2

MOTOR TRANSPORT SCHOOL,.— Climbing a steep trackless hill may be all in a day's work for an Army motorcyclist. This Institution at an Army Motor Transport School shows students how to manage a bucking cycle In such a climb. Universal carriers and motorcyclists assembling for a training exercise in Queensland. Source: Telegraph, 23 Sep. 1942 trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/172607425/19738216

The AWAS played an important role in intelligence, signals, ciphers, electrical and mechanical training units, heavy convoy work, anti-aircraft and coastal artillery, gun sights and searchlights. They were cooks, clerks, orderlies, canteen workers, provosts, butchers, instrument repairers, and transport and ambulance drivers. When peace was declared in 1945, these women returned full of confidence with plans for their futures, but they were not wanted in the workforce. Many were required to care for returning servicemen in the confines of the home. Some of their stories were horrendous; coping with a traumatised, sometimes violent partner, without good advice or support. Source: tracesmagazine.com.au/2016/06/women-in-world-war-ii-the-a...

The Aust Army Ordnance Corps (AAOC) in the World War 2 was one of the corps which supplied the Army with the materials it needed to live, move and fight. The Aust Army Service Corps (AASC) supplied the consumable items, such as food and fuel, while the Royal Aust Engineers (RAE) and Corps of Signals maintained supply branches to distribute the specialist engineer stores and signals equipment. AAOC supplied the ammunition as well as the non-consumable items for which the receiver was accountable. These include the weapons, munitions and vehicles as well as the tents, knives and forks, clothing and the spare parts to maintain the vehicles and equipment. AAOC did not generally undertake the distribution of their stores to units as the transport function was undertaken by AASC. Source: search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.454344815385...

Recruiting for the WAAAF began on 15 March 1941 and on the 17th of March the first 19 airwomen reported for duty. Ten of these were teleprinter operator trainees. Throughout 1941 recruiting was quite slow. However, when Japan entered the war in December 1941 there was a greater push for the employment of women. By the end of 1941 some 1500 women were serving in the WAAAF. At its peak in October 1944 there were 18 667 officers and airwomen in the WAAAF. By the end of the war 27 000 women had served in the WAAAF making it the largest of the three women’s services. The value of the work and the skills of the WAAAF during a period when thousands of men needed to be released for operational duty overseas and in Australia, which itself was at risk, encouraged the formation of the Women’s Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAF) in 1951. In 1977 the WRAAF was disbanded, and women were absorbed into the mainstream RAAF. It would take until June 1988 before the first female Air Force Pilots graduated and the first female fighter jet pilots didn’t graduate until December 2017. Now there are no restrictions on employment of females in the Air Force, including all pilot positions. Source: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/women-who-answered-call