Australian Women in War

Australian Women in War

The Virtual War Memorial contains a large collection of service records for women spanning across all periods and conflicts.

To assist the public in finding women’s resources, we have brought together all specific women’s branches currently on file as well as articles and additional resources.

It must be noted that whilst a woman may have enlisted with a women’s service, she may have still served in the main service.

Branches are listed in all conflicts that they were present. Some branches changed names, were amalgamated, disbanded, and resurrected.

If you are unable to find your person in these lists, please try the universal search above or contact us for assistance.

Australian Nurses at War Database

Service records held at the National Archives of Australia and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Nominal Roll may list a nurse by their maiden name, their married name or another married name if they married more than once. It can be confusing and sometimes difficult to find the records. An excellent website to assist finding nurses is Dr Kirsty Harris’s ‘Australian Nurses at War' database which for WW2 nurses, has three options for finding the name – Last Name on Enlistment, Other Known Last Names or Married On Service name.

Find Your Servicewoman in the Archives

Traces Magazine has complied numerous sites where you can search for women who served, including the 'Australian Women's Archive Project' and 'Australian Women's Land Army' along with others. Click here.

Waiting for loved ones, Sydney, 1919. AWM Collection, Public Domain.

Waiting for loved ones, Sydney, 1919. AWM Collection, Public Domain.

Boer War and Boxer Rebellion

New South Wales Army Nursing Service Reserve

SA Nursing Sisters

Victorian Nursing Sisters

WA Nursing Sisters

South Australian Nurses and the Second Anglo-Boer War

World War One

Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS)

Interviews conducted by Matron Kellett while AANS were awaiting repatriation from the UK in 1919. AWM41/1072

Australian Dictionary of Biography AANS collection

Scarfe Janet, 2017, Mixed Fortunes: The Postwar Lives of East Melbourne's Great War Nurses, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol 88 (2), 2017, pp 256-88

Rae Ruth, Reading between unwritten lines: Australian Army nurses in India, 1916-19, Australian War Memorial

Frances Rae, 2014, International Encyclopedia of the First World War, Women’s Mobilisation for War (Australia)

AWM41 1074 Official History 1914-18 War: Records of Arthur G Butler. AANS General - Brief history of the AANS from 1903

Randwick, NSW, 1945. Members of AWAS working on anti-aircraft gun. AWM Collection, Public Domain.

Randwick, NSW, 1945. Members of AWAS working on anti-aircraft gun. AWM Collection, Public Domain.

World War Two

Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS)

Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS)

Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS)

Australian Women’s Land Army (AWLA)

Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service (RAAFNS)

Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service (RANNS)

Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF)

Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS)

The Vyner Brooke / Radgi Beach Atrocity

Podcast - The Sudden Storm: The Bangka Island Massacre

Sister Mary Hamilton McFarlane and the Tragedy of the AHS Centaur

Women's Services: Episode 3 of Paths to Victory podcast series

VWMA Video - Women in War: Florence Violet Mckenzie aka 'Mrs Mac'

Korean War

Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service (RANNS)

Women's Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAF)

Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS)

Fleming Rebecca, 2010, Forgotten Women of the Forgotten War: Australian Nurses in the Korean War, 1950 - 1956, PHD University of New England

Fleming, Rebecca, 2020, Continuing the Legacy and Beginning a New Era: Australian nursing in the Korean War, Chapter 14 from: In from the Cold: Reflections on Australia’s Korean War, edited by John Blaxland, Michael Kelly and Liam Brewin Higgins, published 2020 by ANU Press, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

Vietnam War

Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps (RAANC)

Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service (RANNS)

Women's Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAF)

Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS)

Modern

Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps (RAANC)

Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS)

Signalwoman I. Brazier of AWAS, 1943 in Albany, Australia. AWM Collection, Public Domain.

Signalwoman I. Brazier of AWAS, 1943 in Albany, Australia. AWM Collection, Public Domain.

Articles

75th Anniversary of the AWAS

Kapara: Convalescence during the World Wars

Queen Victoria's Last War

Someone to Watch Over Them – A Poem of the Great War Nurses

South Australian Red Cross Information Bureau

The Battle of Adelaide: The Cheer-Up Society and the Returned Soldiers Association

Violet Town: Commemorating a Community