servicearmyfemaleworld

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

The Queensland Woollen Manufacturing Company is situated in North Ipswich on level land overlooking the Bremer River. It was established in 1875 and the factory was the first woollen manufacturing plant in Queensland. The Second World War saw the woollen mill playing a similar role to that of the First, making blankets and cloth for the armed services. During the war years, the Federal Government declared dismissals forbidden from vital or "protected industries" such as the cloth manufacturing industry; prices and wages were pegged. For the workers, this was a favourable climate to demand improvements. A larger number of females were employed in the mill during the war due to decreased male employment. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensland_Woollen_Manufacturing_Co...

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...