Library & Innovation Centre

At first the government politely discouraged those women who wanted to perform some kind of military service. It soon became clear that the war was going to demand much more than the government had expected.

Thanks Girls and Goodbye is not just a 'feel good’ nostalgia film. It explores how the Women’s Land Army was exploited during the Second World War.

Brightly coloured recruitment posters encouraged young women to join up and more than 66,000 of them enlisted in the three services – Army, Navy and Air Force. They made up just under 7% of the nearly 1 million Australians who served.

The involvement of Australian women in each war is closely connected to their role in society at different times, and the nature of each war.

The history of Australian women in times of war is as vital as the history of Australian men in the same circumstances. Australian women have been involved in a range of conflicts in locations across the world, often experiencing the same challenging conditions as the men who served as well.