Gladys Sanderson BEM

The Angel of Noojee Black Fire Bushfires 1939. Assistant Postmistress and Bushfire Heroine

“She stayed at her post office switchboard until flames were licking the building.” ¹

— Constable Earnshaw

Gladys Elizabeth Woolstencroft was born in Warragul in 1903 and spent much of her childhood in Neerim Junction. She grew up knowing that bushfires could occur swiftly and that people needed to be prepared. Her family had rebuilt more than once after earlier blazes. Gladys had heard about her father’s shop being destroyed during Black Thursday in 1898 and in 1926, she survived a fire that devastated Noojee. These experiences gave her a practical calm and understanding of bushfire conditions that would later prove vital.

In 1923, Gladys married Leslie (Jack) Sanderson, and they had three children. In 1939 Gladys was working as Assistant Postmistress at Noojee, supporting her father, the Postmaster, in running the office.

On 13 January 1939, the day of Victoria’s devastating Black Friday bushfires, Gladys was the only person in Noojee able to operate the telephone switchboard, the town’s sole communication link to isolated families in the surrounding hills.  As fire advanced rapidly on the town, she remained at her post relaying urgent messages and coordinating evacuations.

Gladys ensured the evacuation of her sick father and her nine-year-old daughter, then heroically returned to the switchboard and continued working until the post office itself was threatened by flames. Constable Earnshaw, who was overseeing the town during the fire, later recalled:

“She stuck to the ’phone and got out every message for me. Otherwise some of those families in the hills might never have got out… the flames were then right over us, and I said, ‘Go for the river.’” [2]

Before evacuating, Gladys locked the post office valuables in the safe and wired the keys to her wrist. She then escaped to the river, where locals sheltered until the firestorm passed. Following her departure the Post Office building was destroyed by the fire. In an interview following the aftermath Gladys said:

“I shut the door, and tied the keys of the office and the safe to my wrist and ran for the river. Everyone left in the town was there, and as the fire raced right up to the banks, we pulled wet blankets over our heads to protect us from the heat. We were in the river for nearly three hours.” [3]

The following day, despite exhaustion Gladys returned to Noojee. Gladys later recalled: 

“Noojee was fortunate in that there was no loss of life but it was a grim day, a blackened smouldering town; no fowls, animals or birds lived through that ordeal…. One could drive for twenty miles and not see a blade of green. Trees were stripped of their bark and leaves. They looked like black ghosts.”  [4]

Amid the devastation Gladys helped establish a temporary emergency post office, restoring communications to the town. With communication lines down across much of the district, she fielded calls from police and anxious relatives in Melbourne and beyond. None were recorded for payment,  “it was free calls for everyone,” she later wrote. [5]

Gladys worked until midnight, and again the next day from early morning until 9pm. She was able to dispatch Mail by handwriting “Noojee” across stamps until a damaged date stamp was recovered from the ruins and repaired. [6]

Gladys’  bravery was widely reported in newspapers across Australia and internationally. In June 1940, she was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for for “gallantry and devotion to duty” by King George VI. [7]

In 1940, Gladys married Bill McIntosh and became known as Gladys McIntosh. In later life, she recorded her experiences under this name in her memoir Noojee Calling, published in 1983.  This book was launched on her 80th Birthday.  Gladys passed away at age 83 in 1986.

Acknowledgement:

This Biography was written by Her Place Women’s Museum, in consultation with family and Baw Baw Shire Council.

Image: Gladys Sanderson: Gladys Sanderson with the Post Office key in 1963 (image supplied by the Noojee & District Historical Society.

Commemoration

In 2025, Baw Baw Shire Council proposed naming a previously unnamed reserve in Noojee as Gladys Sanderson Park, in recognition of her courage. The Council stated that naming the reserve offered an opportunity to preserve Glady’s story for  future generations. The proposal was endorsed on 26 March 2025 following community consultation, with strong local support.

The naming was officially published in the Victoria Government Gazette by the Registrar of Geographic Names on 30 November 2025, formally recognising the reserve as Gladys Sanderson Park. Gladys Sanderson is also honoured through a museum display at the Noojee Heritage Railway Station, curated by the Noojee and District Historical Society.