AN Irish nurse killed after a tree fell on a car she was travelling in has been remembered as "a beautiful girl with a permanent smile".
Mary Ellen Molloy (26) was sitting in the back seat of a moving car when a eucalyptus tree branch fell onto it in Kings Way, South Melbourne about 9pm on Friday.
A friend sitting beside her in the back seat was also injured, while another friend and the male driver escaped injury.
Ms Molloy, whose uncle Anthony Molloy is a Donegal's All-Ireland winning GAA captain and a Fianna Fáil county councillor, had been working at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
The nurse from Ardara in Co Donegal had played for the St Kevin's Gaelic Athletic Club in Melbourne, which helped set up a fundraising page to assist the women's families in the wake of the tragedy.
"Our hearts are broken," the club said in a brief Facebook post.
"She was Donegal through and through and had such a strong love for her family and home. She will be dearly missed by our club and everyone that knew her."
The GoFundMe had raised more than £70,000 by Sunday.
Her devastated parents Terence and Angela Molloy, and brothers John and Karl, are being comforted by family and friends while a full investigation is being carried out by Australian police to establish the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
A spokesperson for the Royal Melbourne Hospital said staff were shocked by the death of the popular nurse.
"We are supporting the family and colleagues of one of our nurses who tragically died when a tree fell on her car.
"We send our deepest sympathies to the nurse’s family and friends, who are grieving over this heartbreaking loss."
Ardara GAC posted a message of sympathy on its Facebook page.
"We awaken today as a parish, numbed by the news from Australia of the death of Mary Ellen Molloy in Melbourne," it said.
"Mary Ellen was a beautiful girl with a permanent smile who lit up every room she walked into.
"Her love for her family was always so evident whenever they were together, and we can only imagine the grief that Terence, Angela, John Ross, Karl Joseph and the Molloy and Gillespie families are feeling at this time.
"As a community, we have lost yet another shining light and as ever, we will do whatever we can to assist them at this terrible time. God Bless everyone who knew and loved the beautiful girl from Edergole. God Rest you Mary Ellen x.”
Arrangements are being made for the return of Ms Molloy's remains to Donegal.
