Alice Springs RFDS nurse Carol Illmayer remembered in memorial after Bruce Highway crash

A Northern Territory nurse who tragically died in a car accident on Queensland’s most notorious road is being remembered as an adventurous mother, a brilliant midwife, and ‘the love of my life’ by her husband.

A memorial was held for Carolyn Dawn Illmayer at the Alice Springs Royal Flying Doctor Service hangar on September 27, 2024. Picture: Gera Kazakov

A Northern Territory nurse who tragically died in a car accident on Queensland’s most notorious road is being remembered as an adventurous mother, a brilliant midwife, and “the love of my life” by her husband.

Friends, family, and colleagues gathered on September 27 at the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) hangar in Alice Springs at a memorial for Carolyn Illmayer.

Carol, as she was known to those who loved her, tragically died in a car crash on the Bruce Highway, near Innisfail outside of Cairns on August 9.

The 60-year-old had been on a fundraising trip for the RFDS and her husband, Peter, was in the vehicle with her.

Peter and Carol Illmayer. Picture: Supplied

Carol was a nurse for the RFDS, a midwife at the Alice Springs hospital, a loving mother to children Daniel and Nikita, and the “love of my life” to Peter.

“Professionally, she did have an amazing career, she touched so many people,” Peter said.

“As a wife, she was full of adventure, challenging me to things that I hadn’t contemplated – like travelling to foreign countries with no plans.

“We rode midnight trains across countries. We challenged each other, finding the cheapest price for accommodation on websites which were dodgy as all hell; travelling on planes even Aeroflot would reject.”

The memorial was held seven weeks to the day a “tourist in rental car would change our lives”, Peter said.

They were just outside of Cairns when the pair were involved in a head-on collision.

The crash claimed the life of Carol and the driver of the other vehicle – a tourist who had been driving on the wrong side of the road.

Carol and Peter Illmayer. Picture: Supplied

Peter Illmayer, Carol Illmayer, Daniel Illmayer, and Nikita Illmayer. Picture: Supplied

Former RFDS senior flight nurse Kathy Arthurs remembered Carol as a “competent, skilled, and experienced health practitioner” who loved to make jokes, but was serious about patient advocacy.

“If she didn’t think that the instructions and pre-flight that she received was not in the best interest of the patient, she was the first to speak up – sometimes to the frustration of the retrieval doctor, ” Kathy said.

Royal Flying Doctor Service flight nurse Carol Illmayer (left) and senior flight nurse Kathy Arthurs in 2020. Photo: EMMA MURRAY

Kathy recalled one time when Carol defibrillated a man in cardiac arrest 54 times on a flight down to Adelaide.

He survived, and was present at the memorial.

For daughter Nikita, she said her mum was “everyone’s mum”, through thick or thin.

“Mum was known throughout my brother and I’s friendship groups and Alice Springs as a person who would extend her home to anyone who needed it,” she said.

“She was woman who celebrated with us when we were happy and gave us big hugs when we were sad.”

She remembered attending university lectures with her mum when she made the decision to study nursing, a move which would see the family relocate to Alice Springs from Sydney.

Daniel Illmayer said his mother had taught him to care for others just as deeply as she had done. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Daniel remembered his mother as his greatest tutor: teaching him how to walk, use his manners, ride a bike, and drive – even if she only gave him two lessons, he said with a smile.

But his favourite memory was when “she rushed into my room after a long day at work, just to show me a picture of where she’d been, the sunrise or sunset she had taken a picture of or anything that made her excited”.

“The biggest thing mum taught me was to care; to care for others like she did,” he said.

“You have taught me so much, mum.

“You will always be in my heart.”

Originally published as Alice Springs RFDS nurse Carol Illmayer remembered in memorial after Bruce Highway crash