servicearmyfemaleworld

Located at Fort Lytton, this was one of several four-gun anti-aircraft positions situated along the Brisbane River, a system designed to monitor and prevent aircraft entering Brisbane airspace during WWII by using the river as a navigational aid. They also protected Allied facilities located along the river. These defensive positions were located at Colmslie/Lytton, Victoria Park, Balmoral, Pinkenba, Hendra, Hemmant, Amberley and Archerfield. The Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery had standard four-gun emplacements, with magazines, a central control room, and a gun crew of 10-12 men. The Australian Women’s Army Service were involved in operating instruments such as range finding and spotting, but generally not in the firing of the guns. By 1944, when the perceived threat from Japanese invasion had decreased, personnel on the battery was limited to maintenance and training purposes. The Lytton HAA was disbanded in January 1945, and all Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery sites in Brisbane were disarmed at the end of the war. Source: mappingbrisbanehistory.com.au/history-location/6-385th-au...

Women In Ack-Ack Units Here By PAUL GOLDENSTEDT. Military Commentator MEMBERS of the A.W.A.S. are now being trained in Queensland for service in anti-aircraft units. Hundreds more girls are required to serve in this branch. The girls are being trained to use the delicate instruments associated with anti-aircraft gunnery. In other commands, women have proved particularly competent in this duty. Many commanding officers claim that they are defter with their fingers and possess greater powers of concentration than men. Business people will appreciate that women are more efficient switch attendants than males; this has also proved to be so in the Army signal services. Show Aptitude A small Queensland detachment of the A.W.A.S. is undergoing preliminary training in the use of the predictor, one of the most complicated anti-aircraft instruments. It has revolutionized anti-aircraft defense with the accuracy of its calculations. Normally it takes three months to drain a soldier to use it efficiently. Women selected for this branch are given special aptitude tests and have displayed extraordinary adaptability to the work. They come from all walks of life. There are country girls, shop girls, domestics, milliners, and typists, who know as much about the identification of enemy aircraft and the delicate range-finding instruments as the soldier next to them. A special appeal for recruits for this work is now being made. Those who enlist in recruiting depots should specify that they wish to be drafted to anti-aircraft defense. Source: Courier Mail, 18 August 1942 trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/50127185?browse=ndp%3A...

July 1940 in Brisbane alone there were six different organisations providing women with war-related training, the largest of which was the Queensland-based Women's National Emergency Legion. The federal government and military did not initially support women being trained to serve in the armed forces, however, and these organisations were not taken seriously by the general public. Many of these women were trained to undertake skilled work in traditionally male occupations in order to free servicemen for operational service. Women were also encouraged to work in industry and volunteer for air raid precautions duties or clubs for Australian and Allied servicemen. The female branches of the military were disbanded after the war. Source: www.wikiwand.com/en/Australian_women_during_World_War_II

The Rocklea Munitions Works was built in the early 1940s and, according to Brisbane City Council's heritage listing for the site, were some of the "most northerly munitions works constructed in Australia during the Second World War". It was one of the largest construction projects undertaken in Queensland during the war and became increasingly vital to the war effort as the fighting moved to Papua and New Guinea. Due to its importance to the war effort and risk of being targeted, the property had air raid shelters for factory workers, which remain on site. The machining shop in the factory produced cartridge cases for 25-pounder ammunition during the war. Source: www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-08/salisbury-rocklea-munition...