Nursing Aids at War

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.

• Introduction; Part I. Introducing the Nursing Aid: 1. A Charitable Service: The Voluntary Aid Detachment and the Nursing Profession in Australia, 1914–39; 2. Developing New Skills: Voluntary Aids in the Middle East, 1941–43; Part II. Disruptions, Tensions and Controversies: 3. Becoming AAMWS: Questions of Identity and Skill; 4. AAMWS in the Pacific: Work in the Wards; 5. Becoming Nurses?: The AAMWS Nurse Training Scheme; Part III. Representations and Reflections: 6. Constructing A Public Image: Cultural Representations of VAs and AAMWS During the War; 7. Beyond the Ward: The Other Duties of AAMWS; 8. Reflections: AAMWS Servicewomen Create Their Own History; Conclusion.