Maureen York has met the Pope, Princess Diana and the Queen’s husband; and the experience of meeting Maureen is just as regal and divine. This is her story.
Nearly everyone in Alice Springs has had an interaction with Maureen York in one form or another. Now, get to know the real Maureen.
Alice Springs
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Maureen Short was born on September 8 — appropriately sharing a birthday with Mary the Mother of Jesus- 1941.
Daughter of Samuel and Sadie, and the seventh of 12 children, she was raised in a house on Tullock’s Vineyard at Fordwich in the New South Wales Hinterland.
One of Maureen’s first memories was when World War II came to an end, and the world was finally at peace again, in 1945.
“Everyone was so happy, it was a celebration, the war was over, people were banging tin drums, singing, marching up the road,” Maureen said.
Maureen grew up sharing a room and a bed with two sisters, and attending a single-room school house that accommodated all ages.
“In 1955 there was a flood, and the vineyard bridge was washed away. When that happened we had to walk five miles to school, and five miles home. At the worst point of the flood a plane had to drop food supplies down to us,” she said.
At the age of 17, Maureen went off to Cooma to become an Assistant Nurse, and would then move to Sydney to do her formal nursing training at the Royal Hospital for Women at Paddington, and become an Enrolled Nurse.
In 1964, aged 22, Maureen and three other nurses decided to move to Broome. Those young ladies climbed in to two cars — a Volkswagen station wagon and a Beetle — and started their epic road trip.
“We went down from Sydney to Adelaide, and then drove up the old South Road, and we came upon Alice Springs. When we got here there were only 6,000 people in the town. And most of them were men. So, I stayed!” she said.
65 years later, Maureen still hasn’t got to Broome.
“I fell in and out of love many times. It was like a supermarket of men! We had so many parties, there was always a Nurses Party. There were so many young people in the town.
“We had a 10pm curfew. We’d get back in time for the curfew, and get in to our beds. Then we’d open the window, jump out, and go back to the party.”
ANZAC Oval hosted a momentous sporting event, where a team of women- nurses, pharmacists, and barmaids- took on a team of men in a game of rugby.
“We played for the ‘Bed Pan Shield’. During the breaks the men’s team would be handed oranges to eat. We had one of our nurses inject our oranges with vodka!
“At one point there was a penalty awarded, and a great, big hulking player from the men’s team came along and picked me up in the air- I had the ball in my hands- and he carried me down the field, across the try line and I scored!”
Maureen revelled in the joys of youth, and meeting interesting people. But one person caught her eye and heart more than any other.
Cliff York was with the United States of America Air Force, and stationed at Detachment 421, which was at the base of ANZAC Hill.
“He was HOT! We started courting! Seeing each other.”
Not that long after, Maureen moved to Sydney, and Cliff had been scheduled to fly out of Sydney, back overseas.
“But Cliff’s journey was delayed. So he spent 11 days in Sydney. We saw each other every moment we could. It was wonderful.”
The next sequence of events belong in a Hollywood movie:
“He was due to fly out. I went to the airfield to see him off. And then, he proposed to me. I said yes.”
Cliff flew out of Australia, and was stationed in Spain. 12 months later, Maureen moved to Spain, so as to make sure this was still the man she wanted to marry.
The lovebirds spent 12 months together in the central Spanish city of Toledo, before moving to the USA in 1968.
Their new home was Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of Washington DC, and there at the Presbyterian Meeting House, after an engagement that spanned three continents, they were married.
“It was a beautiful old historic Church. It’s where George Washington’s funeral was held,” Maureen said.
“I wasn’t nervous about getting married. I’m a brave chick!”
Maureen worked as a nurse at the famous Jefferson Memorial Hospital.
“I think the fact that I’d come from Australia gave me an advantage as a nurse, because at that time, in Australia we were trained in hospitals and had so much practical experience.”
Maureen and Cliff attended the funeral procession for Robert F. Kennedy, who had been a leading contender to become President of the United States, before he was assassinated.
“I was standing there in line at the procession, and I was wearing a mini skirt, and it started to rain, and a Police Officer who was standing behind us came forward, took off his big jacket and put it around me!” Maureen says smiling.
Maureen also learned to drive for the first time, getting behind the wheel of 1966 Ford Mustang and learning on a huge highway system, the New Jersey Turnpike.
The Yorks then moved south to Orlando, Florida, where they lived on the Patrick Airforce Base, and on the 25th of February 1975, they were blessed with the birth of their son Daniel.
“You think you know what love is, until you have a child. Then you really know what love is. There is no greater love. Daniel is an amazing person!”
Maureen walked side-by-side with history during her time in Florida.
From her house on the Air Force base, Maureen could watch NASA rockets take-off to out of space from her backyard, and also went down inside a British Nuclear Submarine.
And thanks to Cliff’s job with the Air Force, got front row tickets to the iconic Apollo 14 Moon Launch, watching from the Viewing Tower.
Maureen was also Hostess of the Air Force Talent Contest- think Australia’s Got Talent, but for the US Air Force- in 1978 and 1979.
It was there that she met and worked alongside Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famer B. B. King, who’s known as the ‘King of Blues’, and was one of the judges.
Maureen also made newspaper headlines when she rescued 25 sea turtle eggs from Ascension Island- a tiny volcanic island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Maureen carried the eggs on an eight-hour plane flight back to the USA, then incubated them for 55 days, and released them back home to ocean.
In 1980, Maureen came home, to Alice Springs.
In the following nearly 40 years, Maureen has become an Alice Springs institution- the personification of the town, radiating kindness, sincerity, love, and such a sense of adventure and fun.
Maureen worked back at the Alice Springs Hospital, before going across to Community Health.
Maureen’s nursing career spanned 52 years, giving people her care when they were at their most vulnerable, and needed it the most.
She herself has survived cancer, twice. And in 2006 Maureen was named Nurse of the Year.
Plenty of big name visitors have come to Alice Springs, and Maureen has seen them all.
She’s met the Pope, Princess Diana, and the Duke of Edinburgh, who she says was “charming!”.
15 years ago Maureen started her iconic Teddy Bear Hospital, which operates at the Todd Mall Markets, and helps save teddies that may have come a little unstuck, or unhemmed!
Through the Teddy Bear Hospital, Maureen has raised just under $50,000 for charity.
“There are a lot of good people in the world. I’m giving them a pathway for them to help other people,” she said.
Maureen has also been named Centralian of the Year and Senior Citizen of the Year, and was given a bravery award when she acted as a human shield to stop four men beating up two injured men, by lying on top of the wounded, to cover and try to protect them.
For the past six years, Maureen has led the Poppy Project- the creation of commemorative poppy displays on ANZAC Hill for ANZAC DAY and Remembrance Day.
Maureen- who is also a long-time Judge of the iconic Camel Cup- says of Alice Springs, “it’s an unusual place! Everything happens here! Everyone comes here! This place is my home. I just love the people here.”
And clearly, the people here, all love you Maureen.
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