Australian Women's Army Service

The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) with the second sound locator of 115th Section 59th Anti-Aircraft searchlight at East Risdon, Tasmania, on 20 April 1943. Left to right: Sapper (SPR) U. J. Haywood; SPR J. E. Williams; SPR Z. E. D. Moore. Australian War Memorial image 051140

The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) was formed in 1941 to enable men to be released from certain military duties in Australia so they could be employed in fighting units overseas.

The first AWAS Training School commenced at Fahan School, Sandy Bay, on 12 January 1942, and was the first training school for women military personnel in the Commonwealth.

By the end of 1943, 500 women in Tasmania had enlisted in the AWAS. By the end of the war, there were over 24 000 women enlisted in the AWAS throughout Australia undertaking non-combatant roles such as clerks, cooks, anti-aircraft gunners, search light operators, ambulance drivers and signals operators.

In 1944, a few Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) were selected to join the Royal Australian Nursing Corp (RANC) in the Middle East. On returning to Australia, they were transferred to the Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS). In October 1944, Cabinet approved the posting of a maximum of 500 AWAS to New Guinea, 25 Tasmanians were chosen to go. Two Tasmanian AWAS members were subsequently Mentioned in Dispatches: Major Margaret Spencer and Sergeant Gwen Turmine.