Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS) (1942 - 1951)

The Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS) was established in December 1942. At that stage it was decided to distinguish between Voluntary Aid Detachments, whose governing body was the Joint State Council in each State and the Joint Central Council (the Commonwealth authority), and Voluntary Aids who were serving at Military Hospitals on a full-time basis under Army control. [1]

Author Patsy Adam-Smith, herself a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) who joined the AAMWS, states in Australian Women at War:

From that date [December 1942], the Service's officers and soldiers were subject to military law and to the provisions of the Defence Act, the Army Act and the Rules of Procedure…'The majority of the original recruits for the AAMWS were drawn from the ranks of the Voluntary Aid Detachments, and the experience they already had was of great benefit in their work in military hospitals, both home and overseas.'

In July 1949 the Australian Army Medical Women's Service became part of the Regular Army. Two years later The Service was disbanded and its duties were incorporated into the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps.

[1] Australian Women at War p. 194 and From Blue to Khaki p. 50

Chronology

December 1942 - February 1951	The Australian Army Medical Women's Service established to distinguish between full-time military Voluntary Aids and those attached on a voluntary basis to the aid organisations
1946	Served in Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF)
July 1949	AAMWS approved to become part of the Regular Army
February 1951	Australian Army Medical Women's Service was disbanded and incorporated into the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps

Previous and Subsequent Entities

 1914 - Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD)
       1942 - 1951 Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS)
             1948 - Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps (RAANC)

Related Corporate Bodies

• Ex-AAMWS Association of NSW Inc.
• Women's Services, Sub Branch RSL (NSW)

Related People

• Adam-Smith, Patricia Jean (Patsy) (1924 - 2001)

  Service no: VFX124737

  [1943 - 1944]

• Appleford, Alys (Alice) Ross (1891 - 1968)

  Service no: V500148

  [1941 - 1947]

• Batt, Elva May (1920 - )

  Service no: NF482322

• Cahn, Audrey Josephine (1905 - )

  [1943 - 1946]

• Christie, Joan Lora (1918 - )

  Service no: NX76591

  [1941 - 1946]

• Douglas, Mary Stewart (May) (1904 - 1999)

  Service no: SFX30364 Lieutenant-Colonel

  [1943 - 1946]

• Dowson, Dorothy (Joan) (1918 - 2006)

  Service no: WFX17016

  [1943 - 1945]

• Hamilton Williams, Ruth Myee (1905 - )

  Assistant Controller at Headquarters, Australian Military Forces, Melbourne

  [1943 - 1946]

• Jackson, Dawn Valerie Vautin (1917 - 1995)

  Service no: QFX24150

  [1941 - 1947]

• Meyer, Hilda Florence (1899 - )

  Service no: VX117124

  [1942 - 1946]

• Mount-Batten, Betty Joyce (1924 - )

  Service nos: NFX171706 (N443789, NX171706)

  [1943 - 1945]

• Penman, Alice Maud (1918 - )

  Service no: NF444266 . Alice Penman's service included 485 days of active service outside Australia

  [1941 - 1945]

• Snelling, Joyce Mary (1904 - 1988)

  Service no: NX138446

  [1942 - 1947]

• Wedgwood, Camilla Hildegarde (1901 - 1955)

  Service number: VF515041

  [1944 - 1946]

• Wilson, Grace Margaret (1879 - 1957)

  Service nos: V159907 and VX38869

• Wilson, Honor Cameron (1914 - 1998)

  Service no: SX1488

  [1940 - 1944]

Books

• Critch, Mary, Our kind of war, Artlook Books Trust, [Perth], W.A, 1981, 211 pp. [ Details... ]

Online Resources

• Australian War Memorial, 'Voluntary Aid Detachments', http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/vad.htm. [ Details... ]

See also

• Bomford, Janette, Soldiers of the Queen : women in the Australian Army, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Vic., 2001, 183 pp. [ Details... ]
• Burchill, Elizabeth, Australian nurses since Nightingale 1860-1990, Spectrum Publications Pty Ltd, Richmond (Vic.), 1992, 258 pp. [ Details... ]
• Ollif, Lorna, Colonel Best and her soldiers: The Story of the 33 years of the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps, Ollif Publishing Company, Hornsby, NSW, 1985, 249 pp. [ Details... ]
• Palazzo, Albert, The Australian Army: A History of its Organisation 1901-2001, Oxford University Press, 2001, 456 pp. [ Details... ]
• Reid, Richard, Just wanted to be there : Australian Service Nurses 1899-1999, Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs, Canberra, 1999, 121 pp. [ Details... ]
• Southwell-Keely, Michael, 'Australian Servicewomen's Memorial', in War Memorials in Australia, July 2000, http://www.skp.com.au/memorials/pages/00018.htm. [ Details... ]