Women vital to defence of Australia

While the men were fighting on the battlefield to protect Australia during WWII, Dot Bramwell was among a group of women fighting to prove they were just as capable, ensuring vital communications were sent and received.

The Redcliffe resident, who will be celebrating her 100th birthday on April 21 in the lead-up to Anzac Day, served in the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) learning Morse code and signals and generally doing whatever tasks were needed at the time.

“We had a little group but then it increased and then we got permission to go to certain areas like Darwin,” Dot recalls.

“We had a good battle on our hands to get the idea across that women are as good as men in war. We did prove it.”

As a 17-year-old, Dot went to the Army recruitment office and fibbed about her age so she could sign up only to have her plan foiled by her mother who was not happy when she found out.

She joined another service group for young people and was on duty when the submarines came into Sydney Harbour in 1942.

“She had to tell people to pull their blinds down and turn their lights off,” her daughter Ann explains.

“Then as soon as she was old enough (18 years of age), she went down to recruitment without telling her mother again and joined up.”

She and the other Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) officers were integral to the defence of Australia, serving in Sydney, Darwin and Bathurst from 1943-45.

“We were there (in Darwin) for quite a while because they (the Japanese) were coming to Darwin. They had their eyes on Darwin,” Dot recalls.

“We were a bit disappointed that we didn’t leave Darwin because we thought we were going to go to New Guinea.”

“Women were so wonderful for what they could do and what they gave.”

Dot was also in a singing group, in her spare time, and would sing country and western music and yodel.

“We used to go to the hospitals and visit the wounded and put on a concert for them,” she explains. “They knew I was coming.”

As Dot prepares to commemorate ANZAC Day at Azure Blue retirement village on April 25, she says she will be thinking of the close bond she shared with her fellow servicewomen.

She will also think of her late husband Arthur, who served in WWII in New Guinea during the Battle for Australia, and her father who served in France during WWI.

He was shot and taken as a German prisoner of war and came home with the bullet still in his leg. His cousin was killed on the Somme.

Dot is a life member at Gaythorne RSL but has also maintained a relationship with the Defence Ex-Service Women’s Sub Branch of the RSL. She was also involved in the women’s auxiliary at Gaythorne RSL for many years.

She used to attend ANZAC Day services at Redcliffe’s ANZAC Place but, these days, commemorates with her friends at Azure Blue.

“I had a wonderful time (during the war). I made wonderful friendships and I’ll never forget them,” she says.