Curtis-Otter, Margaret Catherine (1910 - 1992)

Journalist Margaret Curtis-Otter, whose husband (Donald) was serving with the navy, enlisted in the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) on 18 January 1943 and became second in charge of this service. She was one of the first 16 officers and became an adviser to the Naval Board after the war, as well as Acting Director WRANS, while Sheila McClemans attended the Victory Parade in London in 1946. Margaret Curtis-Otter worked with Naval Control, assisting with the assembling of convoys and arranging for the departure of merchant ships. Later she became one of the founders of the Naval Information Service, when she joined the Naval Office. In 1975 the Naval Historical Society published W.R.A.N.S. : the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service written by Margaret-Curtis Otter. On 2 January 1956 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her services as Commissioner of the Girl Guides Association.

Commissioner

• Girl Guides Australia (1926 - )

Related Corporate Bodies

• Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) (1942 - 1984)

  Second-in-charge during Second World War

Books

• Curtis-Otter, M, W.R.A.N.S. : the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service, Naval Historical Society of Australia, Garden Island (NSW), 1975, 99 pp. [ Details... ]

Online Resources

• Department of Veterans' Affairs, 'CURTIS-OTTER, MARGARET CATHERINE', in World War 2 Nominal Roll, http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=N&VeteranID=1188772. [ Details... ]

See also

• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Australian women at war, Nelson, Melbourne, 1984, 386 pp. [ Details... ]
• Fenton Huie, Shirley, Ships belles : the story of the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service in war and peace 1941-1985, Watermark Press, Balmain, N.S.W., 2000, 341 pp. [ Details... ]