signing

American Earl Crotchett, a cameraman for Universal Newsreels, was one of many overseas war correspondents operating in Australia during WWII. Earl was wounded in New Guinea by a Japanese bomb that was dropped on '17 mile airstrip' (Durand Airfield 17 miles from Port Moresby) during the Buna Campaign in late 1942. In this photo you can see his friends signing names to his plaster cast, on the steps of the Queens Hotel in Townsville which was used as accommodation for officers in World War II. During WWII, 'foxhole journalism' developed, focusing on accounts close to the action, and this saw large numbers of journalists killed and wounded. To date the Honour Roll of Australian journalists, photographers, cameramen and crew killed in action holds 32 names. Sixteen of those died reporting in conflict zones during WWII. Source: www.facebook.com/anzacsquarebrisbane/photos/a.56086881474...

Brightly coloured recruitment posters encouraged young women to join up and more than 66,000 of them enlisted in the three services – Army, Navy and Air Force. They made up just under 7% of the nearly 1 million Australians who served. Thousands of young Australian women left home to join the new women’s auxiliary services, the: Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service (RANNS) Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service (RAAFNS) Source: www.ww2places.qld.gov.au/homefront/women-in-the-war

More than 24,000 women joined the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) after it was founded in 1941 to free up men to join fighting units, marking the first time women were permitted to serve in the military. Women who were British subjects aged between 18 and 40 were eligible to enlist and were paid two-thirds of the equivalent male wage for their service. While it was initially thought women would be confined to roles such as typists and cooks, AWAS members ended up serving in army ordnance, artillery, intelligence and signals corps. They carried out clerical and manual work, maintaining transport and equipment crucial to the war effort and driving everything from cars to amphibious vehicles. 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. Source: www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/culture/article/2019/03/12/h...

In which WH room was the photo taken?