Girls' Own War Stories

Citation: Girls’ Own War Stories, Australia : Australian Broadcasting Corporation, c2011. (1 DVD)

Summary:  This fifty-five minute documentary focuses on the women of the Land Army as well as the Voluntary Aid Detachment. The absence of a significant proportion of fighting-aged men created openings within the home front that needed to be filled - namely in positions such as code breaking, working in a factory or searchlight operation. There was, however, still a need for women abroad as nurses. With this as a backdrop, Girl's Own War Stories relays the personal accounts of twelve women. It shows the challenges that they faced and the barriers that they had to struggle to overcome. Even the sensibilities and social mores of the time are taken into account and elaborated upon. Further enhancing the experience is the inclusion of archival materials. This work highlights a point in history that would set an important precedent, helping to pave the way for greater employment opportunities for women in Australia.

Time Period(s):  World War II

External Links:

ABC shop page
https://shop.abc.net.au/girls-own-war-stories-dvd

Sydney Morning Herald article
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/girls-own-war-stories-thursday-april-21-20110418-1dkvp.html

Nazis in our midst : German-Australians, internment and the Second World War

Author:  David Henderson

Citation: Henderson, David. Nazis in our midst : German Australians, internment and the Second World War, North Melbourne, Vic. : Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2016.

Summary:  This book can serve as a companion text to "The enemy at home: German internees in World War I Australia," since it deals with extremely similar subject matter. The key differences are that it covers another time period, another major conflict and explores the Australian social climate (expanding on from the matter of internment). This interpretation of the topic comes courtesy of the historian David Henderson who is with La Trobe University. Gathering his research from government documentation and interviews with the remaining German-Australians who lived through that time, Henderson paints an enlightening picture of this portion of Australian history. More than eight thousand German-Australians were interned in camps, regardless of whether or not they had pro-Nazi sympathies.  Most ironic of all, even Jews and those opposed to the Third Reich found themselves detained. Unsurprisingly, this led to friction between them and individuals within the camps that had supporters of the Third Reich, which frequently escalated into violent confrontations. Nazis in our Midst is "a fine example of historical scholarship coupled with a no-nonsense, easily accessible writing style" - Ross Fitzgerald, The Australian

Time Period(s): World War II

External Links:

Publisher's page
http://www.scholarly.info/book/473/

Sydney Morning Herald article
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/nazis-in-our-midst-review-david-henderson-looks-at-germans-in-australia-in-wwii-20161014-gs2rlm.html