Australian Women and War

Abstract

In 1900, in her long skirts and stays, Matron Nellie Gould volunteered for the Boer War as a superintendent of a contingent of nurses from New South Wales. In 2004, dressed in regulation army camouflage and wearing trousers, Wing Commander Angela Rhodes was deployed to Iraq as the senior air traffic control officer at Baghdad International Airport. This book on Australian women and war explores this remarkable transformation. In the Boer War (1899-1902), Australian women's roles were limited. They participated as patriotic war fund workers, school teachers and nurses - all traditional activities. During World War I (1914-18), the only official military roles available to Australian women were as professional nurses in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) or British nursing services such as Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS), or in associated wartime organisations such as the British and French Red Cross. Some Australian women, such as the novelist Miles Franklin and Red Cross worker Vera Deakin, did make it to the war as attendants, canteen directors, doctors or administrators.