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Homefront heroines and Hollywood heroes? Fremantle women and the impact of the American servicemen that passed through Fremantle 1942-1945

Madison Lloyd-Jones

Lloyd-Jones, Madison 2012, 'Homefront heroines and Hollywood heroes? Fremantle women and the impact of the American servicemen that passed through Fremantle 1942-1945', Fremantle Studies, 7: 104-122.

World War II is a signiﬁcant and unique period in Australia’s history, particularly as it relates to the nation’s social history. For the ﬁrst time, Australia’s shores and homefront population were directly threatened by a wartime enemy. In response, those on the homefront were mobilised to help with the war effort in ways far beyond anything that had been experienced or expected in other wars.

The role of women dramatically changed, particularly in relation to the workforce. As described in Wye Fremantle Districts Sentinel, a local newspaper of the time:

Women used to wave goodbye valiantly to their men-folk going off to war, and then go home - to wait. Now they are saying goodbye just as valiantly, and go to work to help him win. He goes off to ﬂy his bomber, and his sweetheart, wife and sister don overalls to build more bombers for him to ﬂy. Or they report for duty as transport drivers, signallers or cooks. 2

The other unique occurrence during this period was the presence of foreign troops in Australia. Many are familiar with the story of the arrival of the ‘Yanks’ on the Australian homefront in World War II as well as the varied and developing responses that greeted them from immediate excitement and relief, to later indications of resentment and disapproval. The popular adage ‘over-sexed, over-paid and over here’ followed them to all of their Allied deployments. 3 Some towns and cities in wartime Australia found it particularly difficult to adjust to the social Whirlpool that the Americans created, and tensions could not always be allayed as the cultures clashed - Brisbane is an obvious example, with its notorious riots in November 1942. Much of this tension was due to the social impact of the Americans on the home front, who brought with them enthusiasm, charm, cash and a certain degree of eroticism. Fremantle even experienced its share of tensions with one particularly notable ﬁght outside the National Hotel resulting in the death of two New Zealand servicemen. 4 One reason that Fremantle is of particular interest in the Western Australian story is because of the development of the Allied Submarine Base in the Fremantle harbour and the ‘militarisation’ of the city. 5 The presence of servicemen was highly visible in the city, and interactions between the local populace and the ‘sociable’ American troops were unavoidable.

On 7 December 1941 the United States (US) was officially drawn into the war. Up until that point, President Franklin D Roosevelt had resisted confrontation and US involvement had been indirect; for example, the lend-lease agreements between the US and Britain saw equipment and supplies sent from the US to aid Allied efforts in Europe and beyond

The United States provided indirect support for Britain's War effort prior to their official entry into the war in December 1941 (‘Ambulances for Britain from America’, Fremantle Districts Sentinel, 8 May 1941, p 4)

With Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor, all reservations were necessarily abandoned. Roosevelt signed a declaration of war against Japan on 8 December 1941 and Germany on 1 1 December 1941, and was now formally tied to both the European and Pacific theatres of war. The aggression and capability shown by Japan in their Pearl Harbor attacks was very alarming to Australians who had long feared the growing militancy of the Japanese because of their geographical proximity to Australia’s expansive, and seemingly indefensible coastlines. This also came at a time when Britain was becoming increasingly overburdened as it attempted to ﬁght on so many different fronts. In his Christmas and New Year greetings to the nation on 27 December 1941 Prime Minister John Curtin historically outlined the nation’s need to turn from Great Britain and look to the United States to reinforce its security and the protection of its national interests. 6 It was recognised that Britain’s resources, if not its will, were too depleted to defend its dominion and other arrangements were needed if it were possible to ward off the encroaching enemy from the Australian mainland.

With the ‘Fall of Singapore’ in February 1942, the extent of Australia’s vulnerability to Japanese invasion and/ or attack became apparent. Defending Australia became a key objective for the United States government because strategically it was important to maintain a democratic, western nation (and ally) in the middle of the Asia-Paciﬁc region. 7 Furthermore, Australia was an important region to maintain in order to wage the battle in the Paciﬁc; Australian shores provided a convenient location to host military bases, conduct naval repairs and allow servicemen respite. This was especially relevant to the port city of Fremantle given that it came to accommodate the ‘largest Allied Submarine Base in the Southern Hemisphere. 8 From 1942, Australia was visited by approximately one million American servicemen and nurses from the United States, in addition to troops from Holland, Britain and New Zealand. Relative to the Eastern states, the volume of US military personnel in Western Australia was consistently low, but unlike the Eastern states that were visited by United States Army forces, Western Australia enjoyed a high concentration of naval personnel from 1942-45. The largest presence of US military personnel in Australia at one time was 119000 in September 1943; [9] in Western Australia ﬁgures peaked at 4000 Americans in the state at one time. 10

Hypervigilance at home

The everyday lives of women on the Australian homefront were not immediately changed by the nation’s call to arms; in 1939, when Menzies announced that ‘Great Britain has declared war [upon Germany] and that as a result, Australia is also at war, 11 men were most signiﬁcantly affected as they were mobilised as volunteers and conscripts and sent abroad to ﬁght. In late 1941, as the Japanese threat grew, homefront conditions became more difficult. Women found themselves the dominant sex on the homefront, with many able-bodied men deployed abroad and unable to return home. 12 Because of the fear of Japanese bombings, blackout requirements and air raid precautions (or ARPs) were being vigilantly enforced as well as taught by community members mobilised as marshals.

Air Raid Warden certiﬁcation for Miss M Huxham, 1940 (Fremantle City Library Local History Collection, Ephemera, A/Box No 29)

Miss Huxham’s warden identiﬁcation card can be found in Fremantle’s Local History Collection. In her role as a warden in Fremantle, she was directed to carry around a small card that stated that she ‘has been duly appointed as an Honorary Air Raid Warden. This is his [emphasis added] authority to carry out the duties entrusted to Wardens’. This is just one example of the many traditionally male roles that women came to occupy during the war. 13

To be an air raid warden was not a task to be taken lightly - it came with signiﬁcant responsibility and candidates were tested. Not only was a great deal asked of them, but they were actually made to undertake extensive training followed by an examination. A copy of the test preserved in Fremantle’s Local History Collection leaves one baffled by many of the questions including: ‘If parts of the body are affected by liquid mustard gas, what do you swab the area with ... vinegar or petrol?’ The answer is revealed to be petrol; slightly troubling in a period of extreme petrol shortages. Fortunately this method never had to be tested anywhere in Australia during the war. 14

Other wartime conditions experienced on the homefront included the enforcement of blackouts whereby housewives had to dye their curtains black or cover their window with custom made black paper. Storefront windows were painted black and some sandbagged and boarded. Air raid shelters were constructed around the city and in backyards. In Fremantle, some families chose to evacuate the port to regional areas or remain at home to work but send their children away to relatives who lived in outlying areas of Perth or country towns. Schools in the heart of Fremantle were closed because of their proximity to military activity; in the interests of their safety, students from Princess May and Fremantle Boys School were sent to other schools within the district including Bicton and Palymra. Some houses and buildings, particularly those close to the Roundhouse, were requisitioned for military use. Advertisements and other propaganda emphasizing the importance of every individual’s commitment to the war effort saturated all forms of media. 15 Like never before, women were taking a direct part in the war effort, both abroad and on the homefront. Some women chose to serve as members of the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS), Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) or Women’s Australian Auxiliary Air Force Others made signiﬁcant contributions without necessarily donning a uniform; for example, many women entered the workforce for the ﬁrst time, or came to occupy positions in the workforce that were traditionally reserved for men. Women also made a humanitarian contribution through volunteer services and even fulfilled their ‘patriotic duty’ by entertaining the troops, often fundraising as they did so. Women on the homefront were also now battling with the strict rations that had been introduced on food, clothing and materials, and fuel allowances. By late 1941 all luxury items were either unavailable or extremely hard to come by.

In dealing with these conditions, Australian women (and mothers and wives in particular) demonstrated their resourcefulness and resilience to the nation. In The Fremantle Districts Sentinel, Fremantle housewives are described as ‘social economists’ with the author knowing of ‘no greater economist than the wife of a man on the basic wage who had to balance the budget each week on the meager earnings coming in. 16 These conditions and the pressure they put on Women also explain, to some extent, the appeal of the Americans. Given the obvious frustrations that accompanied this forced frugality, it was no doubt captivating to experience the generosity and unmatched spending of the American servicemen, able to offer candy or tinned fruits, clothing items including greatly missed silk stockings, and even ﬂowers and jewelry. This was due to their access to imported supplies and their generous wages known to be about twice the income of Australian servicemen. 17

Reﬂections of the occupier and the occupied

In considering what Australians knew about their arriving guests, and what was known in return, there seems to be a heavy emphasis on stereotypes that were often misrepresentative of reality. Just as the average Australian does not own a pet kangaroo, the Americans were not all Hollywood heartthrobs. In 2006, a replica of the instruction manual produced in 1942 by the United States Army for their troops destined for Australia was published. 18 It contains what the US Department of Defence thought their servicemen needed to know in order to understand the history and culture of Australia and get a sense of the people that called it home. Amusingly, Australians are described as having ‘the slangiest of all the brands of English 19 and it is noted that Australians have a genius for using ‘bloody’ nearly every other word. 20 Kindly the Australian people, and ‘the Digger’ in particular, are described as being ‘instantaneously sociable’. 21 Unfortunately, however, the guide lacks a speciﬁc impression of Australian women except to say that ‘Australians, especially the girls, are a bit amazed at the politeness of American soldiers 22 which perhaps provides an insight into the typical behaviour and manners of Australian men at the time and also indicates that American servicemen already had a big hint about the best way to charm the local women when they got here.

Also unfortunate is the fact that there is no Australian version of these guides. While Australians were in a much better position to be familiar with Americans, their impressions were largely based on Hollywood movies and the celebrity gossip reproduced in Australian newspapers, and yet Hollywood and movie stars were not (and are not) reﬂective of the American experience. Australians had also formed impressions of the US through the Australian media as newspapers and radio presenters frequently reported on how the American government and its people were responding to the war. The majority of these reports painted the United States in a very positive light and emphasized the generosity and strength of US leaders and citizens. As an example of the enthusiasm and positivity that was associated with reports on the US, the Fremantle Districts Sentinel reflected on the achievements of the American Red Cross describing its efforts as ‘amazing’ and that ‘since the beginning of the war the Red Cross in that marvelous country was helping’. 23

Given the information available, Fremantle women rightly or wrongly were expecting brave and strong men in the style of old Hollywood stars.

Arrival of the Yanks

The immediate arrival of the Americans in Australia came as a great relief; those remaining on the homefront in 1942 had felt so vulnerable to Japanese attack with the majority of the nation’s defence forces deployed overseas and unable to return home. The strict rations, blackouts and constant air raid drills made for a fairly bleak environment. With these conditions in mind, the arrival of the Americans was like a beacon of hope. Families welcomed servicemen into their homes and Australian newspapers featured baseball scores, US local news and even American cooking recipes to try and accommodate their visitors. 24

Their arrival had two speciﬁc implications for the Fremantle community: their presence glamorised the war and it also made the experience of war all the more dangerous.

In considering the glamour that the Americans added to the homefront experience, Joan Stingemore, a Fremantle local reﬂected: ‘I think the greatest excitement came when the Americans arrived in Fremantle, every single manless girl (and some others) were in heaven for a while, we thought every American came from Hollywood, not from ordinary homes like ours.’ 25 She describes the Americans as being responsible for ‘many a good time, many a heartache too’. But with their offering of rationed items and their smart uniforms, they ‘added a touch of lightness to what were grim days.’ 26

In regards to danger, the arrival of the Americans and subsequent development of a submarine base in Fremantle’s harbour potentially increased the likelihood of a Japanese attack on Fremantle as its strategic value as a target invariably increased. Of course there were also the logistical dangers that come from having such vast quantities of munitions in the area. Mrs Shirley Farkas, a Fremantle local who worked as a part- time switchboard operator, part-time driver for the United States Navy at Fremantle’s North Wharf described being able to wear professional but clearly civilian clothes to work when she ﬁrst started, but then the US Admiral responsible for the base insisted that all of the Australian women working on the wharf wear a United States uniform so that if an event occurred in which the base was attacked and they were captured by the Japanese, they would be under the protection of the Geneva Convention. 27 Over time the genuine likelihood or even possibility of a Japanese invasion of Australia has been questioned, but this retrospection does not change the fact that the people of Fremantle (and Australia more broadly) genuinely experienced these fears.

Another way in which the American presence threatened Australia was through moral and social corruption; or so it was argued at the time. Young women were accused of being too loose with their morals and participating in inappropriate relationships with American servicemen. This is supported by the notable increase in extramarital affairs, unplanned pregnancies and even the spread of venereal diseases. On 22 July 1944, the front page of The Mirror bore the headline ‘VD Fight has been won in Western Australia’. 28 To feel the need to celebrate such an achievement gives some indication of the loose behaviour and standards that had been seen during the war. Another indicator is the development of Prophylactic Stations set up for servicemen in Fremantle and Perth. 29 On the whole, I would argue that the socialisations between Australian women and American servicemen were so heavily commented on because they were so necessarily public. Furthermore, this was a period in which the moral integrity of women and their behaviour (to a much greater extent than today) was open to public scrutiny and social conditioning; any action outside of the norm was scandalous. It is interesting to note the lack of available stories and stigma surrounding the behaviour of Australian servicemen abroad.

From 1943 the favour of the Americans can be seen to have diminished somewhat. Once considered ‘patriotic’, relationships with Americans were no longer enthusiastically endorsed and some women were criticized for cavorting with our foreign guests. Suspicions of extramarital affairs both warranted and imagined were also spreading rapidly.

Foreign friends and lovers

Although stories of wartime love are very popular, not all Australian- American relationships were romantic; while there was a signiﬁcant amount of coupling during the war including casual courtships, marriages and sometimes extramarital affairs, there were also many platonic and professional relationships that developed. Furthermore, in analysing relationships between men and women, one cannot ignore the wartime increase in the prostitution industry. All of these interactions are evident in Fremantle’s social history during the war period.

Young, and away from home, many of the American servicemen sought comfort in the companionship of Australian locals. Numerous accounts outline the ways in which an Australian family got the opportunity to ‘adopt’ an American son or brother for a short while. Doris Gilbride, a Fremantle local, shared the story of her four nieces and how they used to bring American boys home. Her sister encouraged her daughters to invite the boys to their home because her own sons were away at the war and she considered how they might be glad for someone to give them a home at night. 30 In this way, those mothers unable to care for their own sons abroad cared for the sons of American mothers.

Wilma Baroy, a teenager in Fremantle during the war, describes the many platonic relationships that she maintained with American troops while they were in town and the many parties and dances she would be asked to attend whenever her American friends returned to Fremantle for shore leave. When her family was asked to host two young American sailors at their home, Ms Baroy remembers the sibling-like relationship she developed with them and the various practical jokes they played on each other. Her experience of the American servicemen in Fremantle was very positive with the men being both well behaved and very protective of the local women. When Wilma worked as a volunteer at a kiosk near the Fremantle Gas Works selling milkshakes, icecream and chocolates, for example, she would always be met at closing time by several Americans ready to escort her home in the dark. 31

While relationships of any kind with the exotic ‘Yanks’ would have been exhilarating, this feeling was enhanced by the unpredictability of the departure and return of the troops. Coupled with excitement, there was a great deal of trepidation and fear; great sadness was felt if and when it was learnt that a US Navy (USN) vessel had been attacked. Fremantle women soon found themselves not only fearing for the lives of their countrymen but for their new American friends as well.

In many instances, relationships moved beyond friendships and local women found themselves dating a ‘Yank’. there were numerous engagements throughout the war, and many of these resulted in marriages. Of the 1000 Western Australian war brides that departed for the United States after the war, 400 were from Fremantle. 32 Marriage during this period was not simple; the union had to be approved by a Commanding Ofﬁcer with evidence given to support the legitimacy of the pairing and even then, a “cooling off period” was often enforced whereby newly engaged couples were required to wait six months before they could wed. This was to ensure the couple were properly acquainted and that their decision was not rash. Mrs Monek, a Fremantle war bride who had to endure these pre-marital tests herself, defends the protocol noting that ‘these guys were coming off ships they had been on for a long time and hadn’t seen girls, they might have married anybody.’ 33 The cooling off period was not only instigated to allow time to investigate the potential bride and ensure that she was worthy of marriage to an American and the American citizenship that would come with it, but it also allowed time to review that the groom-to- be was not already married or hiding some other sordid truth. In reﬂecting on her companions on the bride ship that took her from Australia to her new home in the United States, Mrs Monek even comments on her fellow companions saying: ‘what I saw on that ship ... they need to be investigated, some of them.' 34

Finally, there were also instances of extramarital affairs. The idea of the ‘unfaithful wife’ in many instances was a general fear associated with women’s growing freedom, the absence of so many husbands, and the general popularity of the Yanks but these stories were not entirely mythological and even in Fremantle, there are examples of these affairs. Rather than to judge the behaviour of particular individuals, this story is offered to demonstrate one of the impacts of the war and the presence of the American troops - and that is the developing camaraderie of women on the homefront. As recounted by Joan Stingemore, a Fremantle woman and neighbour to Joan was known to have ‘become very attached to an American.’ While her actions were not condoned, there was a sense of understanding and empathy for the difficult situation she was in. Raising two young children on rations and uncertain about her husband returning, she was scared and lonely. The American in the story is even described favourably as being a ‘very nice man and was good to her kids and the kids in the street’. The story peaks with a near encounter of the woman’s husband and her American lover - a friendly neighbour spots the husband on the street, having unexpectedly returned from war, and is able to make it home quickly to pass along a warning which results in the speedy eviction of the Yank, including his belongings which are hastily thrown over various neighbouring fences just before the husband makes it to the door. The story continues, as there existed a grave concern that the street gossip would be only too eager to tell the story of the affair to the returned husband. These neighbourly women came together to ensure the silence of the gossip and to ensure the marriage was not broken. 35While they might not have condoned the adultery, this story shows how these women banded together, bonded by an understanding of the difficulties and uncertainties of life on the homefront. In another instance, Mrs Frances Shea describes housing a woman whose husband had evicted herself and her children because she had been having an affair with an American serviceman. 36 Again, while the behaviour was not condoned, the women on the home front recognised their own unique hardships and pulled together in many ways.

Entertainment

An important way in which Fremantle women and American servicemen interacted was through social events. While socialising with the American servicemen at a dance, theatre outing, or other social event might not be seen as ‘work’ per se, often these occasions did involve a great deal of organisation and preparation by various women as individuals or representatives of particular community or Church groups. Furthermore, participation was seen as a dutiful commitment to the war effort not only to accommodate recreation opportunities for the troops, American or otherwise, but to fundraise for the troops directly or to support various fundraising initiatives. For example, the Daily News advertised a Russian Ball to be held on 21 June 1943 in aid of the ‘Sheepskins for Russia Fund’. It was heralded to be ‘the night of nights’ with Russian songs, Cossack dances and supreme ﬂoor shows to entertain Fremantle locals and the broader Perth community. 37

The Hoyts Picture Theatre was a popular entertainment destination during the war. Several women were employed to work at the theatre, including Mavis Wright who worked as an usherette. Her story provides another example of how social events often involved women working behind the scenes and taking on a number of unfamiliar and important roles. Because the theatre housed so many people, many of them servicemen, it was important that the usherettes be familiar with ARP exercises in the event that the building be attacked while a movie session was on. In her oral history interview, Mavis talks about how she had to learn ﬁrst aid and even how to respond to a bombing attack or a ﬁre. She describes the mats they had to throw over incendiary bombs and the shovels they were taught to use to throw them out of theatre! 38 Mavis’s story is particularly engaging because it provides an instance in which women had to be the protectors and invariably, protectors of male servicemen/This story provides an insight into the true value and importance of women and their contribution to this war. Not only were they managing their families on rations, contributing to their community and/ or to the troops through such efforts from fundraising to working on a munitions assembly line, but in some instances they were actually taking on the role of the protective detail.

Professional Relationships

A variety of professional relationships existed between Fremantle women and the Americans. Many women worked, often as volunteers, in hospitality or local stores to provide good and services for the servicemen in town. In fact, it is remarkable how many women reported working a paid job, while undertaking other non-paid tasks and then spending the evening voluntarily waiting tables, serving or clearing dishes at a diner for servicemen.

The dedicated efforts of women can be seen from the certiﬁcate of thanks awarded to the workers of the Navy and Army Canteen that was located across from the Fremantle Hotel on High Street, near the Roundhouse. The certiﬁcates are mentioned frequently throughout Fremantle’s World War II oral history transcripts and with praise and fondness. The certiﬁcate of thanks shown above was presented to most of the 200 volunteer women who assisted as cooks, waitresses or assistants generally in looking after thousands of troops and serving 371260 meals across the ﬁve years it remained in operation. Even more extraordinary, not only did these women volunteer their services, but they each contributed sixpence per week to pay overhead expenses. 39

American servicemen and Fremantle women also had more formal professional interactions. Some civilians and WRANS were employed on the Submarine Base as drivers, telephonists, and signallers.

WRAN signallers, North Wharf Fremantle, October 1945, ‘Silo Signal Station’, North Fremantle, c1945 (Fremantle City Library Local History Collection, 4511)

Keith Eddington, an Australian Naval ofﬁcer now retired, in his oral history shared a story about a young WRAN on top of Fremantle’s wheat silos (seen above) who would signal Rottnest where a radio-signalling station was housed and ﬁnd out the names of the ships coming into the Fremantle harbour. On one particular day, an USN vessel that regularly came in and out of the port as it went on patrol did not answer a signal as it passed Rottnest Island - and therefore did not identify itself or the fact that it was heading towards Fremantle. Fearing the possibility that the ship had been infiltrated by the enemy, the young WRAN who was watching the approach of the ship that was still failing to signal notiﬁed the powers that be and as a result they ﬁred over the bows of the USN ship as a forewarning. Eddington reports that ‘the American captain of that ship quickly got into contact with the Fremantle harbour and was most obedient in signalling in the future’. 40 While the incident in question may have been a false alarm, it should not diminish how signiﬁcant the signaller’s role was in detecting and preventing a threat to the port. It is interesting to note that women being mobilised not only contributed to the greater Australian war effort but often performed tasks that directly assisted the Americans in performing their duties too.

Short and long term implications

It is fairly widely acknowledged that the immediate impact of the Americans was signiﬁcant. Their presence altered social relationships, the presence of so many men, particularly with money to spend, put more pressure on women in the workforce and demanded more of their time in performing voluntary tasks and attending dances and other social events. With the speedy departure of the American troops at the end of the War, there was a sense of relief that the community could return to some normalcy. But there was also the need to recover broken hearts, and to mourn the loss of the 400-odd warbrides that left Fremantle for a life in the United States. As Frances Shea describes, mothers having lost their sons to the war, later lost their daughters to their American husbands that took them so far away. 41 Inevitably, the community soon adjusted.

I would argue that this period clearly highlights the resilience and resourcefulness of women, both in Fremantle, and Australia more broadly, and their ability to respond to various social pressures, economic restrictions, work demands, community and family commitments and the list continues.

I would also argue that that the impact of the American presence was not only immediately signiﬁcant but had long term implications. For example, during this period Australia had just begun to break ties with its Mother Country and would no longer deﬁne itself by its “Britishness” and therefore, interacting with a foreign presence forced Australia and Australians to deﬁne and describe themselves in new terms. Furthermore, new ways of thinking, ways of approaching work and different behaviours, were modelled before Australian society. Joan Stingemore, in her interview, described what it was like to attend a dance with an Australian man compared to an American man. She said an Australian would ‘pay your admittance to a dance, have a couple of dances and then leave you for his mates’. While an American’s manners were ‘impeccable, he never left your side all night. He would open the car door for you, pull your chair out for you to sit down and organise a taxi to take you home or see you to the door’. 42 This kind of social comparison was a new luxury for Australian society, and these differences could be fully appreciated as these ‘foreigners’ were not expected to assimilate into Australian culture as would be expected of migrants.

There were of course American slang words that were adopted during the war and other inﬂuences on popular culture like the introduction of Coca Cola. Politically, in terms of Australian-American relations, the experiences of World War II bonded Australians and Americans in a shared and relatable experience that still underpins the ANZUS alliance today. And the two nations were also connected on a social level because of intermarriage.

An interesting phenomenon that occurred at the end of the war was a rush by American servicemen to collect as much Australian memorabilia as possible to take back home with them. Books about Australia were seen as a great way of sharing their experiences with their families back home and in this way a great deal of cross cultural education occurred. The servicemen, in many Ways, returned home to the US and became Australian tourism campaigners.

In relation to Fremantle in particular, World War II earned the port a stellar international reputation. During the war, submariners frequently request a stop at the Fremantle Port. 43 Even today Fremantle remains popular within the USN although the logistics of docking at the port have made visits increasingly infrequent. Captain John Sheehan, USN, US Naval Attache to Australia, commented that ‘Fremantle remains a popular port for American sailors to visit based on the hospitality of the community and the wide range of activities available’. 43

Conclusion

The homefront population of Australia had the unique opportunity during World War II to interact with foreign servicemen, particularly those from the United States. This was signiﬁcant because of the social implications associated with their presence including the varied relationships they sought and held with local women, and the tensions this caused with Australian men. This period also saw the role of women change dramatically as they took on non-traditional roles in the workforce and dedicated their time and energy to supporting the troops and the nation’s war efforts. World War II remains a fascinating period of social, political and gender development in Australia, and the special relationship developed between the ‘Aussies’ and the ‘Yanks’ continues to thrive.

Fremantle Studies Day, 2010

Notes

This paper was presented at Fremantle Studies Day 2010. I wish to express my thanks to the Fremantle History Society for the invitation to address their audience and to the Fremantle City Library Local History Collection (speciﬁcally Pam, Kristi and Larraine) in helping me to locate the oral histories, photographs, ephemera, books and other items they had on ﬁle related to Fremantle’s experience of World War ll.

2 Shirley Dale, ‘Australian Women in Action’, Fremantle Districts Sentinel, 30 July 1942, p 1.

3 See, for example, John Hammond Moore, Over-sexed', Over-paid and Over Here: Americans in Australia 1941-1945, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1981 and Juliet Gardiner, “Overpaid, Oversexed and Over Here”: The American GI in World War II Britain, Canopy Books, New York, 1992. The term is found in numerous books and journal and newspaper articles that consider the relationship between American servicemen and the Allied civilian populations that they interacted with including Australia, Britain, New Zealand, Belgium and Ireland. The term was even used in descriptions of the post-war relations between American troops and Japanese locals.

4 See State Records Ofﬁce of Western Australia, Cons 430, Item 1944/1909, ‘Fremantle. Report re brawl in Fremantle on 11/04/1944 between Allied and other service men in which two N.Z. soldiers were fatally stabbed’, and Cons 430, Item 1944/ 1449,‘C.I.B. Death of Stanley Reginald Hooper, Ned Rake Kelly N.Z. soldiers on 11/04/1944, 12/04/1944 at Fremantle from stab wounds’.

5 The Allied Submarine Base was developed primarily by the United States Navy (U.S.N.) but was strongly supported by Royal Australian Navy (R.A.N.) personnel and procedures. This is illustrated in Commander Seventh Fleet, Base facilities report on U.S. Naval activities in the Southwest Paciﬁc area, 1944, ephemera, Battye Library, PR6185, which indicates that ‘all harbor patrol work is done by R.A.N. and is considered adequate’ (p 9) and the same applies for surface detection radar facilities and net defenses (p 10).

6 Prime Minister John Curtin, ‘New Year’s message’, Melbourne Herald, 27 December 1941.

7 See John Curtin, ‘Speech to America’, 14 March 1942, Records of the Australian Broadcasting Company, John Curtin Ministerial Library, JCPMLOO434/1 where Curtin explains to his American audience that ‘Australia is the last bastion between the West Coast of America and the Japanese. If Australia goes, the Americas are wide open. It is said that the Japanese will by-pass Australia and that they can be met and routed in India. I say to you that the saving of Australia is the saving of America’s west coast. If you believe anything to the contrary then you delude yourselves.’

8 D.H. van Velden, ‘Fremantle’s Forgotten Fleet: A Social History of the Royal Netherlands Navy in Western Australia, 1942-45’, doctoral thesis, University of Leiden, The Netherlands, 2000, available at Western Australian Maritime Museum, 359.7 VEL, p.6 and Lynne Cairns, Fremantle Secret Fleets: Allied Submarines based in Western Australia during World War II, Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle, 1995, pp 2-3.

9 E. Daniel Potts and Annette Potts, Yanks Down Under 19414954: The American Impact on Australia, OUP, Melbourne, 1985, p 30.

10 Courtland Christiani, ‘Basic Information for American Ex-Servicemen Contemplating Residence in Western Australia’, 30 October 1945 in Anthony J Barker 8L Lisa Jackson, Fleeting Attraction: A Social History of American Servicemen in Western Australia during the Second World I/War, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, 1996, p 96.

11 Prime Minister Robert Menzies, 3 September 1939, available at National Archives of Australia, ‘Rt. Hon. R.G. Menzies, speech on declaration of war, 3 September 1939’, sound recording, ABC Radio broadcast, C102, POL14.

12 Cf course not all Australian men that met the age and health pre-requisites were deployed; some were manpowered at home and made a signiﬁcant contribution to the community and the war effort. The focus of this paper is on the women on the homefront. For more information on the homefront experiences and contributions of men in Western Australia, see Lindsay Peet, ‘The men who stayed behind’, in Jenny Gregory (ed.), On the Homefront: Western Australia and World War II, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, 1996.

13 Fremantle City Library Local History Collection, archival material, A/Box no 29-03

14 ibid.

15 For example, advertisements were calling for Australians to use their savings to buy war bonds in order to allow the Government to have access to more funds to fuel the war effort with the assurance that this money would be returned after the war.

16 Mr Richards, ‘Cf Interest to Women’, Fremantle Districts Sentinel, 20 August 1942, p 1.

17 The difference in the salary of an American compared to an Australian serviceman was exacerbated in Fremantle. Visited predominantly by sailors (and a high volume of submariners), these men were already rewarded generously because of their expertise, but they were also paid extra when on war patrol in recognition of the risk involved in their duties as seamen. Furthermore, given that when these men were working they were conﬁned to their vessel, they had little opportunity to spend their money which meant they always had plenty of cash available to them when they ﬁnally received shore leave.

18 ‘Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia 1942’, reproduced from the original prepared by Special Service Division, Services of Supply, United States Army and issued by War and Navy Departments Washington, D.C., The University Press, Cambridge, 2006. Similar instructional materials were produced for American troops deployed to other Allied and enemy territories. For example, ‘Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain 1942’, reproduced from the original typescript, War Department, Washington D.C., The University Press, Cambridge, 2004. While the Americans may have been forewarned of our particular penchant for using the term ‘bloody’, they were speciﬁcally discouraged from using it in Britain. ‘It isn’t a good idea to say “bloody” in mixed company...it is one of their worst swear words.’ (p.5) This manual also includes a glowing account of British women: ‘They have died at the gun posts and as they fell another girl has stepped directly into the position and “carried on”...They have won the right to utmost respect. When you see a girl in khaki or air-force blue with a bit of ribbon on her tunic - remember she didn’t get it for knitting more socks than anyone else in Ipswich.’ (p.25) Also see Army Information Branch of the Army Service Forces, United States Army, ‘Instructions for American Servicemen in France during World War II’, 1944 The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2008. It warns ‘France has been represented too often in ﬁction as a frivolous nation where sly winks and coy pats on the rear are the accepted form of address. You’d better get rid of such notions right now if you are going to keep out of trouble.’ (p. 1 9)

19 ‘Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia 1942’, p 51.

20 ibid., p 21. 21 ibid., P 18.

22 ibid., p 50.

23 ‘How America Helped: Red Cross Achievements’, The Fremantle District Sentinel, 8 May 1941, p 4.

24 For example, see ‘The Great Amircan (sic) Salad’, Fremantle Advocate, Tuesday 23 December 1941, p.3 where it is revealed that salads made with fruits, cheeses, and sometimes even marshmallow are favoured over the standard green salad despite the best efforts of the American housewife to ‘make considerable use of lettuce, endive, and watercress together with any other greens and herbs that may be in season, not forgetting uncooked vegetables.

25 Joan Stingemore (nee Brophy), interview with Larraine Stevens, Fremantle ca, Library oral history project, 15, 22, 29 June and 20 July July 1999. FCLLHC OH/STI

26 ibid.

27 Shirley Farkas, Australia Remembers Project, Fremantle City Library, 18 September 1995, FCLLHC 940.5481

28 ‘V.D. ﬁght has been won in Western Australia’, The Mirror; 22 July 1944, p 1.

29 Venereal disease was considered a threat to the war effort and it was taken very seriously. In the Two prophylactic stations were set up in Fremantle, one for Australian servicemen and one for American servicemen. In the information cards provided to these men (Fremantle City Library Local History Collection, E/940.5), it is noted that ‘venereal disease tends to lengthen the war’. The activities of women was monitored very closely and a reputation for being promiscuous and suspicions of carrying VD could result, in the most extreme cases, in arrest and confinement.

30 Doris Mollie Gilbride, interview with Alice Smith, Fremantle History Society oral history project, 19 March 1985. FCLLHC OH/ GIL

31 Wilma Baroy, interview with Margaret McPherson, Fremantle City Library oral history project, 23 July 1999. FCLLHC ()H/ BAR

32 Sara Buttsworth, ‘Women colouring the wartime landscape’, in Jenny Gregory, On the Homefront: Western Australia and World War II, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, 1996, p 68.

33 Dorothy Aisne Monek (nee Christensen), interview with Margaret Howroyd, Fremantle City Library oral history project, 13 November 1995. FCLLHC OH/MON

34 ibid.

35 Stingemore

36 Francis Ferrer Shea (nee Gray), interview with Gerda Fowler, Fremantle History Society oral history project, 27 November 1985. FCLLHC OH/ SHE

37 ‘The Russian Ball’, advertisement, Daily News, 21 June 1943, p 2.

38 Mavis Wright, interview with Zoe Griffin, Fremantle History Society oral history project, 14 February 1985 . FCLLHC OH/WRI

39 Captain A.M. Tilly, U.S.N, ‘Navy 8c Army Canteen Service, High Street, Fremantle’, 23 August 1945, in ‘Certiﬁcate of thanks to Mrs G.L. Kennedy and her fellow workers of the Army and Navy canteen, Fremantle, 1939-45’, ephemera, Battye Library, PR7455.

40 Keith Eddington, interview with Alice Smith, Australia Remembers Project, Fremantle City Library, 1995. FCLLHC QH/EDD

41 Shea

42 Stingemore

43 Charles A. Lockwood, Vice Admiral, USN, rtd, Commander of the Paciﬁc Fleet, in his book Sink Em All: Submarine warfare in the Pacific, E.P. Dutton, New York, 1951, notes that the most frequent request he received from Submarine skippers was to be allowed to end their patrol run in Fremantle.

44 Captain John Sheehan, USN, U.S. Naval Attache, Australia, communication with author, 15 September 2010.

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