An affectionate tribute to a late local nurse and conservationist will be given today at the monthly meeting of the Millicent-based South East Family History Group. The guest speakers will be sisters, Jean McArthur and Christina Carr. They both live locally with Jean in Mount Gambier and Christina in Beachport.

They will be talking to the SEFHG about their mother, born Hilda Metcalf Hunt, who came to Millicent in 1937 from Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills where she grew up. She came to nurse at the Thyne Memorial Hospital in Emily Street in Millicent. While here, she met Jack McArthur whom she later married and is now also deceased.

They eventually farmed near Hatherleigh. The McArthurs were active members of the Friends of Beachport and Canunda National Parks and are commemorated in a bush walking trail at Beachport. Together, the two sisters have recently collated a collection of their mother’s writings from her early life – in a book titled “Blackberries and Golden Wattle”, published last year.