By John Telfer
In the dark days of World War 2, the Australian Government headed by John Curtain was coming under increasing pressure to protect the Australian mainland, after the fall of Singapore in 1942, and the Japanese advance into New Guinea. Conscription was introduced and the Australian Division was called back from the Middle East to enter the New Guinea campaign. A severe shortage of men, owing to military enlistments, placed a strain on the agricultural, industrial, and rural industries to keep up food production from the country areas, to not only feed the population but also provide for our troops in the field. Due to this critical manpower shortage, a fourth women’s Auxiliary Service called the Australian Women’s Land Army based on the British model, was established on 27th July 1942.
In January 1943, the Federal Cabinet approved the establishment of the Australian Women’s Land Army to comprise of 6,000 members under National Security Regulations. The terms of enlistment were: (1) Women were to be aged between 18-50 years. (2) They were to be prepared to go where they were sent. (3) Pay was to be 30 shillings ($3) per week plus keep, or 50 shillings ($4.50) without keep. (4) A working week was for 48 hours.
The Land army was voluntary group paid by the farmer rather than by the government, or military forces, and was formed into two divisions. The first was for full-time members who enlisted for 12 months, and the second division was for women who only worked through harvest time in four-week stints, and all work was organised for the women on rural properties. The first division members were issued with full uniforms with badges, while the second division were only issued with working overalls. At its peak, the Women’s Land Army provided training in farming skills such as milking, animal care and ploughing. The ability to ride a horse was expected in many rural areas.
Training for Land Army recruits was set up in most states with New South Wales using the Hawksbury Agricultural College as their main training base. Mobile units were also set up in country areas, and they became the glamour groups of the Land army. Hostels were created to accommodate the women as they were sent to harvest crops in the Renmark and Berri areas of South Australia and New South Wales. Accommodation was set up in Showgrounds, drill halls, and boarding houses, while some were boarded in the farmer’s houses.
In Queensland, 1,135 women were enrolled as full-time members, and by 1945, 400-500 girls were enrolled as full-time members. Land Army girls were working throughout Queensland either at Land Army camps or special billets. There were four permanent Land Army camps in Queensland; at Atherton, Buderim, Victoria Point, and Birkdale, in the Redlands district of Brisbane.
In the region of the Southern Downs in Queensland, the Stanthorpe area became the focus for Land Army girls, with Glen Aplin creating a hostel for the girls in 1943-1945, which became their headquarters. Land Army women worked alongside Italian Prisoners of War at the Colvin brother’s camp at Ballandean, picking and harvesting tomato and grapes. They were also used at the Jones’s farm at Severnlea picking and packing the grape crop. Two ex-PGC girls in Winsome MacKinnon (Class of 1934) and Dorothy Park (Class of 1937), were proud members of the Women’s Land Army.
The Australian Women’s Land Army was a vital and essential service but with the ending of World War 2 it was demobilised on 31st December 1945, thus ending three years of service to the nation in its hour of need. These members of the Land Army kept up the food production and collectivisation in those grim days when our nation was under attack. The sad thing about the Women’s Land Army, was that members only qualified for the civilian service medal in 1994. History could have been much kinder to these unsung heroes who kept the nation’s food sources going, especially to our troops in the fields of battle so close to our shores. Perhaps this poem could be a fitting tribute the women of the Land Army and other women’s services who did our nation proud in 1943 – 1945.
(SUBHEAD)
To those women who served,
Sons and daughters of Australia,
As a nation we must unite;
For the dogs of war are at our gates;
So, to them we’ll carry the fight.
Young men must answer the rallying call,
While our women take up the slack;
We’ll push them back on land and sea,
As we support the Union Jack.
The factories, farms and industries
Must fill with women of the nation;
From VAD’s to coast watch girls
Their work will ease our consternation.
From Women’s Land Army to blue clad WAAAF,
Those nursing sisters a wonderful sight.
They’ll work from dawn till daylight ends
To the enemy they’ll show no fright.
So let the nation stand as one
To applaud the women who served.
They carried our country in its hour of need,
Any accolades are richly deserved
