![]() They were in the harbour for a long time and one fired a torpedo which resulted in the deaths of some cadets on the training ship Kuttabul. Actually we were on duty when the Japanese submarines were in the harbour and were anxious that their target may have been to come through the Botanical Gardens and throw grenades into Fighter Sector to disrupt Sydney's defence. We knew a lot about unidentified aircraft and ships sunk off the coast of Australia but were sworn to secrecy. There was a great pile of empty cans in that tunnel! ![]() The shifts were long and we were not allowed to eat on duty - just coffee made from condensed milk and hot water. (Volunteer Air Observer Corps) by direct line. We were connected to Radar Stations along the coast and to V.A.O.C. Here we worked eight hour shifts day and night with the Army, Navy and Airforce and we had a squadron of fighter planes located at Bankstown. There were no trains there in the tunnel at that time. ![]() They took over three floors of the Hotel Metropole and we had wonderful food and hotel beds (four to a room) and hotel linen! We marched each day up to Macquarie Street and down a hundred wooden steps into the railway tunnel between St James and the Quay where Fighter Sector had been set up. We were trained here and then later posted to Sydney to work with the Americans who had just arrived. ![]() We were billeted in the Assembly Hall with cold showers, wire beds and straw palliasses and food cooked in dixies in the school yard. I enlisted in 1942 as a Stenographer but became seconded along with about 50 other girls from all over Australia, to the first Fighter Sector to be set up.įirstly we were sent to New Lambton in Newcastle where we moved into the local school. As a result of this the girls left home and became independent and confident in their own ability to make decisions. In 1941 when Australia was threatened with Japanese invasion, the call came for women to take up the men's jobs to release them for the front line, and they were also challenged to join the armed services. ![]()
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