea in December 1966. The following year Nancy was diagnosed with cancer. Tragically she passed away on 18th November 1968 at the age of 38 and is buried at Lae.
Her three children returned to Australia in 1970 and have all since married and settled in south–east Queensland. Stephen is a computer analyst with two children while Karen (5 children) and Ruth (2 children), like their mother and Grandmother, graduated as nurses after leaving school.