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Australian women in World War I

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Main page The role of Australian women in World War I was focused mainly upon
Contents their involvement in the provision of nursing services.[1] Australian
Current events women also played a significant role on the homefront, where they filled
Random article jobs made vacant by men joining the armed forces. Women also
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undertook fundraising and recruiting activities as well as organising
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comfort packages for soldiers serving overseas. Around the issue of
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conscription, women were involved in campaigning on both sides of the
Contribute debate,[2] while they were also equally involved in the New South Wales
Help strike in 1917. Nevertheless, despite this involvement, women have
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never occupied a central position in the Australian version of the ANZAC
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myth, although since the 1970s their role has been examined in more
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detail as a result of the emergence of feminist historiography, and
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specialist histories such as the history of nursing.
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What links here Contents [hide]
Related changes 1 Nursing Queensland nurses leaving on the
Special pages 2 Other volunteer work SS Omrah for World War I, circa 1914
Permanent link 3 Awards
Page information 4 Opposition
Cite this page
5 Notable Australian women involved in the war
Wikidata item
6 References
Print/export 7 External links
Download as PDF 8 Further reading

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‫ا‬ Nursing [edit]
Women's Voluntary Registration
Office, situated in the quadrangle of the
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One of the primary roles for Australian women during the war was Brisbane Town Hall, 1915. The office
was established by the National Council
nursing. The Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) comprised more of Women for the purpose of registering
than 3000 nurses during the war, over 2,200 of whom served outside women willing to undertake work in
Australia. 21 AANS nurses died during their war service and a number connection to the war.

shortly thereafter. Nurses were present on the Western Front, and in

Greece, England, India, Egypt, and Italy. The AANS comprised trained
nurses, trained masseuses, 14 ward assistants and 1 bacteriologist.
They served not just in Australian military hospitals but also in British
hospitals and in ships at sea. [3]

Hundreds of other Australian trained nurses served overseas with

organisations including: the British nursing services, Red Cross, St John
Ambulance and the Australian Voluntary Hospital. Australia also sent a
number of female VADs to work in military hospitals. An example of
these groups is the 20 nurses and a masseuse who were recruited to
work in French hospitals by the Australian Red Cross Society, they were
dubbed the "Bluebirds" in reference to the colour of their uniforms. [4] The
Australian nurses had their roles changed mid-way through World War I.
As the war went on, the facilities became better throughout. They were
able to clean and sterilize utensils used to clean up wounds. Offer mental
support and treatment. And finally offer strong medication.[citation needed]

Other volunteer work [edit]

Recruitment posters urging women
to get men to enlist
The following women's voluntary organisations were involved in support
work:[5]
 Australian Red Cross
Women's Christian Temperance Union
Australian Women's National League
Voluntary Aid Detachment
Australian Comforts Fund
The Cheer-Up Society

Awards [edit]

The following women received medals or other awards for their war work:

Flora Reid – Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
(DBE) – inaugural recipient – for aiding convalescent soldiers [6]
Vera Deakin – Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) – for
establishing the Australian Wounded and Missing Inquiry Bureau[7] Three women spinning wool to knit
Sister Clare Deacon, Sister Dorothy Cawood, Sister Alice Ross-King, socks for soldiers during World War I in
Tenterfield, New South Wales, ca. 1915
Staff Nurse Mary Derrer – Military Medal – for bravery rescuing
patients from a burning building[8]
Sister Pearl Corkhill – Military Medal
Sister Rachel Pratt – Military Medal[9]
Sister Alicia Mary Kelly – Military Medal[10]

Opposition [edit]

A number of Australian women opposed the war, or certain aspects of it. Australian pacifists and anti-conscription
activists during this period included Bella Guerin and Doris Blackburn.

See also: World War I conscription in Australia

Notable Australian women involved in the war [edit]

Main page: Category:Australian women of World War I

References [edit]
1. ^ "1918: Australians in France – Nurses – "The roses of No Man's Land " " . Australian War Memorial. Archived
from the original on 27 March 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
2. ^ "Forging the Nation: Australian Women" . Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 25
December 2010. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
3. ^ Kirsty Harris, More than Bombs and Bandages: Australian Army nurses at work in World War I, BigSky
Publishing, 2011
4. ^ Hetherington, Les (January 2009). "The Bluebirds in France". Wartime. 45: 58–60.
5. ^ "Women in wartime" . Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
6. ^ "Florence Reid" . National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 5 March 2019 . Retrieved
3 April 2019.
7. ^ Rickard, John (2002). "White, Vera Deakin (1891–1978)" . Australian Dictionary of Biography . 16. Archived
from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
8. ^ "Women in action – nurses and serving women" . Archived from the original on 17 February 2011 . Retrieved
10 February 2011.
9. ^ "Faith, Hope, Charity" . Archived from the original on 20 July 2013 . Retrieved 4 March 2013.
10. ^ "Australian Dictionary of Biography" . Archived from the original on 4 March 2011 . Retrieved 10 February
2011.

External links [edit]

Frances, Rae: Women’s Mobilisation for War (Australia) , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia
of the First World War .

Further reading [edit]

Adam-Smith, Patsy. Australian Women At War, Penguin, Melbourne, 1996

Barker, Marianne. Nightingales in the Mud, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1989
Bassett, Jan. Guns and Brooches, Oxford Melbourne, 1992
Beaumont, Joan, ed. Australia’s War 1914-18, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1995
 Beaumont, Joan. "Whatever happened to patriotic women, 1914–1918?." Australian Historical Studies 31.115
(2000): 273-286.
Cochrane, Peter. Australians At War, (ABC Books, Melbourne, 2001).
Coates, Donna. "Myrmidons to Insubordinates: Australian, New Zealand and Canadian Women’s Fictional
Responses to the Great War." in P. Quinn and S. Trout, eds. The Literature of the Great War Reconsidered
(Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2001. 113-142).
De Vries, Susanna. Heroic Australian women in war: astonishing tales of bravery from Gallipolli to Kokoda .
(HarperCollins, 2004. ISBN 0732276691).
Fallows, Carol. Love and War, (Bantam Books, Sydney, 2002).
Kretzenbacher, Heinz L. "The forgotten German-Australian stories of Australian history: Lesbia Harford’s The
Invaluable Mystery and the predicament of German-Australians in the First World War." Australisches
Jahrbuch für germanistische Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft / Australian Yearbook of German Literary and
Cultural Studies (2014) 7:45-77 online [dead link]

McKernan, Michael. The Australian People and the Great War (Nelson, Melbourne, 1980).
Oppenheimer, Melanie. "‘The best PM for the empire in war'?": Lady Helen Munro Ferguson and the
Australian Red Cross Society, 1914–1920." Australian Historical Studies 33.119 (2002): 108-134.
Oppenheimer, Melanie. Australian Women and War (Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Canberra, 2008).
Oppenheimer, Melanie. Oceans of Love. Narrelle - An Australian Nurse in World War I, ABC Books, Sydney,
2006
Reid, Richard. Just Wanted To Be There, (Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Canberra, 1999).
Scates, Bruce. "The unknown sock knitter: voluntary work, emotional labour, bereavement and the Great
War." Labour History (2001): 29-49.

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