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- Women made an important contribution to the Australian home front during the Second World War. Many women took jobs traditionally held by men in the 1930s and 1940s. In factories and fields, on roads, watching the sky and listening to airwaves. Women filled the void left by the men who were serving.
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Women made an important contribution to the Australian home front during the Second World War. Many women took jobs traditionally held by men in the 1930s and 1940s. In factories and fields, on roads, watching the sky and listening to airwaves. Women filled the void left by the men who were serving.
- Australian Women and the Second World War: Great Debates
At the peak of Australia's involvement in the Second World...
- Australian Women in War: Service, Courage and Care
The Second World War saw new opportunities for Australian...
- Australian Women and the Second World War: Great Debates
Mar 13, 2019 · In 1945, members of the AWAS became the first women to serve overseas in non-medical roles when a posting of 385 women sailed to New Guinea aboard the MV Duntroon.
At the peak of Australia's involvement in the Second World War, women were engaged in roles that were critical to the war effort; there's no doubt that the women carrying out those roles made major contributions to the Allied victory.
Many women wanted to play an active role in the war and hundreds of voluntary women's auxiliary and paramilitary organisations had been formed by 1940. These included the Women's Transport Corps , Women's Flying Club , Women's Emergency Signalling Corps and Women's Australian National Services .
- Introduction
- Boer War and First World War
- Second World War
- BCOF, Korea and Vietnam
- Australian Women and The Vietnam War
- Peacekeeping and Recent Conflicts
- Bibliography
- Copyright
The history of Australian men leaving our shores to fight in wars is well told, along with their efforts to defend Australia itself when enemy forces threatened this country. This history features many stories of courage, resilience and sacrifice, shared across the years and across the branches of Australia's armed forces. The history of Australian...
What was the nature of the war experience for Australian women during the Boer War and the First World War?
When people think about international conflicts involving Australians, they often think of the First World War, Second World War, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars, Afghanistan and so on. They are often surprised to learn that Australians served in a conflict that started when this country was still made up of separate colonies, before the Commonwealth of Australia came into existence in 1901. That conflict was the Second South African Anglo-Boer War, or Boer War for short. It took place in South...
Women during the Boer War
Australian women nurses may have seen the Boer War as an opportunity to reinforce the reputation of nursing. British authorities regarded nursing as an occupation with low status; nurses themselves were regarded as lacking professionalism and possibly not maintaining high standards of hygiene. The New South Wales Army Nursing Service Reserve, formed in August 1899, sent fourteen nurses to the Boer War, in January 1900. These nurses served with the New South Wales Army Medical Corps. Nurses fr...
Julia Bligh Johnston
Julia Bligh Johnston was a nursing sister from the Hawkesbury district in New South Wales, where she was born in 1861. Julia grew up in an upper class family – her father was a magistrate, coroner and prominent in the local church. She enjoyed a good education and was a professional nurse when she joined the first group of nurses from New South Wales to go to South Africa to serve in the Boer War. Most of these nurses were aged 25 – 41 and were single. Julia and the other nurses worked under...
How did the role of Australian women change during the Second World War?
When the First World War ended in 1918, it was soon known as 'the war to end all wars'. However, only 21 years later the Second World War began. Once again it was Australia's ties to the British Empire that drew our country into the conflict. Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939 after Germany invaded Poland; the Australian government told the Australian people that the nation was at war with Germany as well. What followed was six years of conflict across the world that saw Austra...
Service roles for Australian women
The Second World War saw new opportunities for Australian women to make contributions to Australia's war efforts. Roles like nursing still existed, however the creation of new volunteer organisations meant that women could take up a greater range of jobs and responsibilities related to the war. Some of these organisations were associated with Australia's armed forces. They were known as auxiliary services, which meant that they were additional to, but not part of, Australia's army, navy and a...
Other jobs for women
Australian women moved into a large range of specific jobs during the Second World War. Each of these jobs made a contribution to Australia’s war efforts. The jobs allowed our nation to keep its frontline forces properly equipped and effective as the troops fought in the combat zones across the world. Many of the jobs involved women taking on new skills and being trained in a range of military technologies and methods. Some of these technologies and methods were relatively new, so many women...
How where these three military operation different for Australian women serving in them?
The end of the Second World War was not the end of the involvement of Australian women in military activities. In Japan, the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF, 1946–1952) required nursing support as post-war reconstruction began. The Korean War (1950–1953) also provided a need for nurses to serve in that country with the Australian military forces. When war broke out in Vietnam (1962–1973), Australian women again served as nurses in the Australian armed forces. Australian women were...
Australian women and the BCOF
Look at the three images above. Each shows an aspect of the experiences of Australian women in the BCOF. How do those experiences compare to the experiences of Australian women who served in the Boer War, First World War and Second World War? What are the similarities and differences?
Australian Women and the Korean War
In June 1950, forces from communist North Korea invaded South Korea, which was supported by the United States. North Korea's invasion of South Korea led to three years of intense and bitter fighting on the Korean peninsula. The Korean War saw Australian women serve mainly as nurses. A few were based in Korea, where they prepared soldiers for evacuation to hospitals in Japan. The soldiers were cared for by RAAF nurses on the evacuation flights; when the soldiers arrived in Japan, they were und...
A government policy against the expansion of communism in Asia resulted in Australia sending training advisers to South Vietnam in 1962. Australian combat troops were sent to Vietnam in 1965. Australia included conscripts in the troop numbers in 1966. A gradual withdrawal of Australian troops began in 1969, with the last troops leaving Vietnam in 1...
How have Australian women's roles changed in the modern Australian Defence Force?
The United Nations (UN) began peacekeeping operations in 1947, in Indonesia. Australians were involved as unarmed military observers. Since that time, Australians have served in peacekeeping roles in countries close to Australia, such as Bougainville and East Timor, and in more distant countries such as Cambodia, Somalia and Rwanda. No Australian women served in peacekeeping roles in the early years of these activities. This changed over time as roles for women expanded in the military servic...
Boer War and First World War
Jan Bassett, Guns and Brooches, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992 Jessie McHardie White in Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files, December 1918, AWM 1 DRL 428
Second World War
Betty Goldsmith and Beryl Sandford, The Girls They Left Behind, Penguin, Melbourne, 1990 E. Daniel Potts and Annette Potts, Yanks Down Under 1941–1945, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1985 Michael McKernan, All In!, Nelson, Melbourne, 1983 Joanna Penglase and David Horner, When The War Came To Australia, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1992
BCOF, Korea and Vietnam
Major General R.W.L. Hopkins 'History of the Australian Occupation in Japan, 1946–50', page 109, in Royal Australian Historical Society Proceedings, Vol 40 No 2, 1954
© Commonwealth of Australia 2020 This work is copyright. Permission is given by the Commonwealth for this publication to be copied royalty free within Australia solely for educational purposes. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced for commercial purposes. To the best of DVA’s knowledge, copyright p...
Oct 8, 2016 · The role of women in war production challenged entrenched gender divisions and gave women workers newfound confidence to demand equal wages, argues Lucy Honan. The Second World War saw a dramatic change in women’s role in the Australian workforce.
It soon became clear that the war was going to demand much more than the government had expected. Women could do the technical jobs normally performed by men, freeing those men for combat. Each branch of the armed services formed their own auxiliary corps for women.
