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The Conversation
The Conversation
Politics
Jason Smeaton, PhD Candidate, Australian Catholic University

Auxiliary power: in wartime, Australian women fought germs, fired shells – and took on gender norms

Members of the Australian Army Medical Women's Service at work in the sterilising room of a military hospital, 1943. State Library of Victoria

Sheila Sibley enlisted in the Australian Army in 1942 with a vision of becoming a wartime nurse – “an angel of mercy, the wounded man’s guide … the Rose of No-Man’s Land”, in her own words.

Many women wanted to “do their bit” during the second world war, and nursing had previously been the only avenue for women to join the military. They had historically been excluded from traditionally masculine roles within the armed forces.

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