Our Journey

Officially formed on this day, the Air Force Nursing Service was organisationally structured along the lines of the Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service in Britain. A provisional establishment provided for an initial 38 nursing sisters in five RAAF hospitals. By December 1945 the Service had grown to 616 members.

The Minister for Air, John McEwen, issued a press statement announcing the immediate enrolment of female wireless and teleprinter operators to fill RAAF ground staff vacancies. Proposals to raise a Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) had been before the War Cabinet since July 1940, but not until 4 February was approval given; the Advisory War Council agreed with the decision the next day. McEwen’s announcement made clear that the women were wanted only ‘until they could be replaced by qualified men’, and because legal doubts existed over whether women could be enlisted under the Air Force Act they were at first enrolled only as auxiliaries for renewable periods of 12 months. Nonetheless, the other Services quickly followed the RAAF in establishing women’s services for general war duty. The WAAAF grew to reach a strength of 18,664 in October 1944.

The Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force which functioned during World War II was disbanded in December 1947, but in July 1950 the re-formation of women’s services in Army, Navy and Air Force was approved, in principle, by Cabinet. This time, the Air Force’s women’s service would no longer be an ‘auxiliary’ but a branch of the Permanent Air Force. The new Service would be known as the Women’s Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAF).

After nearly a decade of removing the inequalities between servicewomen and their male colleagues, the final step was taken of disbanding the Women’s Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAF) as a separate entity and transferring its personnel to the ordinary RAAF. Similarly, members of the RAAF Nursing Service were integrated into the Air Force’s Medical Branch. The separate disciplinary code formerly applied to women was rescinded, and a uniform code covered both sexes in areas such as powers of command. Provisions which discriminated against women by preventing WRAAF members from serving overseas, remaining in the Service after marriage, and receiving equal pay to men, had all been previously eliminated––in 1967, 1969 and 1972 respectively. From 1977, it was mainly only areas of employment classed as combat-related which remained closed to women in the RAAF.

On receiving their wings from No 144 Pilots Course at No 2 Flying Training School at Pearce, Western Australia, Flight Lieutenant Robyn Williams and Officer Cadet Deborah Hicks became the Air Force’s first female pilots. Williams went on to qualify as a flying instructor, underwent test pilot training in Britain and led the resident RAAF project team taking delivery of new C-130J Hercules transports.

The Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Gordon Bilney, announced in Parliament that the Government had decided to open most combat roles in the Australian Defence Force to women. For the Air Force, this meant that the number of jobs in which women could be employed had risen from 94 per cent to 99 per cent, and included flying fast jets such as the F-111 and F/A-18.

When Air Commodore Julie Hammer was promoted to Air Vice-Marshal, she became the first woman to achieve two-star rank in the Australian Defence Force. In 1999 she had also been the first serving woman to achieve one-star rank as Air Commodore. Appointed Commanding Officer of the Electronic Warfare Squadron in 1992, AVM Hammer became the first woman to command an operational unit in the RAAF.

A parade held at RAAF Base Richmond marked the transfer of C-130H Hercules transport aircraft operated by No 36 Squadron to No 37 Squadron operating the later J model variants of the C-130. The squadron was divesting itself of the Hercules in preparation for moving to RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland the next month and re-equipping with the first of four Boeing C-17A Globemaster transport aircraft. The occasion also saw Wing Commander Linda Corbould take over as Commanding Officer of 36 Squadron, making her the first female commander of any RAAF flying unit. She had specialised in transport operations since gaining her wings in 1990, and was now given the important task of overseeing the introduction into service of a new heavy lift capability not previously possessed by the RAAF.