WOMEN & THE WAR

Grey River Argus, 22 May 1941, Page 9

WOMEN & THE WAR

WIDE ACTIVITIES IN AUSTRALIA. Australia has, as yet, no women "postmen.” The buses are not yet "manned” by female conductors and army transports are not yet driven in Australia by women but Australia has a vast army of women giving all their interest and practically all their time to war work. In most munitions factories there are women operatives, and in the laboratories, much of the scientific work is done by women and gins, but they are a handful compared with the thousands in every State who voluntarily devote their time to the welfare of the men in the fighting forces, or to preparing themselves for active service work should they be needed. In fact, practically every woman in Australia is active!} engaged in war work in some form At the outbreak of war each State ■of the Commonwealth formed a voluntary national register. Hundreds of thousands of women gave then names and qualifications, indicating their willingness to serve wherever they could best be used. All of those who registered are now engaged on war work.

The Commonwealth Governmentemploys many women in the small arms ammunition factories and explosives factories. In the munitions laboratory where gauges from factories all over Australia are tested and checked, the work is almost entirely done by young women university graduates, or specialists in mathematics. They work to thousandths of an inch, and error could mean a waste of thousands of shells, or an inaccuracy In hundreds of guns. Most Australian women are actively working for the Australian Comforts Fund or the Australian Red Cross. One organisation looks after the men of the services when they are well and the other when they are wounded or sick. The Australian comforts Fund which has the support of every woman in Australia' with a relative in the forces, provides a free issue of extra clothing and comforts for every man when he embarks for service abroad, and has established in almost every Australian camp, recreation facilities for which no charge is made. Leave clubs are maintained where Australians are serving abroad.

The Red Cross is important noth at. home and abroad. With the A.I.F. are Red Cross units staffed by hospital visitors who write letters for the men and attend to their needs.

With the Red Cross at home are hundreds of transport drivers who are ready to drive convalescent soldiers into the country, or run a oneton truck around the city collecting the waste products from which the Red Cross derives considerable revenue. Before being permitted to drive in the Red Cross uniform, every woman must earn a flrst-a'id certificate, and do a twelve weeks’ course of lectures and practical instruction on automobile maintenance. ‘ln Australia the women of the Red Cross conduct correspondence bureaux for tracing soldiers, sailors a'nd airmen. The Prisoners of War Service staffed by women volunteers ensures that Australians taken prisoner

j. exchange letters with their relatives and receive regular parcels of comforts and clothing. The blood transfusion service for succouring the wounded, and maintained by the Red Cross, has on its register of blood donors thousands of Australian women. In every Australian camp are squads of women mostly enrolled through unit welfare organisations, who sew buttons and tears, press uniforms, and, If necessary, make alterations when soldiers need them. Women with menfolk in the Royal Australian Air Force have established an R.AA.',.F. Women’s Welfare Bureau. In charge of it is Miss Sybil Burnett, daughter of the Chief of the Australian Air Staff. At the bureau wives and mothers of airmen are provided with all kinds of help. Transport is provided for their cnildren, arrangements are made for their home? to be looked after if they need to go into hospital, clothing is given to those who need it, and all sorts of advice about legal, educational and other matters is given to the women who ne°d help in the absence on active service of their menfolk. Similar organisations arc conducted for relatives of sailors and soldiers.

In every capital city hostels arc maintained for the services. Men are given good meals and accommodation when on leave, if they are without friends, at a minimum charge. This is possible because women staff the hostels without

wages. Military hospitals and convalescent homes are all staffed by volunteers, who do domestic and other work without wages and arrange hospitality for men able to go on leave.

A number of organisations have been formed to train women for active service work. A Women’s Air Training Corps with several thousand members gives instruction in the rudiments of aircraft maintenance, signalling, drill and transport. A number of women have recently been recruited into the R.A.A.F. as teleprinter operators and signalling assistants. The Women's Australian National .Services (Wans), headed by Lady Wakehurst, wife of the Governor of New South Wales, give instruction to thousands of girls in A.R.P. work, first aid, drill signalling and similar subjects.’ Other organisations are training girls in despatch riding, by. both horse and motor-cycle. The Women’s Auxiliary Training League is training girls to take the place of men on the land. In Melbourne ten tractors are in regular use for this purpose.

In Sydney a group of masseuses meets regularly to make plaster casts for broken limbs. These women volunteered to supplement the work of the army nurses and masseuses.

One organisation of young women, calling themselves “Militors” staffs the Melbourne A.R.P. control rooms. In addition to instruction in communicatins, first aid, drill and ambulance work, every girl in the "Militors” learns to handle a rifle.

The women of Australia are knitting, sewing, collecting and training as hard as they know in their contribution to the nation’s war effort. They know their work is valuable to the men and to the nation, and they realise that in it they derive the same sense of comradeship by working in a common cause as their menfolk derive in fighting: together for a common end.