Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

AWAS on Rottnest - W45267 BIRT (nee ACKLAND)

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Subcollections

Australian Women's Army Service on Rottnest

Overview

Documentation relating to the AWAS service of Lieutenant Elizabeth Ackland (nee Birt) from Goomaling

Historical information

Elizabeth Ackland was born on 15 May 1922 in Goomalling, Western Australia. Her parents were Royston Randell Barnes and Grace Ruby Smith.

Royston wrote a number of (apparently unpublished) articles for the Wongan-Ballidu Shire Council concerning the history of the Wongan Hills area.(1) Her mother died in 1925 when Elizabeth was only three years old.

Elizabeth worked as a telephonist before enlisting, on 19 January 1942, at the WACA Grounds.

After her initial training she was given the trade of Telephonist Grade 4. She then went to the School of Signals and on completing the course successfully she was reported as being “confident with good common sense”. Sent to 12 (L of C) Signals as part of Fremantle Fixed Defences, she served on Rottnest Island between 1942 and 1943.

Elizabeth was promoted to Corporal in September 1944 and then to Lieutenant in February 1945. She was discharged from Army service on 21 January 1946.

She married Stanley Herbert Hocking Birt in 1945. Stanley was also a Lieutenant (Service Number WX30305) who served in Darwin and then 5 AA Battery in Fremantle. Their address on Army records is given as Canning Highway, East Fremantle.

Stanley died in 1974, however, Elizabeth remarried in 1964 to Sebastian Rawlins (Fred) King.

Elizabeth died in 2010 aged 88 years and was cremated Karrakatta Cemetery.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-54-002

Contextual Information

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.

Geotag

-31.296556640703, 116.83051162139

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Links to additional resources

Service Records

DVA Nominal Roll

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

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