Heroic efforts of Scottsdale woman killed in WWII honoured by RAF

Born in Scottsdale and educated in Launceston, Edna Button trained as a Deaconess in New Zealand before moving to England to continue her studies.

However due to the war breaking out, her studies were cancelled, and she joined the RAF as a medical orderly.

Ms Button was helping move men from a sick bay into shelters during a raid by the German Air Force, when she was killed by a bomb exploding nearby.

It was years later when Ms Button's nephew, David Griffiths, was researching his family history when he came across a recently published book that told of his aunt's heroism- Battle of Britain, 1940: The Finest Hour's Human Cost by Dilip Sarkar published in 2020.

After pressing further, Mr Griffiths discovered his aunt was featured in the Biggin Hill RAF base Museum and Chapel in England.

Mr Griffiths said Ms Button's story was "a credit to the communities of Scottsdale and Launceston who helped shape her life."

"There are so many stories of the waste of human potential in war, and also courage in adversity," Mr Griffith's said.

But his aunt's heroic efforts started long before the war.

In 1925, Ms Button was awarded a bronze medal by the Royal Humane Society of Australasia for saving a young girl who fell into the Yarra river in Kew, Melbourne.

Before going overseas, Ms Button was also actively involved with Girl Guides, and worked with a Methodist Mission in North Melbourne.

Mr Griffith's said he believed the Scottsdale environment had a big influence on his aunt.

"Having access to the bush there was also a big influence on her; in that photo of her from 1924 she looks full of fun," he said.

He said while he never knew his aunt, he felt a connection to her through her artworks, kept by his mother.

"My mother always kept a couple of paintings by Edna in our house and it's had an influence on me because I've got artistic sort of tendencies," he said.

"It's the feeling of having someone there while you weren't able to meet them."