People Australia

Barbara Margaret Whitney, née Ugle, late Bellamy (1921-2015), community activist

Birth: 2 December 1921 at London, England, daughter of Guy Cowley Ugle (1883-1959), sales representative, and Daisy Thomasine, née Brenton (1889-1947), a hairdresser, born at Newton Abbott, Devonshire England. Marriages: (1) 1943 at Bromley, Kent, England, to Horace Bertie Edward Bellamy (b.1917). The marriage ended in divorce about 1948. (2) 1952 in London to London-born Frederick Francis Whitney (1917-1977), a plumber and peace activist. They had two sons. Death: 2 June 2015 at Joslin, Adelaide, South Australia. Religion: Quaker. 

• Educated at Belverdere College, London. During World War II she danced in concert parties called Whimsicals, at the London County Council, to entertain the troops, for two years.
• Met Fred Whitney in 1951. They came to Australia in 1953 and moved in with a group of Quakers at Medindie, in Adelaide, South Australia. Her husband immediately became very involved with the Quakers, known as the Religious Society of Friends. She joined the Quakers in 1958.
• She was the executive secretary of the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) from 1971 to 1882, ran their office and recruited thirty-two women volunteers. Organised large luncheons for many visitors including Richard Butler and John Buchanan.
• Involved in OARS, a group who visit prisoners, this was done under the Howard League for Penal Reform. She visited the women’s prison once a week for most of the 1960s.
• With husband Fred, she helped to set up the South Australian branch of SERVAS, a United Nations non-governmental organisation which had started in Melbourne which hosted and looked after young people. He was involved in this from 1955 until 1998.
• She regularly visited the Point Pearce Aboriginal Reserve and bought equipment for the children and raised money for the kindergarten; during the school holidays the couple hosted Aboriginal girls.
• In the late 1970s she received the United Nations Peace Prize for work at the UNAA. She attended a women’s conference in Berlin representing the UNAA, there were sixteen delegates from Australia including Beryl Miller.
• Very active in the Vietnam moratoriums, she took photos of the Commonwealth police and gave them to the CPV committee; this was the moratorium that resulted in a Royal Commission.
• Joined Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in 1955 and remained a long-term member. Was a member of the Union of Australian Women from the late 1950s. Active in the APC for several years.
• Life member of United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, she became the director after her husband died. With UNICEF she visited Germany, Russia and Geneva; this involved radio and press conferences as well as visiting workshops.