AWAS on Rottnest - WF53208 WINFIELD (married OSBORNE)
Documentation relating to the AWAS service of WF53208 Gunner Mabel Mary Winfield of Mosman Park, born Cottesloe
Mabel was born 2 April 1925 in Cottesloe WA. Her parents were Edward Winfield and Mabel Louise Rogerson. They married in Cottesloe in 1915.
She married Alan Bidwell in 1946 in Perth. He was on Rottnest during the war at the same time as Mabel, so it is likely they met there. They were divorced in 1952 and Mabel married Mervyn C Osborne the same year.
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:
- AWAS on Rottnest - W45834 LIMPUS (married MANNING) (0.72km away)
- World War 1, Australia, Western Australia, BUCKINGHAM, 10 Light Horse (0.87km away)
- AWAS of Rottnest - W45447 RICHARDSON (0.89km away)
- PAINTING: 'A DAY AT MOSMANS BAY', WILLIAM FREDERICK STUART (0.9km away)
- World War 2, Australia Western Australia Mosman Park, Leighton Battery, 1942 (0.95km away)
- World War 2, Australia, Western Australia, Mosman Park, Buckland Hill, Heavy Anti-AircraftBattery,Australian Women’s Army Service, 1943 (0.96km away)
- World War 2, Australia, Western Australia, Mosman Park, Buckland Hill, Heavy Anti-Aircraft, 1943 (0.96km away)
- POSTER - Fortress Fremantle Graphic 5.25 inch Batteries (0.97km away)
- World War 1, Australia, Western Australia, LYNCH, 10 Light Horse (0.97km away)
- World War 2, Australia, Western Australia, Buckland Hill, Leighton Battery,1943 (0.99km away)
View all geotagged records...
Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
Other items from Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
- AWAS on Rottnest - WF45802 LEAKE (married WRIGHT)
- AWAS on Rottnest - WF96615 BARR
- AWAS on Rottnest - WF94363 ASHTON (married BURNETT)
- AWAS on Rottnest - WF91317 ASQUITH
- AWAS on Rottnest - W45265 Atkinson (married BARKER)
- AWAS on Rottnest - W96236 BARHAM (married PROUDLOVE)
- AWAS on Rottnest - WF94984 BATTAMS
- AWAS on Rottnest - WF2908 BATTEN (married AUBREY)
- AWAS on Rottnest - WF96312 BELL
- AWAS on Rottnest - W45451 BELL
- AWAS on Rottnest - W45718 BENPORATH (married HOPSON)
- AWAS on Rottnest - WF90354 BRAZIER (married IVORY)
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