Visitors may have sat in one of these duck-like vehicles, officially called Army DUKWs, if they had ever holidayed in Far North Queensland — or anywhere in the world that has a "duck tour".
What they may not have realised is that many such tourist boats were originally made for warfare — and that women were heavily involved in building the amphibious vehicle engines.
Army DUKWs were produced in the United States in the early to mid-1940s and used in World War II for the transportation of goods and troops over land and water.
