After gaining her general nursing certificate at Sydney Hospital & Midwifery certificate at Crown Street Women’s hospital and 2 years nursing at Sydney Hospital, Beryl took a job with the Australian Inland Mission in 1937. Today, we refer to this as the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Her service was mostly to the mining communities in Marble Bar, Western Australia (where at times in temperatures reached above 55 degrees Celsius). In 1939 as the war began, Beryl left Western Australia to work at Lithgow Hospital, where she joined the Militia in 1941.

In May 1941, she was accepted into the Australian Imperial Force. Beryl was appointed to the Australian Army Nursing Services from 1941 – 1947, with postings in Palestine, Egypt, New Guinea, Borneo & Japan. She provided nursing care to the wounded and those impacted by tropical diseases through various Australian General Hospitals, ultimately being promoted to Lieutenant. She lived through extreme weather conditions, contaminations, and outbreaks; surviving where thousands perished. As battles raged, Beryl was providing treatment. Her experiences and being witness to crimes related to prisoners of war, saw her attend the Tokyo War Crimes Trials in 1946. At the time, she was 33. She spent a year in Kure with the Occupational Force and was made Temporary Captain. Her dedication to the nation saw her awarded many medals for her service during World War 2.

After she was discharged in 1947, Beryl still nursed for men being cared for at the Concord Repatriation Hospital. Beryl planned a well-earned voyage by ship to England in 1948 (so she could attend the wedding of her sister, Nea). This was a period full of backlog for bookings for sea travel, with delays of many months in place. Through her connections, she was able to be added to the passenger list for the trip from Australia to England. However, she was not as fortunate for her voyage home to Australia.'

Desperate to return to Australia as soon as she could, Beryl took an innovative approach, responding to an advertisement calling for two airmen to help fly a Proctor III from England to Australia. Able to convince the pilot that her army service made her an ideal travelling companion, she was given a seat on the plane in 1949, with the role of attending to injury and illness during the journey.

The journey took 39 days, of which they had 46 landings.

Upon her return in 1950, Beryl became the Matron of Yass Hospital. Then in 1952, at the age of 38, she became the Matron of the Tweed District Hospital in Murwillumbah. In 1957, Matron Bonfield’s application to be the foundation Matron of the Sutherland Hospital was accepted. At the time, Sutherland Hospital was a brand new, unoccupied 200 bed hospital, and Beryl accepted the responsibility of furnishing & staffing both this facility, and the adjoining nurses’ home. She brought the same regimentation to her new role, as she had in the army. In her role as the matron of The Sutherland Hospital (TSH), she was responsible for approximately 250 nursing staff as well as the staff from domestic services. She worked to ensure that the TSH Nurses Training School was equipped to be the best in the state and worked tirelessly to seek funding to obtain high quality instruments and equipment. Beryl received Honorary Membership of the NSW College of Nursing for her meritorious service to nursing by, being the first to ever do so.

She retired in 1979, at around the same time she received an Order of Australia Medal, for her contribution to nursing & community. Throughout her career, Beryl had cared for thousands of people across the globe, focusing on providing care to the various communities she served.

She was instrumental in organisations such as the State Emergency Services Nurses Unit, Girl Guides, Quota Club, St. Johns Ambulance, Presbyterian Sunday School and the Cronulla Musical Club.

In 1961, Beryl joined the Cronulla RSL Sub-Branch, where she was granted life membership. Beryl passed away in 2004, at the age of 91.