Petee’s joy and humour could light up the day. She was a loyal supporter of COGA over the years, keeping in touch with her school friends, attending reunions, functions, AGMs and gatherings. She penned the legendary essay entitled ‘The Woodend Warbler’ which has been immortalised in the Clyde School history book and reprinted several times in The Cluthan. She was the special guest speaker at the Clyde Centenary Lunch in 2010, writing yet another unforgettable and precious poem, ‘Clyde School Revisited’, summarising her indelible memories of Clyde and its ethos. She read it out to nearly 400 Clyde girls at Nine Darling Street. At once everyone listened and loved Petee, she was a legend and will never be forgotten.
ana did an entry course at HMAS Lonsdale in Port Melbourne, learning detailed Australian geography before being attached to the Melbourne-based radio signals intelligence unit, which was a joint venture between Australia, the United States and the top secret British codebreaker unit at Bletchley Park in England. Based initially in Queens Road, then in Albert Park, their task was to pick up messages and decipher the constantly changing codes the Japanese were using throughout the Asia and Pacific region. Diana’s unit played a key role in the defence of the Pacific, its greatest success was the interception and decoding of a message that revealed Japanese intentions in the Coral Sea and plans to invade Australia. Cracking the Japanese attack plans was a significant step in World War II. Diana loved naval history and crosswords, so she was well suited to the detailed work of a cryptanalyst: typing, reading, deciphering letters and dealing with tele-printers. She had to be very secretive about her role and could not talk about it for several years after the war. Diana’s Clyde friends Cynthia Wagg (Sterling) and Hilary Hudson (Hay) also worked in the radio signals intelligence unit.
Information from the funeral service eulogy, the internet, the Ballarat Courier and Cluthans 1960-1962. Diana Florence Learmonth (Austin) (Nicholas) 30 November 1924 – 13 July 2015 Clyde 1935-1942 Diana Florence Nicholas was born on 30 November 1924, the only daughter of Charles Lyndoch and Sheila Nicholas (Nicholson, Clyde 1913). Son of Joseph William Nicholas, Diana’s father Charles served in two world wars. In 1977, he wrote and published a book entitled ‘Happenings of a Lifetime in the Riverina 1902-1977’, an autobiography describing farm life as a grazier in NSW, his days at GGS and years of wartime service. Although born in Melbourne, Diana spent her early childhood on the family property Monaro Vale at Berrigan NSW, once described as “one of the most beautiful small properties in NSW” because her father had planted many trees. She moved to Melbourne with her mother to attend primary school at St Margaret’s School, before being sent to Clyde aged 11 in 1935.
Many years later in April 2012, Diana, aged 88, received a letter of commendation and a medal from British Prime Minister David Cameron, recognising her collaboration with the Bletchley Park unit and her contribution to the decoding of Japanese intelligence messages during World War II. (Ocean Grove Voice, April 4-17 2012.) After the war, in April 1946, Diana married exserviceman Derek Austin, one of the former ‘Rats of Tobruk’. Initially the couple settled on the Austin family’s property Darra at Meredith, near Geelong, before moving to a soldier settlement block in Berrigan NSW, which coincidentally was part of Diana’s father’s property Monaro Vale. They raised three children; Bill, John and Helen (Tinky) Urquhart (Austin). In 1961 they sold Berrigan and bought a property at Whorouly South near Wangaratta, where they lived until they separated in 1966.
At Clyde Diana was popular, excelled at sports and was a natural leader. Captain of junior forms in 19361937, junior library committee 1938, junior debating committee 1939, sports committee and captain of running 1940, firsts hockey team 1941, hockey colours and firsts baseball team, running champion, house captain of Faireleight, school prefect, member of the CHA committee, winner of the Lady Robinson Reading Prize and awarded a Pass prize for Honours VI in 1942. When interviewed in 2005 for the Clyde history book, Diana recalled the impact of the war years on Clyde. Petrol rationing meant few visitors to the school, students did a lot of housework and cleaning, plane-spotting from the tower, making camouflage nets and knitting socks or scarves for the troops.
Diana moved to Barwon Heads on the Bellarine Peninsula, a favourite holiday place where her mother Sheila Nicholas was living. At this time, her sons Bill and John were living independently and her young daughter Tinky Austin went to board at Clyde (19661971). Diana had several secretarial jobs in Geelong before she met and married retired SA grazier Peter Learmonth in 1971, father of Jamie, Gillian Learmonth and Jessie Cole (Learmonth). They had a wonderful life together with many friends, dinner par-
After leaving Clyde, Diana attended Holmes Commercial College in Melbourne where she completed secretarial studies. She joined the WRANS (Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service), aged 19 in 1945. Di44