A formidable woman we have a lot to be thankful for
Sometime ago wandering around Rookwood I came across a headstone that noted the person buried there was a recipient of the Order of Australia medal - I took a photo to research further. I've done a bit of that this week and came across someone many of us have never heard off. Here's what I found. FLORENCE AMY (FLO) CLUFF Florence - or Flo as she became known as - was born in November 1092 at Chillagoe Queensland, fifth of nine children to Frederick William Davis, a railway carpenter, and wife Florence Emma. Flo attended nearby schools as well as Cairns District High School from 1917 returning home as a pupil-teacher in 1919. After her father died in a a railway bridge accident in 1921, she left teaching to look after her mother and brothers but within months her mother also died. Unable to return to teaching, she married Robert Kershaw, a labourer, in November 1921. In 1931 she went to Brisbane, where she worked on hotels to support herself and her two younger brothers. The fo...