Meritorious Service Record

Daisy Hocking was an Australian missionary from Queenscliff, Victoria.
In March 1916, she arrived in Masan, Gyeongsangnam-do, as an Australian missionary and worked as a Korean language teacher while caring for Korean children. From 1918, she taught and evangelized at Ilshin Girls’ School (日新女學校) in Busan, which was operated by the Australian Presbyterian Church.
Following the outbreak of the March 1st Movement in Seoul in 1919, Ilshin Girls’ School teacher Ju Gyeong-ae (朱敬愛) coordinated with Busan Commercial School and informed the school's higher-grade students about the demonstrations. On March 10, 1919, eleven senior students secretly made 50 Taegeukgi (Korean national flags) inside a closet, with dormitory supervisor Isabella Menzies providing flag-making materials.
On March 11, after finishing classes and returning to the dormitory, eleven students, along with teachers Ju Gyeong-ae and Park Si-yeon, marched towards Jwacheon-dong holding the Taegeukgi. Daisy Hocking and Principal Margaret Davies joined them in the protest. Hocking actively encouraged the students and marched alongside them. Hundreds of people participated in the demonstration, which lasted for two hours before Japanese authorities arrested all the key organizers.
Hocking and Davies were also arrested and detained at Busanjin Police Station until their release on March 13. Due to international diplomatic concerns, the Japanese authorities decided not to prosecute them and instead dismissed their charges.
In recognition of her contributions to Korea’s independence movement, the South Korean government posthumously awarded Daisy Hocking the National Foundation Medal in 2022.