1980s-early 2000s

• Patricia McQuillen was a teacher who grew up in Avoca, a small town in central Victoria. In 1976 Pat joined her local St John division. In 1978 Pat moved from Darwin to Alice Springs to take up a position as a science teacher at Yirara College, a residential secondary school for Aboriginal students from remote communities. She remained there for the next 26 years, until her retirement at the end of 2004.
• In Alice Springs Pat was promoted to Corps Officer and she became involved in the Cadet movement. Among other achievements, she established a Cadet Nursing division at Yirara College, probably the first and only all-Aboriginal division anywhere. She knew that the teenage girls in her division would eventually return to their home communities, where the first aid and nursing skills they had learnt through St John would be put to good use.
• Always a keen student of history, Pat began delving into the history of St John in Alice Springs and collecting memorabilia and records. When the St John Ambulance Historical Society of Australia formed in 2001, Pat became a member of its management committee, representing the Northern Territory.
• At the Alice Springs National Conference in 2004 Pat’s book on the history of St John in Central Australia was launched. It’s one of the best local St John histories ever produced. The title of the book, Saved any lives today?, was the question Pat had been asked by Prince Charles when he was visiting Alice Springs in 1982 to declare open the new St John Ambulance centre.

After Pat retired she returned to live in Avoca, her home town. She became involved as a volunteer in St John Community Care in Victoria and continued attending the annual gatherings of the Historical Society. Pat never married and died shortly after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2008. Her legacy can be seen in the fact that the Northern Territory branch of the Historical Society is now one of the largest. Pat is an Officer in the Order of St John.