The Women's Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) was formed as an all women's

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

of the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), who ...

in April 1951. Its Colonel-in-Chief was

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

. The purpose of the corps was to counter a personnel shortage that developed due to fighting during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

and post-World War II full employment. At the time of its formation, many senior WRAAC personnel had previously served in the

Australian Women's Army Service The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) was a non-medical women's service established in Australia during the Second World War. Raised on 13 August 1941 to "release men from certain military duties for employment in fighting units" the servi ...

(AWAS), which had been raised during World War II, and as a result the WRAAC is considered to have its origins in the AWAS. The corps consisted of both Regular and part-time personnel, and had commissioned officers, warrant officers, non commissioned officers and other ranks who filled a variety of roles including general duties, cooking, clerical work, instruction, warehousing, and signalling. There were also librarians, coders, projectionists, and psychologists. Training was completed separately from male recruits at various locations including Queenscliff for soldiers and

Georges Heights Georges Heights is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman, adjoining Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Georges Heights is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North ...

for officers. Personnel were posted either to formed WRAAC companies, or to male units to fill position vacancies. By the late 1970s female soldiers had begun to be integrated into the Army at large and in late 1984, the WRAAC was disbanded with personnel being transferred to other previously all male corps based on their trade specialty. At this time, female officer cadets began training at the

Officer Cadet School, Portsea The Officer Cadet School, Portsea (sometimes referred to as OCS Portsea) was an officer training establishment of the Australian Army. Established at Portsea in Victoria, Australia, in 1951 to provide training to officer cadets prior to commissio ...

alongside male cadets, and when Portsea closed down at the end of 1985, they were integrated into the

Royal Military College, Duntroon lit: Learning promotes strength , established = , type = Military college , chancellor = , head_label = Commandant , head = Brigadier Ana Duncan , principal = , city = Campbell , state ...

. Female soldiers began training alongside male recruits at the

Army Recruit Training Centre Army Recruit Training Centre (ARTC) is the official name given to the Australian Army's basic training establishment since 1 December 1998. Situated at Kapooka, an outer suburb of Wagga Wagga, in the Riverina region of New South Wales, the Army ...

at Kapooka in 1985. There were four directors of the service before the title of director was abolished: Kathleen Best (1951–1957); Dawn Jackson (1957–1972); Kathleen Fowler (1972–1977); and

Barbara Maxwell Colonel Barbara Edweina Audrey Starrett ( Maxwell; 6 October 1932 – 17 May 1991) was an Australian military officer and instructor. She entered the service as a nurse and went on to attend officers' training. Serving as an instructor, she worke ...

(1977–1979).

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