Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

AWAS on Rottnest - WF45947 BEATON

« Prev Item Next Item »

Subcollections

Australian Women's Army Service on Rottnest

Overview

Documentation relating to the AWAS service of WF45947 Lieutenant Charlotte Elizabeth Beaton of Claremont, born at Yalgoo.

Historical information

Vera Atkinson Note: good photo 6 May 1939 West Aust. Also Ian bond barker some info

Was in W.A.N.S 1941 They were shown how to fiddle with engines etc (her father was Sydney Atkinson who started the Motor company)

The Women's Australian National Service (WANS) was established in Western Australia in 1941. From 1943 to 1946 it ran 'Wanslea Hostel', a Home for children who could not live with family due to parental illness or wartime absence.
The Women's Australian National Service was founded by Lady Margaret Loder Wakehurst (1899-1994) in June 1940, at a conference. She was its president and commander-in-chief. Lady Wakehurst was the popular wife of John de Vere Loder Wakehurst, the Governor General of New South Wales from 1937 until 1946. WANS was established in Western Australia in 1941. Its purpose was to encourage women to be active in community service and employment shortages created by World War II. In 1943 in WA, the Deputy Director of Manpower, Department of the Army, asked the local WANS to run a children's hostel to accommodate children who could not live at home due to parental sickness or war-related absence. This hostel was named Wanslea. The WANS wound up on 28 February 1946. https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE01146b.htm

Vera was born 13 January 1921 in Perth Western Australia. Her parents were Sydney Atkinson and Gladys Bella Archer Snook.

Paul Sydney Bond born to Ian and Vera Barker 27 Aug 1945 St John of God Hospital

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-54-011

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.

Links to additional resources

DVA Nominal Roll

Service Records

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Organisation Details
View Collection
Item Feedback