Heather Atkinson

Heather Noelle Atkinson, née Crofts, was born 19 November 1922 at Mount Morgan, Queensland. Her father, Alfred Ernest Crofts, was a state school headmaster and his family moved with him around the state including to Collinsville, where Heather attended primary school. In 1935-36 she went to Brisbane Girls Grammar School as a boarder and subsequently did a year of commercial studies.The family moved to Bundaberg where Heather was employed as a clerk in the Commonwealth Bank and where she lived during the Second World War. Towards the end of the war the Bank transferred her to Brisbane. There she met a returned Australian air force bomber pilot, `Jock¿ Atkinson DFC; they were married in 1947.Jock and Heather had three children although, tragically, only their eldest, Roslyn, survived to adulthood. Jock died in 2015; he had just been awarded a French Chevalier de Legion d¿Honneur for his contribution to the war effort.Heather worked part-time after her marriage, including at Emmanuel College where she later was appointed as Bursar by the College Council. After retirement, she completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, a Master of Arts degree and, at the age of 80, a Certificate in Writing, Editing and Publishing, all at the University of Queensland.Some of her stories are based on her own life, some on those of her friends, and on Jock¿s own war experiences as an Australian Lancaster pilot flying bombing missions over Germany.