World War 2, Australia, Australian Army Medical Women’s Service, 1943
1943Interior view of Australian Army Medical Women’s Service Barracks, showing hammocks and bunk beds
The Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS) grew out of the volunteer Red Cross and St John Ambulance Voluntary Aid Detachments (known as the VADs). From December 1942 nearly 8,500 AAMWS served as nurses, nursing aides, and technicians tending sick and wounded soldiers in the Middle East, New Guinea, and Australia. The AAMWS served alongside army nursing sisters in hospitals.
The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) was authorised by the government on 13 August 1941 to "release men from certain military duties for employment in fighting units." The AWAS was the only non-medical women's service to send personnel overseas during the war; in 1944 and 1945 AWAS served in both Dutch and Australian New Guinea. By 30 June 1947 all members of the AWAS had been demobilised
Facing a severe manpower shortage due to the demands of the Korean War and national service in a time of full employment, enlistment for the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) began in April 1951. In the late 1970s female soldiers began to be integrated into the Army at large and in early 1984, the WRAAC was disbanded.
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Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
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