Overview

Nursing Aids at War: The Australian Army Medical Women's Service in the Second World War explores the chronological history of the Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS) and challenges our understanding of servicewomen and gendered work in the Australian Army. Arranged in three parts, the book first introduces the nursing aid and how the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) became intertwined with the nursing service in the First and Second World Wars. It then investigates disruptions, tensions and controversies faced by the VAD as they transitioned into the AAMWS; in particular, the training schemes for AAMWS to become professionally trained nurses in military hospitals. Lastly, the book explores and challenges representations and reflections of the VAD and AAMWS, including building a national identity separate to practising nurses, and acknowledging their history as largely being forgotten amongst discussion of Australia's wider military history.

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9781009742115

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Author Information

Jason Smeaton is a social historian of women in the Australian armed forces. He received his Ph.D. in 2023 from the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Australian Catholic University, and is now a historian with the Australian Army History Unit and Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales – Canberra. He continues to research the organisational history of women's inclusion in the Australian military and the experiences of servicewomen throughout history.

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