AWAS on Rottnest - WF45466 ROBERTSON
Documentation relating to the AWAS service of WF45466 Lieutenant Lorna Rua Robertson of Cottesloe, born Mosman NSW
Details
Details
The Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) was formed in late 1941, two years after the outbreak of World War 2. Australian women had been agitating for some time for the chance to join the War Effort. They wanted to do “real work, not knit sock for the men.” The primary aim of AWAS was to release men from some military duties so they could be deployed in fighting units.
Initial recruitment was for duties associated with “women’s work”, clerks, cooks and typists, still being done my male soldiers. Beginning in early 1942 as invading Japanese swept through the South West Pacific towards Australia, many more military trades were opened to women including signals, weapons plotting, drivers, which involved close contact with the coast defence systems on Rottnest.
This collection brings together the stories of women in the Australian Women’s Army Service who were deployed on Rottnest Island as part of the defences of Fortress Fremantle from 30 September 1942 onward. The content is based on a “Saluting Their Service” exhibition developed by the Rottnest Voluntary Guides on the 80th Anniversary of this deployment. The exhibition was presented at Kingstown Barracks, Rottnest Island from 8-9 October 2022 and at the Australian Army Museum of Western Australia from 9 – 17 November 2022
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Nearest geotagged records:
- World War 1, Western Australia, BROWN, 19 Battalion, 1915 (0.69km away)
- World War 2, Australia, NX238 JANES, Australian Army Medical Corps, 1941 (3.94km away)
- Inter War, Australia, New South Wales, Sydney, Darwin Mobile Force, SMITH, 1939 (4.17km away)
- World War 1, Australia, Western Australia, MacKELLAR, 10 Light Horse (4.53km away)
- World War 1, Australia, Western Australia, 429 KINGDON, 10 Light Horse (4.68km away)
- World War 1, Australia, Sydney, Memorial to Horses, 1950 (4.86km away)
- AWAS on Rottnest - WF90105 WOOLCOTT (5.55km away)
- Bathers at beach. (5.67km away)
- World War 1, Australia, Western Australia, 783 BLANCHARD, 10 Light Horse (6.24km away)
- World War 1, Australia, Western Australia, 1197 STEWART, 10 Light Horse (6.38km away)
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Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
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