Kath Bonnin
Kath Bonnin (Kathleen Patricia Bonnin; 17 March 1911 – 14 September 1985) was an Australian army nurse who reached the rank of Captain. She was awarded the Associate Royal Red Cross and was mentioned in despatches for her wartime service.
Kathleen Bonnin was born in Hindmarsh, a suburb of Adelaide. Her family worked in medicine, and several relatives were nurses. She trained as a nurse in Adelaide and as a midwife in the United Kingdom in 1936, and worked as an air-hostess in 1938 before joining the military in 1940.
She joined the Australian Army Nursing Service as a sister and served in Adelaide before going to the Middle East on the RMS Aquitania. She worked in Palestine and Tripoli with the 2/11th Field Ambulance, and during the 1942 Battles of El Alamein she was with the 2/7th Australian General Hospital at a Casualty Clearing Station in Buseilli, Egypt. In 1943 she was promoted to Captain, was mentioned in despatches, and received the Associate Royal Red Cross in 1945. In 1946 she went to London as part of the victory contingent on HMAS Shropshire.
After the war she worked at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, specializing in electrocardiograms, until 1964. Kath Bonnin died in North Adelaide in 1985, aged 74.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 04:47 (CET).