World War 2, Western Australia, Australian Army Medical Women's Service, 1945

This short-sleeved khaki cotton drill dress is an example of the type worn when stationed at army camp hospitals such as Rottnest and the north of Australia. It has a red embroidered Geneva cross and AAMWS on ribbon tapes on the shoulders. The women in this service were mostly nursing orderlies, clerks and previously Voluntary Aid Detachments. When serving in the north, they took with them Wellington boots, tin hats, respirators, and Red Cross parcels, containing a palliasse (thin straw mattress), mosquito net, and torch among other items.