War
Women at work in the munitions factory in Kalgoorlie ca 1940s, courtesy Eastern Goldfields Historical Society
Two world wars impacted upon the women of Kalgoorlie-Boulder as they did elsewhere, in the home and workplace. Anne O'Gorman recalls the atmosphere of fear and sadness in the towns: 'The trains taking young men away to war left on Sundays. There were hysterical women - mothers with sons leaving'. [1]
Women volunteered as nurses and Red Cross workers during World War One and World War Two. Women like Margaret Edis and Lillian Mumme volunteered to nurse at the front. (Margaret Edis served with distinction in both wars.) Some like Zelda Radisich dug air raid shelters, while others worked in the munitions factory hastily set up by the Commonwealth Government in the Hippodrome, once a roller skating rink. There were those who assumed responsibility for the running of hotels and other businesses. Joan Heenan remained the only lawyer in Kalgoorlie during the war, and she wrote wills for many internees. Local women Red Cross workers such as Lorna Mitchell also provided food and entertainment for servicemen passing and in the immediate post war aftermath cared for returning POWs. Indeed, Kalgoorlie and Boulder became 'women's towns during the war!'
According to Mavis Quartermaine, who worked for the Kalgoorlie Miner during the war, women 'took the war seriously' and worked where they were told to work. Sometimes this involved dangerous duties. In an interview a nurse told her:
I joined the Red Cross, and was drafted into gas-decontamination. … It was a matter of dechlorination if anyone was gassed. They took us off that because they realised it was too heavy for women to do, and put us on general air-raid duties, - midwifery etc. [2]
Women's Stories
Read more about women from Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the Australian Women's Register.
- Nerina Beccarelli - Domestic worker and gardner
- Margaret Edis - Nurse and nurse educator
- Joan Heenan - Lawyer and electoral campaign manager
- Lorna Mitchell - Red Cross worker, teacher and politician
- Lillian Mumme - Nurse
- Zelda Radisich - Voluntary Aid Detachment worker, contortionist and hairdresser
Audio
- Title
- Lorna Martin remembering the end of World War One
- Type
- Interview
- Source
- Criena Fitzgerald
- Title
- Nerina Beccarelli: Women during the war and the internment of barmen
- Type
- Interview
- Source
- Criena Fitzgerald
Images
- Title
- Joan Heenan at work in Perth
- Type
- Image
- Date
- c. 1980
- Source
- Eric Heenan
- Title
- Joan Heenan, graduation
- Type
- Image
- Source
- Eric Heenan
Mrs%20SA%20Shaw%20Coolgardie%20at%20a%20Red%20Cross%20Easter%20Conference%20in%20Perth%20ca%201941.%20Courtesy%20SLWA%20110193PD.png)
- Title
- Mrs F. Hele, Mrs C. Shaw, Mrs C.L. Mcilheney (Boulder) and Mrs S.A. Shaw (Coolgardie) at a Red Cross Easter Conference in Perth
- Type
- Image
- Date
- c. 1941
- Control
- 110193PD
- Source
- State Library of Western Australia
- Title
- Nurses marching through Perth on return from the Great War
- Type
- Image
- Date
- c. 1918
- Control
- 029872PD
- Source
- State Library of Western Australia
- Title
- Nursing Sisters of 2/3rd Australian General Hospital (AGH), before their embarkation for duty overseas
- Type
- Image
- Date
- 1940 - 1945
- Source
- Australian War Memorial
- Title
- Red cross women raising money for the war (WWI) in Kalgoorlie
- Type
- Image
- Date
- c. 1915
- Source
- Outback Family History
- Title
- Women in war munitions factory, Kalgoorlie
- Type
- Image
- Source
- Eastern Goldfields Historical Society
- Title
- Zelda Radisich and other women digging trenches in Kalgoorlie, World War Two
- Type
- Image
- Source
- Eastern Goldfields Historical Association