The Australian Women's Register

Marjorie Elsie Taylor was a foundation member of the Ex-WRANS Association. She served as a telegraphist with the Naval Control Office in Melbourne during the Second World War.

Jess Prain was one of the first fourteen women to join the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1941 and was stationed at Harman. From here she was drafted to Kuttabul where she was the first Petty Officer in Sydney. She did an Officer Training Course and returned to Harman as Third Officer. After her discharge in 1946 she was a welfare officer for Berlei and was recalled to the Navy in 1951 to train new recruits. Prain was Officer-in-Charge Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) at Flinders Naval Depot until 1954 and retired as First Officer. Married to Denis, Jess Doyle became Appeals Officer for Legacy (Sydney). [1]

Joan Christie was promoted to the rank of Major during the Second World War. In 1943 she worked in New Guinea supervising members of the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service.

Joan is acknowledged as the driving force behind the establishment of both the Orana Community TAFE College and the Dubbo campus of Charles Sturt University.

Mrs Joyce Snelling, who enlisted in the Australian Army in 1942, had previously been the Voluntary Aid Commandant of the Scottish Detachment No. 9218 (which was affiliated with the New South Wales Scottish Regiment), was commissioned as a Lieutenant and organised the first Voluntary Aid training school at Ingleburn. In April 1942 Mrs Snelling was appointed Assistant Controller and Honorary Secretary of the Joint State Council whose membership included the Order of St John and the Australian Red Cross Society and held this post until her enlistment in the Army. Lt Joyce Snelling served at Victoria Barracks where she attained the rank of Major on 28 February 1943 when she became Assistant Controller Australian Army Medical Women’s Service NSW Lines of Communication Area.

In 1950 Major Snelling was elected President of the Ex-AAMWS Association and held this position for 25 years. She was a Vice-Patron of the Association and a life member. From 1966 until 1973 she was President of the Ex-AAMWS Association of NSW.

On 1 January 1972 Joyce Snelling was appointed to the Order of the British Empire – Member (Civil) for her service to ex-servicewomen.

From the 1960s Ethel Lane devoted her time to helping service organisations. A member of the Australian Army Nursing Service during World War II, Lane was associated with the Returned & Services League as well as the War Widows’ Guild of Australia.

Lane was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on 11 June 1990 and appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire on 30 December 1978 for service to the community, in the field of veterans’ welfare.

President of the Women’s Services Sub-Branch of the RSL, Alice Penman served with the Australian Army during World War II. She served in the Middle East as a Voluntary Aid Detachment member and then in Far North Queensland. Penman later served with the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS) after the Government of the time decided to distinguish between military and non-military Voluntary Aids.

During the ‘Australia Remembers, 1945-1995’ celebrations Penman participated in a number of functions emphasizing the work carried out by the Voluntary Aid Detachment Red Cross members.

On 13 June 1993 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to veterans particularly through the Returned & Services League New South Wales and to the Friends of the Northcott Neurological Centre.

During World War II Betty Mount-Batten served with the civilian Voluntary Aid Detachments, the Army Voluntary Aid Detachments and later the Australian Army with the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service. At the time of her discharge on 14 November 1945 she was posted at the 113th Australian General Hospital, Concord, New South Wales. Mount-Batten was a member of the Ex-AAMWS, was minute secretary from 2000, as well as secretary for the Women’s Services Sub-Branch of the RSS & AILA.

As part of the Australia Remembers 1945-1995 celebrations in 1995, Mount-Batten compiled the publication From Blue to Khaki: The enlisted voluntary aids and others who became members of the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service and served from 1941-1951. In October 2002 Betty Mount-Batten became a participant of the ‘Australian Women in War Project’ working group.

Betty Ball, the daughter of Frederick (Australian Infantry Force World War 1) and Emily Newlyn, was educated at Manly West Public and Manly Domestic Science Schools. She joined the Brownies and later became a member of the Girl Guides. Ball was employed as a clerk with H V Leckie & Wilkinson, Insurance Supervisors until she joined the services.

In 1938 Ball joined the Australian Women’s Flying Club and had her first flight in a Gypsy Moth with pilot Gwen Stark, who later became Wing Officer with the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF). At the beginning of World War II the clubs lectures were centred on air raid precautions, first aid, Morse code etc. In the early 1940s the club amalgamated with the Women’s Australian National Service.

On the 16 January 1942, Ball enlisted in the WAAAF and served as a stores clerk. After completing a photographic course at Fairbairn Canberra, in 1943, she was promoted to the rank of Corporal. She was stationed at Bankstown, Waterloo, Mildura, Canberra, East Sale and Brisbane before being discharged from the Central Photo School at Bradfield Park on 29 November 1945. Betty Ball served a total of 3 years 11 months.

In 1947 she married ex-serviceman Reginald Arthur Ball and they had two sons (one deceased) and two daughters. The family moved from Sydney to Perth (1950), to Brisbane (1963) and back to Sydney in 1967. While in Brisbane Betty Ball became a member of the local branch of the WAAAF Branch of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Association.

Betty Ball joined the New South Wales Division of the WAAAF of the RAAF Association in 1982 and was editor of the WAAAF Chat magazine for 9 years. Ball was a delegate on numerous occasions to RAAF Association Assemblies, held the position of vice-president of the WAAAF Branch and was a member of the State Council of RAAF Association. Ball was also on the committee for the Seniors Club of St Johns Church, Sutherland. In November 2002 Betty Ball became a participant in the Australian Women in War Project.

Sergeant Joy Linnane served with the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during World War II. She enlisted on 11 April 1942 and was discharged on 7 December 1945.

After the war Linnane joined the Sydney WAAAF Branch and has been a member since 1956. During that time she has held the positions of vice-president, treasurer, state councillor and delegate to country branches.

For lifesaving after the ship Centaur was attacked by a Japanese submarine, Lieutenant Ellen Savage was awarded the George Medal on 22 August 1944.

Ruby Rich was a significant figure in the Australian women’s movement in the interwar period. A concert pianist in London and Sydney, she was an early president of the Australian Federation of Women Voters and joined the Feminist Club in Sydney in 1923. She was instrumental in the formation of the Racial Hygiene Association of New South Wales in 1925. Over the next 50 years she was a member and office-holder in numerous feminist, family planning, peace, international and Jewish organisations.

The daughter of grazier Authur John Scott and his wife Thelma, Jean Eales was educated at New England Girls’ School. From 1936 until 1938 she attended the Women’s College within the University of Sydney. In 1938/1939 she was a University hockey blue. After completing her BSc (VetSc) she assisted her father on the family property. On 13 March 1945 she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) and at the time of her discharge (3 December 1945) she was attached to the 1 Flying Personnel Research Unit.

After the war, Jean worked as a librarian at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, until her marriage to farmer Kenneth Eales in February 1951. The pair had one son.

A member of the Victorian Agricultural Society, Jean Eales was for many years secretary and president of the Lilydale Agricultural Show. She was also secretary and member of the Country Fire Authority at Coldstream. Not only was she a recipient of many community awards, but the pavilion at the Lilydale showgrounds (27-29 Market St.) is named after her.

Jean Eales died on 3 January 1989.

Vera Adderley worked at the Dubbo and Crown Street Hospitals before serving with the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service from 1941 to 1947. She joined the Parramatta Hospital in 1955 and in 1962 she was appointed Assistant Matron at the Prince Henry Hospital. Adderley became Director of Nursing Services at the Prince Henry and Prince of Wales Hospitals in 1966. She was also a council member of the College of Nursing New South Wales, the Australasian Trained Nurses’ Association and the Matrons’ Institute of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. In 1978, Adderley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire and a building is named in her honour on the Randwick Hospitals Campus.

Stella Swinney completed her Bachelor of Arts at Sydney University and then worked at Farmer & Coy Ltd, Sydney, before joining the Women’s Australian National Services and the Australian Women’s Army Service. After completing a course at the Officers’ Training School she was posted to New South Wales Line of Command Area. Swinney was responsible for training and administration of the Australian Women’s Army Service in New South Wales. She took over from Major Eleanor Manning as Assistant Controller of New South Wales in May 1943.

Born Mary Wilson at Richmond, Victoria, she was also known by her stepfather’s name, Fawaz, before adopting the name of her country as a stage name prior to her debut in 1922 at Covent Garden. Known as one of the world’s greatest Wagnerian sopranos Florence Austral married the Australian virtuoso flautist John Amadio in 1925 and toured widely with him in America and Australia. After the Second World War she returned to Australia almost completely paralysed with multiple sclerosis. She nevertheless taught until her retirement in 1959. Austral died at a nursing home in Newcastle on 16 May 1968.

Eleanor Glencross was the second woman to stand for the Victorian Parliament. She unsuccessfully contested the seat of Brighton in 1928 as an Independent Nationalist. She had previously stood for the Federal seat of Henty in 1922 and in 1943 the seat of Martin. A former general secretary, chief speaker and organizer of the Australian Women’s National League in 1920 Glencross became president of the Housewives’ Association of Victoria. In 1923 she became president of the Federated Housewives Association of Australia. During World War II she was prominent in patriotic activities as a member of the State advisory committee of the Commonwealth prices commissioner, the council of the Lord Mayor’s Patriotic and War Fund and of the executive of the Women’s Voluntary National Register.

After 21½ years Marie Fisher retired from the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps, Australian Regular Army (WRAAC ARA) on 23 July 1974 and was placed on the retired list. During her service she qualified and was promoted from Private to Captain having served in New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria. Following her discharge from the WRAAC Fisher returned to study at both the Technical and Further Education (TAFE) college and the University of New South Wales (UNSW), where she was later employed before retiring in 1991 aged 65 years.

Mary Tenison Woods (née Kitson) was the first woman to graduate in law in South Australia. She was admitted to the bar on 20 October 1917. Her application to become a public notary in 1921 led to a change in the law: the existing Act did not include women as ‘persons’.

When Mary married in 1924 her partners did not wish to work with a married woman. Mary left the firm and formed a new partnership in 1925, in what may have been the first female practice in Australia. In the mid 1930s, Mary moved to Sydney and worked as a legal editor.

Following the failure of her marriage to Julian Tenison Woods, she moved to Sydney with her son, where she worked as a legal editor. In 1941 she became a member of the Child Welfare Advisory Council (NSW), held many honorary positions and served on a number of boards. Mary lectured at the university on legal aspects of social work and wrote several legal textbooks on a range of subjects.

In 1950 Tenison Woods was appointed chief of the office of the status of women in the division of human rights, United Nations Secretariat, New York. During her term two major conventions were adopted: the Convention of the Political Rights of Women (1952), the first international law aimed at the granting and protection of women’s full political rights, and the Convention of the Nationality of Married Women (1957) which decreed that marriage should not affect the nationality of a wife.

On 13 June 1959 Mary Tenison Woods was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for public service, especially with the United Nations. Previously she had been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 8 June 1950 for services to child welfare.

Jessie Webb became the first female teacher at the University of Melbourne when she joined the History Department. A prominent figure in women’s organisations she was a founding member of the Catalysts, the Lyceum Club, the Victorian Women Graduates Association, and the Women’s College. Webb, who completed two major overseas trips, is permanently commemorated in the name of the History Department Library at the University of Melbourne.

Captain Kay Parker was one of the six army nurses and eleven civilians who were taken to Japan as Prisoners of War from Rabaul on 23rd January 1942.

Before joining the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) in 1942, Catherine Frost (née Sommers) was a full time ballet student. She worked part time in the family cycle business as well as competing in track cycle racing and being a member of the New South Wales Flying Club. With the WAAAF she was a fabric worker. Following World War II Frost became a member of a number of community services including the Prince Henry Little Bay Hospital, the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, Camperdown and the Asthma Children’s Foundation, Sutherland. On 26 January 1997 Catherine Frost was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia and she received the Australian Sports Medal on 30 August 2000.

A stenographer with the Department of Motor Transport, Eileen Price (née Lee) enjoyed dancing, surfing and roller skating before joining the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) on 6 June 1942. As a teleprinter operator, Aircraftwoman Lee was stationed at the Eastern Area Headquarters and the RAAF Station Canberra. After her discharge on 29 October 1945 she married Garnet George McLeod Price. The pair moved to Papua New Guinea when Garnet Price accepted a position as engineer with Guinea Air Traders.

Eileen Price returned to Sydney when she became pregnant, but her husband was killed in an aircraft accident and she raised their daughter, Catherine McLeod Price, with the help of her mother and by taking teaching positions with the Department of Technical Education.

Following her education in Sydney, Berlin and Paris, Ruby Board devoted her time to social welfare issues. She became a Member of the Board of the Rachael Forster Hospital and for a period was President of the National Council of Women of New South Wales. During World War II, Board was president of the Women’s Voluntary National Register, a member of the executive of the Australian Comforts Fund and Defence Director of the Women’s Auxiliary National Service.

The daughter of South Australian landscape painter Sir Hans Heysen, Nora Heysen was the first woman to win the Archibald portrait prize (1938) and the first women to be appointed as an Australian war artist on 12 October 1943. During her service Heysen completed over 170 works of art. Following the war she travelled to England and in January 1953 married Dr Robert Black, who was to become the Head of Tropical Medicine at the University of Sydney. On 26 January 1998 Nora Heysen was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to art as a painter of portraits and still life subjects.

Dorothy Munro (née Otter) worked as a secretary in the New South Wales Valuer Generals Department before enrolling in the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) on 12 May 1943. During her service she was a secretary at the Fairmile Training School and had postings at both HMAS Penguin and HMAS Rushcutter. She achieved the rank of Petty Officer before being discharged on 31 January 1946.

During 1946 Dorothy married and did not return to the work force until all three of her children were at school. Before retiring in 1983, she held several secretarial positions including secretary to general managers and department head. Following her discharge from the WRANS, Munro joined the Naval Association of Australia and participated in social activities and memorial services. After her retirement she became a committee member of the WRANS. In 1990 Munro joined the office staff of the Naval Association first as an office assistant, then as assistant State secretary and finally State secretary before retiring in February 2002. In June of 2002 she became president of the Ex-Women’s Royal Naval Service (NSW)

Patricia Dow interrupted her teaching career when she enrolled in the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) on 29 December 1942.

For recognition of her nursing service with the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service (RAAFNS), Thelma Childs was awarded the Royal Red Cross medal on 14 June 1946. She undertook her nursing training at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, and upon completion was appointed to the staff. In 1941 she enlisted in the RAAFNS for service not only in Australia but also the United States of America, England, Canada and New Guinea. At the time of her discharge, on 2 November 1945, she held the position of Matron. Four days after her discharge she married Captain F H Childs MC.