More than one Ascham woman has played a vital role in the war effort, over several global wars. But perhaps the most distinguished was Verania (Rania) MacPhillamy. Rania became the youngest woman to receive an MBE in 1918 and a military OBE in 1920 for her service, leadership and exceptional courage during World War I.
Rania was born in 1889 and attended Ascham as a boarder, from Forbes, for her Senior schooling from 1905 to 1907. Although she was a good scholar, a prefect and captain of the Cricket team, when it came to further study her father, like so many at the time, resisted the idea of a ‘blue-stocking daughter’, so she did not have the opportunity of a tertiary education. When World War I broke out, apparently she declared she couldn’t knit and immediately joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment at the age of 26. She sailed for Egypt in 1915 to assist with the scores of wounded soldiers retreating from Gallipoli.
Within months, Rania was working alongside another Australian woman, Alice Chisholm, in running a soldiers’ canteen at Kantara on the Suez Canal, a rest haven for troops moving to and from Sinai and Palestine. Known as The Soldiers’ Rest, the canteen began humbly with one tent, a small spirit stove, a mule, a water cart and one big table. Without official sanction at first, and relying on their own resources, the women created a homely place of warmth and welcome, with the freshest food and most comfortable furnishings they could source. ‘It’s just like a breath of Australia,’ wrote one soldier, Trooper Bluegum. It became one of the best-known and loved places in Egypt for the soldiers. Open 24 hours a day, it became a huge operation to feed and comfort so many troops—at times as many as 6,000 eggs were cooked in a single day. Their work was soon recognised. Allied Commander General Allenby called their efforts ‘heroic’ and arranged for proper huts with showers to be built.
With the General’s support, Rania went on alone in 1918 to open a branch canteen and rest home in Jerusalem. Despite the proximity of heavy artillery and the difficulty of transporting supplies, she provided meals daily and delivered refreshments to hospital trains at the nearby station. She even acquired a piano for the troops. After the Armistice, she moved her canteen to the Anzac Mounted Division in the desert at Rafa, where she organised meals, better accommodation, and an open air picture show for the troops.
She met Lieutenant Colonel Clive Single, also a doctor, on the troopship home and married him in 1920. They had four children and spent years in regional NSW where they established NSW’s first Baby Health Centre and Rania was a founding member of the local CWA. Throughout her life, she continued to volunteer for new mothers and returned soldiers after World War II.
Rania was the first in line of a four-generation Ascham family. Her three daughters, granddaughter and two great-granddaughters all attended our School. She encouraged all her daughters to pursue a tertiary education, which was denied to her. Rania became a close friend of Ascham’s third Head of School, Miss Margaret Bailey. She went on to serve on Ascham’s first School Council and as a Governor of the Ascham Old Girls’ Union, continuing a life marked by her unwavering dedication to service.
Rania died in 1961 and will be forever remembered as a heroine of war, a beloved mother and grandmother, and an integral part of Ascham’s proud history.
Read our previous instalments of 14 Decades of Stories:
Pioneering feminist and first Ascham student Inez Bensusan
Brilliant scholar Ethel Lane Latham, who was the highest scoring female student in NSW in 1894 and 1895
Bessie Bundock, co-founder of Ascham’s yearbook, Charivari, which has become the School’s continuous primary historical record for over 120 years
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Rania MacPhillamy is cited on the Australian Government’s ANZAC Portal, which links to a full entry about her on the Australian Dictionary of Biography website.
The Australian War Memorial has text and images of Rania here.
Australian Women’s History Forum has more about Rania and her co-worker Dame Alice Chisholm (whose great- and great-great granddaughters attended Ascham) here.
For information about Rania and other Ascham Old Girls, we are heavily indebted to the authors and editors of the book Ascham Remembered, published in 1986 to commemorate our 100 Years (Centenary) celebrations.
