For St Vincent’s Private Hospital Northside senior physiotherapist, Louise (Lou) Bennett, the journey to Anzac Cove at Gallipoli this month will be a very big and very emotional tick on her ‘bucket list’ as a chosen representative of the families of Australian defence veterans.

Lou was chosen as the only family representative to travel to Gallipoli after an exhaustive selection process by the Department of Veteran Affairs in a new pilot program. 

The Anzac Day program formally acknowledges the families of veterans as the pillars of strength and support for them during their time of service, as well as the often very difficult journey adjustment post-service. (She will have fellow representatives in Gallipoli in the form of three ADF veterans at Gallipoli at the dawn service which traditionally sees thousands of people make the respectful pilgrimage.)

Lou and her family have a long and truly heroic history of service dating back to WWII, when her grandfather (Sub Lieutenant Pat Kingsmill) was awarded the DSO (Distinguished Service Order) for his selfless actions in the famous Channel Dash - one of the most daring and courageous naval air raids by the Royal Air Force against an invading German fleet in 1942.

For Louise, it will be a "true bucket list occasion and a very emotional journey" to travel to the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey for Anzac Day which will mark the 110th anniversary of the landing. She will have an official role at the Dawn Service ceremony at Anzac Cove and will stay on for another later service at the other notable hallowed ground of Lone Pine

Lou’s professional life has revolved around caring for people and in service to community and to country – having spent several months working as a locum physiotherapist with the British Army in Germany in the early 2000s, where she met her husband who was a major in the British Army with the Royal Logistics Corp.

She returned to Australia in 2006 with Ed and their first born child and Lou later spent time working as a physiotherapist with the Australian Army at bases at Duntroon and Wodonga (Victoria). 

Lou joined St Vincent’s Northside in 2015 as senior physiotherapist, working mainly initially post-operatively with orthopaedic patients. 

More recently she has worked in the general medical ward at St Vincent’s Northside with oncology and palliative care patients with a recent focus on a quality improvement project that aims to minimise the risk of in-hospital decline through the Volunteer Walk Companion Program.

Further testament to her commitment to service has been her volunteer work as a Field Operations Member with the State Emergency Service which last week saw her recognised with an International Women’s Day Award as SES Outstanding Female Leader.

But in typically modest fashion, she downplays any notion of selfless service or heroic sacrifice to the community, saying her choices of career and the appeal of joining the SES just over three years ago were driven more by her inherent caring nature and doing things that give her a positive feeling.