All Saints Honour Board: Alan & Doris Green
Across the western wall of All Saints, Newtown, the WW1 Honour Board has long stood as a quiet ledger of sacrifice. Many parishioners know its polished timber and gilt lettering by sight, yet few know the full stories behind the names it carries. Among them are two siblings, Alan and Doris Green, an unusual pairing on any honour board, and one that invites a closer look at the lives that shaped the parish community more than a century ago.
This article grew from Stephen Yewdall’s desire to bring those stories back into the light. It was first published in the Parish Magazine, Open Door. Drawn from archival records, it traces the very different wartime paths of a brother and sister whose early years were marked by loss, resilience, and a deep connection to All Saints. Their journeys— from Gallipoli to Salonika, from Geelong to Rabaul— remind us that the honour board is not simply a list of names, but a testament to lives lived with courage, service, and faith.
Listen to a reading of the article by clicking the link below:
On the All Saints WW1 Honour Board there is the unusual connection of a brother and sister listed. They are nurse Doris Green and her elder brother Alan Green. Both were born in Colac to Ernest and Elizabeth Green. Ernest Green was the Manager of the Colac Branch of the Colonial Bank of Australasia.
Sadly, Ernest died of typhoid in April 1890 at the age of 32 when Doris was just 9 months old. Alan was 7. Their mother Elizabeth remarried in 1892 to Alexander Read at St Paul’s’ Geelong but he died in 1909. Elizabeth moved to Melbourne and later to Geelong, living in Fernleigh Street Newtown.
Doris did her early schooling in Melbourne but undertook her nursing training at Geelong Hospital whilst also attending All Saints. She completed her training in 1913 and joined the staff of Dr Frederick Bird at his private hospital in Spring Street Melbourne. Come WWI, Dr Bird volunteered himself as did 4 of his surgical nurses including Doris, all embarking on 22/10/1914 and later arriving in Egypt.
With Dr Bird, Doris served on the hospital ship ‘Sicilia’ and during the landing on Gallipoli in April 1915 they treated some 1,300 wounded who had been evacuated. Doris also nursed in Salonika, Greece, in India, Basra Iraq and London as well as other hospital ships over the next 4-5 years. Doris was ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ for her long and outstanding commitment during WW1.
Doris finally returned to Australia in March 1920 with her military service terminated on 25 April 1920. Doris continued her nursing career in another private hospital, Vimy House in Queen Street Melbourne from 1921 to 1926 then in April 1927 married WW1 veteran, John Russell of Gembrook. John Russell had been wounded in action in Belgium in 1917 and subsequently had his right leg amputated.
Doris and John had one son, also named John and they continued to live in Gembrook till her death in 1973, aged 84. As well as All Saints, Doris is also recognised on the Geelong Hospital Staff Honour Roll for WW1.
Doris did not enlist for military service through the ‘normal’ enlistment process and therefore there was initially no military record of her service. This later caused her many problems in repeatedly required to prove her service to enable any pensions or medical assistance through the Repatriation Department in her later years.
Alan Green was born in 1883 and had his schooling at Geelong Grammar and Geelong College finishing in 1901 whilst also attending All Saints. Alan went to South Africa and served for 3 and a half years in Capetown with the Cape Mounted Police.
Returning to Geelong he enlisted for WW1 on 20 August 1914 and recorded his address as Fernleigh Newtown, the same as his younger sister Doris. He listed his occupation as a Planter. Alan landed at Gallipoli in April 1915 but after 3 months, was evacuated to England with what was determined as a broken ear drum. He was subsequently discharged, returning to Australia in October 1915.
Married in 1918 to Amy McCallum of Batesford, Alan took up an appointment as a plantation manager in Rabaul, New Brittan with Burns Philp Co. Alan was still in Rabaul when the Japanese Army invaded in 1942. Amy had earlier returned to Australia and later died in 1973 aged 87 in Hawthorn.
Alan Green was interned whilst still a civilian, and was loaded onto the ill-fated ship, Montevideo Maru which was taking 845 Australian POWs plus over 200 other civilians to Hainan Island China, when it was torpedoed off the Philippines and sunk by an American submarine the USS Sturgeon in July 1942. All hands were lost. Alan was 59.
Alan and Doris Green are 2 of the 137 names listed on the All Saints WW1 Honour board. Lest We Forget.
Further information on Alan and Doris Green along with many of the other persons on the All Saints honour board is available via the QR Code which is located directly under the honour board.
Source: Virtual Australian War Memorial:
a) Alan Green:
https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/286873
b) Doris Green:
https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/805337
