Colonel Sybil Irving, Controller of the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS), inspects some of her 'girls' selected from thousands of applicants within the AWAS who were eager to serve overseas. Previously, the only servicewomen permitted to serve outside of Australia were nurses and other hospital staff. The women selected for posting to New Guinea were paraded at Enoggera, Queensland in April 1945. They were kitted out for the tropics, lectured on what to expect and what was expected of them, inoculated against certain tropical diseases, started on anti-malaria medicines and given extra physical training before sailing.

A small party of AWAS officers and staff was flown to Lae, New Guinea to prepare for the arrival of their colleagues. The main group of 342 women arrived by ship on 7 May 1945. The first ashore are shown about to step off a landing craft. It was later discovered that, without the knowledge or approval of Australian authorities, a small number of AWAS intelligence officers and troops attached to American forces had been taken to Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea, which was outside the area in which members of the AWAS were permitted to serve. These women were brought to Lae also.

The women were given a few days to acclimatise to the tropics and settle into their barracks on Butibum Road, Lae before starting work. They set up their living quarters, facilities and offices and went about 'sprucing up' their new home, which had been constructed by army engineers and New Guinean workers. (From left) Signalwoman Laura Baker, Lance-Corporal P Leach and Signalwoman Joan Kessels rake leaves in the barracks compound. They were surprised to find the compound perimeter enclosed by a high barbed wire fence patrolled by armed guards.

The day after arriving at Lae, news came through of the Allied victory in Europe (VE Day). Private Margaret McGee holds the special issue of the armed forces' newspaper Guinea Gold telling of Germany's surrender. Reading over her shoulder are (from left) Corporals Winifred Sheppard, Agnes Skinner and Violet Graham. VE Day was cause for celebration and reflection. Some of the women had lost friends and loved ones, including husbands, fiances or boyfriends, in the Middle East, Europe or Atlantic theatres of war. Others had loved ones and friends still serving in these theatres or released from German prison camps and at long last they would be heading home.

Most of the women worked outside the barracks in offices around the Australian base. They were escorted to and from their workplaces. The rules stated that even on social outings a guard or registered male companion was required. They specialised in certain jobs ranging from stores administration to signalling, and replaced some men who were sent back to Australia for rest or to bases in more forward areas. Sapper Joy Bailey gets down to work plotting positions marked on aerial photographs onto maps and charts used by the First Australian Army for planning operations and construction projects.

As was the case back in Australia, most of the women worked alongside men. A few of the male 'old guard' did not welcome the women's appearance in an operational area, which traditionally was a male domain. However, most men acknowledged that the women performed their duties equally well and often better, and welcomed the refreshing change in what had been an all-male environment. Friendships and occasionally romances developed within offices or between men and women who met at social functions. Colleagues, Corporal Eunice Coase and Private Willi Maas worked in an office of the 4th Advanced Ordnance Depot.

Some women served as staff of 68 AWAS Barracks. Lieutenant Sadie Budge, amenities officer, tests a hairdryer constructed by the Lae Base Workshops. Budge worked hard to keep up morale which on the whole was high. One of the women's main gripes was the high barbed wire fence and armed guards encircling their barracks. The women appreciated their privacy in an all-female barracks but many considered the tight enclosure a symbol of constraint. They felt it overstated any threat posed by men, almost all of whom behaved as gentlemen, and was suggesting women could not look after themselves. 'Don't fence me in', a popular song of the period, was sung heartily and with derision.

Lieutenant-Colonel Margaret Spencer, senior officer, poses as Little Red Riding Hood at a party farewelling two officers heading home after the war ended. Women who had husbands or fiances liberated from prison camps were granted early release to welcome the men home and take care of them. Spencer's husband had been posted missing in action in early 1942 and she prayed he was a prisoner of war but his name did not appear on any lists of survivors of Japanese prison camps. Heartbroken, she was determined to keep up a brave face and continued working until ordered to rest. Made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her leadership at Lae, she went home in 1946 as a veteran and, sadly, a war widow.

It was months after the war ended before workloads eased off. New jobs sprang up such as administering the return home of troops and disposing of equipment and supplies. The prospect of returning to civilian life after some years in uniform began playing on the minds of women and men. Many had left home as teenagers to contribute to the war effort while older troops had had established careers and private lives interrupted and sometimes shattered. Education officers organised training in basic skills for post-war life. For women, this often meant 'home duties'. Lance-Corporal R Solomon and Sergeants J Harvey and Mary Brett serve up apple pie baked in a cookery and homecraft course run by the 'LAEWAS College'.

The women hoped to be 'home by Christmas'. Some were medically evacuated or granted early release on compassionate grounds but most had to wait until early 1946 to sail home. The women were proud of their time in uniform and especially of active service overseas. Most were keen to return to civilian life; others who had hoped to continue serving were disappointed to learn the AWAS was being disbanded as the Government did not support the retention of women (other than nurses) in the forces in peacetime. Some women were intent on marrying and starting a family; others sought new employment opportunities. (From left) Corporal Betty Stott and Signalwomen Jacqueline Dare and Adela Marlborough spot relatives and friends in the crowd welcoming them home in February 1946.