MemorialsSt Marys' Catholic Primary School Memorial, Armidale
About
This memorial consists of a concrete pedestal with several plaques attached and a nearby flagpole. One commemorative plaque honours Violette Szabo, the other is dedicated to those who served in Changi, Malaya. The memorial was unveiled by Madame Lilly Piel, a former member of the French Resistance Movement. The memorial was blessed and dedicated by the Bishop of Armidale, the most Reverend H.J. Kennedy on Anzac Day, 25 April 1972. The flagpole was donated and erected by members of the Armidale sub-Branch of the RSL. A new flag pole was provided by the Australian Government in November 2005. About Violette Szabo Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo was born to Charles George Bushell and Reine Blanche Leroy on 26 June 1921 in Paris. The parents later moved to London. With the commencement of the Second World War, Violette joined the Women's Land Army, then the Auxiliary Territorial Service and became a field agent with the British Special Operations. She married Etienne Szabo on 21 August 1940 and gave birth to Tania Damaris Desiree Szabo on 8 June 1942. Her husband died on active service on 24 October 1942. On her second mission into occupied France, she was captured by the German Army and sent to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp in Germany, where she was executed around 5 February 1945. Her daughter Tania was brought to the Central Coast of NSWs by her grandparents as 'Ten Pound Poms' when Tania was nine years of age. She attended St Ursula's College as a boarding student. This college is now closed but the memorial dedicated to her mother Violette remains in the grounds of the Catholic School's precinct.