During Australia's involvement in Afghanistan questions were asked in parliament about women fighting in the 'front line'.
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The answer to those questions is of course that women from times immemorial have what is euphemistically been in the front line.
Ever since wars and battles have been recorded women have been there. Greek mythology tells us that a race of female warriors called Amazons who lived in Pontus, which is now part of Turkey, cut off their left breast so that they could throw their javelins.
In more modern times King Gaza of the African Country Dahomey had an army of 4000 women warriors who from all accounts were ruthless.
Reaching back to the Roman Empire and the occupation of England, an English Queen rose against the occupiers, Queen Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, a tribe that lived in East Anglia England and which is part of the East Coast of England, objected to the Romans calling her territory Cavitates as a designated Roman region.
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The Roman Governor caused Boadicea to be flogged and her daughter's raped. Boadicea raised an army and slaughtered 80,000 Roman soldiers and English civilians.
In 1412 AD an extraordinary young girl was born to French peasant parents. This young girl became better known as 'Joan of Arc' or The Maid of Orleans, at the age of 12 had visions from several French Saints telling her to raise an army and drive the English who owned two-thirds of France out of the country.
At the age of 16, she raised her army but after several victories, she was betrayed, sold to the English who after a trial burnt her at the stake!
Joan of Arc has been immortalised by the playwright Bernard Shaw, the film director Otto Preminger, and many others.
Not every woman who went to war wore armour or carried a sword, Florence Nightingale a wealthy English woman, who earned the sobriquet 'Lady with the lamp' read reports of medical conditions in Crimea where the British, French, and Turks were at war with Russia, took eight nurses to Scutari and, against the British Army Medical Authorities, opened a hospital to care for sick and wounded soldiers.
Florence Nightingale through her influence set a future standard of healthcare in the British Army.
The first Australian women who went to war were the nurses of the NSW Nursing Service Reserve who served in the Boer War.
Lady Superintendent Julia Gould and 13 nurses arrived in Capetown, South Africa. In 1898 for a 'young gal' to take up nursing was not the sort of career respectable young ladies chose, so it took tremendous courage to take up the challenge. Sister Gould and her team developed a reputation for efficiency and nursing care so much so that English soldiers often tied labels onto their uniforms requesting that they be sent to the Australian Hospital should they be wounded!
In 1914 when The British Empire declared war with Germany many Australian Women took jobs in factories, drove buses, joined the Land Army, and generally filled jobs that until the war had traditionally been filled by men.
Many joined the Volunteer Aid Detachment Organisation, carried out roles as volunteer nurses, canteen workers and many went to Palestine and France serving in battlefront areas as nurses.
Although Edith Cavell was not an Australian, Sister Cavell is immortalised as the example of the spirit that took women from many countries to serve and put their lives in jeopardy.
Working in Brussels as a nurse, when the German Army invaded Edith Cavell took on the duty to hide wounded British and French soldiers and assisting them to return to their lines.
Betrayed she was court-martialled by the German Military and shot. Her last words were, "Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."
Edith Cavell's spirit served as a benchmark for the women who 20 years later faced death and danger in another war.
In Australia mothers, wives, girlfriends knitted socks and scarves, made Anzac biscuits and food parcels for their loved ones, and kept the home fires burning.
When the talk is made of women in the frontline, it is equally important to remember that in any war it is the women who bear the greatest burden of not only being in the rear supporting those in the frontline, but they also have the extra burden of worrying about their loved ones plus bringing up a family without the male presence.
Steve Dally JP
Crookwell RSL sub-branch
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