- Title
- Women in the Australian cartographic corps during World War Two : their work and ongoing legacy in australian history and culture
- Creator
- Watts, Melissa
- Date
- 2022
- Type
- Text; Thesis; PhD
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/191434
- Identifier
- vital:17822
- Abstract
- This thesis analyses and highlights the important work of the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) in the Australian Cartographic Corps during World War Two.1 I examine the significance of the women’s roles and argue that their contribution has been largely omitted from historical accounts and popular culture. This inquiry consists of the historical novel Cartographies and an exegetical component. By appraising the crucial work undertaken by the women of the Survey Corps, this PhD aims to answer the question: What was the role of draftswomen in the Cartographic Corps during World War Two and what was their ongoing legacy in Australian history and culture? The exegesis answers these questions by establishing the role of the AWAS Cartographic Corps women during the war through a combination of qualitative interviews and critical analysis of archival sources. I argue that their contribution has received inadequate recognition when juxtaposed with their male counterparts within military histories. The exegesis then explores the representation of women’s war work in a broader social context, drawing from Australian popular culture to contend that this lack of acknowledgement has led to a deficiency of women’s narratives within the Australian collective war memory. Finally, the exegesis argues that historical fiction can advance an understanding of the past and provide recognition of marginalised members within a dominant culture. Cartographies, the accompanying novel, is an original creative interpretation that foregrounds the work of the women in the Cartographic Corps. Guided by the historical research undertaken for this project, the novel explores the pressures and demands that the work entailed. Moving between the 1940s and 1970s, Cartographies also engages in a post-war debate about the lack of historical or popular representation of the women of the Cartographic Corps. Furthermore, using the literary technique of historiographic metafiction, the novel considers the potential and limitations of both novels and historical research to accurately represent the past. Using a historiographical, creative and theoretical framework, the exegesis and the novel work together to provide a unique insight into the work and lives of the AWAS women who served in the Cartographic Corps during World War Two. Significantly, this thesis provides a previously unheard voice for the women of the Cartographic Corps to draw attention to the importance of their role during World War Two and begin to redress their absence from Australian history and culture.; Doctor of Philosophy
- Publisher
- Federation University Australia
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- Copyright @ Melissa Watts
- Rights
- Restricted access by author to the section titled "Cartographies" pages 91-346
- Subject
- Australian History; World War Two; Women in World War Two; Cartographic Corps; Australian Women’s Army Corps; Historical Fiction
- Full Text
- Thesis Supervisor
- Wight, Linda
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