Australian Dress Register

Margaret Warene White, born 1951, was a Women's Royal Australian Naval Service servicewoman from the age of seventeen, during the years of 1968-1972.  “When I was thirteen," recalls Margaret, "we had… vocational guidance tours… There was one for the Navy and I thought ‘Oh, I might go and have a look at that’. It was a tour over at HMAS Watson… By the end of the tour I was hooked!... Seventeen was the joining age, and I turned seventeen in April and started training in September”.

Margaret applied and was selected to join the WRANS as a Recruit WRAN Radar Plotter. The recruitment process included medical examinations, an aptitude test and an interview with a naval psychologist; no specific educational qualifications were required.

“As soon as I finished my course," states Margaret, "another WRAN and I got transferred to HMAS Albatross [in Nowra]… We were transferred to AJASS- the Australian Joint Anti-Submarine School [first established in 1951]. It sounds more exciting than in actually was... we were the lackeys... We had what was called a tactical floor… It was basically in grid squares and they would draw maps on it like coast lines and that sort of thing… They would say things like ‘HMAS So-And-So was here’, and one of us would run out from behind a curtain and put a ship down, or a submarine. We had all the models".

Margaret began her appointment on the 30th of September, 1968, and worked hard to become a Weapons Assessor and a Leading WRAN (akin to a Leading Seaman). With the Vietnam War drawing to a close, however, armament production was cut back and Margaret found herself needing to transfer into a new role; this was not without complications, as a new job would result in the loss of her rank and entitlements. As such, Margaret remained with the WRANS until she applied for a discharge on the 25th September 1972.

She was one of over 600 members of the WRANS in Australia by 1970. 

While Margaret and her peers were proud servicewomen of the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service, she was at times hesitant to wear full uniform off-base as her service was during the Vietnam War. “While most of my friends liked my uniform,” Margaret reminisces, “we sometimes didn’t wear it because of the [Vietnam] Moratorium [Campaign]”.

Moratorium marches, demonstrations and teach-ins occurred nation-wide during the Vietnam War.

Telephone conversations with Margaret White

WRANS Recruitment booklet (ANMS0834 [048]) 

Margaret's summertime shirt dress, belt, buttons and suitcase are currently on show in the Naval display of the Australian Maritime Museum. 

As these items of clothing constitute uniforms, they have very little trimming and or decoration. The winter dress and working uniforms' serge jackets, however, as well as all shirts and the summer dress uniform shirt dress have embroidered Radar Plotter and Leading WRAN insignia on each sleeve- that is symbols or tokens of status and office. Embroidery is gold metallic fibre on the dress uniform jacket, blue cotton on the working uniform jacket, and black cotton elsewhere.  

Margaret White's WRANS hat also showcases a tally, a black ribbon with gold-yellow inscription bearing the name of a ship or establishment (in White's case, the establishment HMAS Albatross where she was stationed the majority of her service with the WRANS).

Tally ribbon on hat

Ebroidered insignia on jackets, shirts and shirt dress

Each of Margaret White's uniform constituents is made of different fabrics. The summertime shirt dress is polyester and viscose; working sailor-style tops are cotton and skirts are serge.

Wintertime dress was mostly serge with cotton shirts, and rayon silk and cotton ties.

All undergarments purchased with uniform allowances were cotton.

All clothing manufactured in the late 1960s-early 1970s

WRANS training and subsequent issue dress was made by a range of manufacturers. Some manufacturers are identifiable via labels, such as the 'Nylmah Trading Co.', on the label of the navy-blue pure wool cardigan, or 'Jantzen'- with archetypal diving figure- on the label of the blue physical training shorts.

According to Margaret White, the dress shirt (not donated to the ANMM) worn with the winter dress uniform had a detachable collar that was "very stiff", and which "deteriorated quite quick".

The Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS), an integral part of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), was inaugurated as a peace-time service in 1951 and was granted permanent status in December, 1959 (it was disbanded in 1984, upon the full integration into the RAN of women). Its principal purpose was to form a well-trained nucleus which could rapidly and efficiently expand in the event of a war. It also alleviated manpower shortages resulting from men being assigned to combat roles.

WRANS performed a variety of duties, including working as telegraphists, coders and clerks, to education officers, drivers, mechanics, harbour messengers, cooks and sickberth attendants. Women worked as domestic staff at Government House, Yarralumla, as well as in Radar Counter-measure, the Allied Intelligence Bureau and the Censorship Office. The service never exceeded 3,000 women enlisted at any one time.

Imagery and text published in newspaper advertisements and promotional material collected by Margaret White illustrate the methods used by the RAN to promote the Navy as an attractive and viable career option to both young men and women in the 1960s. An emphasis is placed on a job in the WRANS being important and of value to society.

All WRANS recruited were trained initially at HMAS Cerberus in Victoria. Radar Plot WRANS like Margaret White received technical training at HMAS Watson in Sydney, New South Wales. Upon completion of training, WRANS were able to serve in establishments.

Margaret White visited many establishments, including though not limited to HMAS Swan, Hobart, Vendetta, Oxley, Yarra, Melbourne, Vampire, Quiberon, Anzac, Stalwart, Stuart, Parramatta, Sydney, Queenborough, Perth and Brisbane, though she spent most of her time at HMAS Albatross, as indicated by her cap’s tally ribbon.

ANMS0832 [038]: A silver gelatin print of a studio portrait of Margaret White (photographer unknown). As White states, “first leave you got we all raced home and got studio photos in our dress uniforms".

ANMS0832 [039]: A silver gelatin print of Margaret and three fellow WRANS women all in their summer work uniforms, photographed by a RAN Official Photographer on the 18th of November, 1968. 

ANMS0832 [043]: A silver gelatin print of 29 uniformed WRANS women, including Margaret (presumably also photographed by an Official Photographer). 

ANMS0834 [048]: The 'How to Join the Service' and 'Clothing and Uniform' pages of a WRANS recruitment booklet. 

Overall, Margaret’s uniforms are in near-excellent condition, as new and with little signs of wear (though obviously they are well-worn; the lack of physical evidence of this is a testament to the strength of these garments).

Only White's sailor-style work shirt is in fair-to-good condition. There is what appears to be mould staining to the proper left of the shirt in particular, perhaps due to storage. Margaret's shoe soles are also scuffed.

Margaret fondly recalls polishing her WRANS hat with sandshoe whitener to keep it in good condition.  

No alterations or repairs to note. As Margaret White stated in a phone conversation “Have you seen my uniforms?!- They’re in perfect condition!... I can’t remember replacing much at all… It was all good quality stuff”.