Betty Gemmell has always been fiercely independent. She was born on her grandparent’s property near Berrigan, in the Riverina, in 1917, and inherited a knack for numbers from her accountant father. When World War II broke out she became one of Australia’s first female bank tellers. Like many young women at the time, she considered going into nursing, but the local bank manager convinced her that the best way she could contribute to the war effort would be using her skill with numbers.
