Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

AWAS on Rottnest - W45349 PITTS (married NEWBY)

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Subcollections

Australian Women's Army Service on Rottnest

Overview

Documentation relating to the AWAS service of W45349 Lance Sergeant Muriel Emilie Pitts (married name Newby) of Melville, born Essex England

Historical information

Muriel was born 20 March 1921 in Essex, England. At the time of her enlistment on 16 February 1942 at the WACA ground WA she was a 20 year old single women, living with her parents in Melville WA, and working as a canteen attendant. She was allocated the service number W45349 and graded canteen Attendant TGIV. During her enlistment she experienced several bouts of ill health but returned to duty and received promotion to Sergeant. She served at Rottnest for 2 months before being discharged, medically unfit, on 18 September 1944

Subsequent correspondence with State Housing Commission Of WA and the Central Army Records Office on 2 February 1966 address Muriel as Mrs Newby.

Muriel died at the age of 82 in 2004, in Palmyra.

Husband? Married post 1948 Reverse marriages show she married Thomas William Newby in 1961 in Perth.
Mother Gwendoline Mary? Father James Percival? Married in Essex Muriel Emilie Pitts baptised in St Andrews Church in Weeley, Essex England on 10 May 1921. Her parents were James Percival Pitts and Gwendoline Mary Pitts

Sources

Index to WA burials Metropolitan Cemeteries index (covers Karrakatta, Fremantle, Rockingham, Midland, Guildford, Pinnaroo and Gnangara Aboriginal cemetery, Muriel Emilie Newby
https://www.mcb.wa.gov.au (Accessed 20 January 2024)

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-54-018

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

51.736756923162, 0.47220977722332

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Links to additional resources

DVA Nominal Roll

Service Records

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

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