Liverpool Plains

Distinguished and Famous people from Liverpool Plains

🩺 Ellen Savage

Army nurse Ellen Savage was born in Quirindi in 1912 and spent her childhood there before training at Newcastle Hospital. She was the only nurse to survive the sinking of the hospital ship Centaur in 1943. Despite her own injuries, she helped care for and encourage other survivors while they awaited rescue, receiving the George Medal for her conduct. Her later nursing career extended into senior hospital work. The Liverpool Plains connection is through a clearly documented Quirindi childhood, preceding professional service elsewhere. Her story deserves room for the training and continuing nursing work as well as the extraordinary wartime episode.

🏛️ Tony Windsor

Tony Windsor was born in Quirindi in 1950 and worked as a farmer before entering politics. He represented Tamworth in the NSW parliament from 1991, then New England in federal parliament from 2001 to 2013. His independent position brought him particular influence in closely divided parliaments. In a firsthand ABC interview, he connected his outlook with his mother’s work keeping the family farm going after his father died following a tractor accident. The Liverpool Plains association combines birthplace, farming and representation, with the regional family experience supplying more context than party labels alone.

📺 Ivan Chapman

Ivan Chapman was born at Werris Creek in 1919 and attended its public school before further education at Tamworth. Captivity during World War II gave him a lasting interest in the importance of news. After joining the ABC, he worked in Britain with a team developing BBC television news, then returned to help establish the ABC’s television service. He trained journalists in linking spoken commentary with film and later wrote military history. Werris Creek supplies a genuine birthplace and school connection to a career that helped turn early television’s technical difficulties into a familiar nightly news programme.