History: World War II and the Homefront

Approximately 3,500 women served in the Australian Women's Land Army (AWLA) assisting with rural production and the growing and processing of flax. Elaine Peters, Vi Malcolm, Kathleen Brown, Mary Lowe & Mary White share their experiences of working for the Land Army.

Approximately 70,000 women served in the women's auxiliary services, such as:
Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF)
Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS)
Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS)

The lives of many Australian women changed dramatically between 1940 and 1945 when there was pressure for young women to participate in the war effort, particularly in the armed services.

Women could do the technical jobs normally performed by men, freeing those men for combat.

For some women the war provided unprecedented opportunity, for others it was a cause of great unhappiness.

In World War II, women were actively recruited into jobs that had always been the preserve of men; they worked in factories and shipyards, as members of the Women's Land Army and as Official War Artists.

Thanks Girls and Goodbye is not just a 'feel good’ nostalgia film. It explores how the Women’s Land Army was exploited during the Second World War. Link includes 3 video clips.

Brightly coloured recruitment posters encouraged young women to join up and more than 66,000 of them enlisted in the three services – Army, Navy and Air Force.

Australian propaganda was designed to maintain public anger about German atrocities and idealise Australian soldiers

When war broke out in September 1939 the Australian Government was much better prepared for it than in 1914.

In World War II censorship and propaganda were coordinated through the federal Department of Information (DOI), established in September 1939.

Throughout World war 11, both the press and broadcasters were subject to considerable government censorship. This imposition caused great angst.

Labour controls were introduced during the Second World War to meet a crisis in manpower and to administrate between the needs of the armed services and industry.

Strict censorship was imposed in Australia at the start of World War II. The Menzies Government formed the Department of Information (DOI) to control publicity.

Melbourne, VIC. 1943-07-14. A mail censor cutting indiscreet material from a letter with the rejected passages joining the pile of deletions from other letters.

Propaganda is a form of communication that promotes a particular perspective or agenda by using text and images to provoke an emotional rather than a rational response. Using images and text to influence or persuade, propaganda attempts to win “hearts and minds”, by shaping perception to gain support.

The Government used its influence over radio, newsreel and the print media during World War II (1939-45), in an attempt to control the way in which the war was reported.

At the declaration of war on Germany in 1939, the broadcast industry was immediately enlisted to support the war effort.

As the apparent threat of invasion grew, Australians were gripped by an irrational panic about the potential for the tens of thousands of foreign nationals resident in Australia to become saboteurs or spies. As early as 1939 this fear had led to the introduction of National Security (Aliens Control) Regulations.

In November 1941, just weeks before Japan entered World War II, Japanese nationals were among the 'Aliens' travelling around Australia with Wirth's Circus.

Internment during World War II in Queensland took many forms. Allied prisoners of war (POWs) of German, Italian and Japanese origin, were brought here following capture in battle overseas.

During World War II Australia held both prisoners of war and internees.

Ethnicity was a factor in how people experienced the war. The Menzies Government introduced the National Security (Aliens Control) Regulations in 1939. The ‘onus of proof’ was placed on individuals to show that they were not ‘enemy aliens’ and should not be interned.

This website is about Christine Piper's research into the experiences of Japanese “enemy aliens” in Australia.