Around 1941, members of the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service queued in a dining room at HMAS Harman Naval Wireless Station in the Australian Capital Territory. An Australian War Memorial photograph shows a cook pouring sauce onto plates as the women wait to collect their midday meal.
The archive identifies Writer Joan Edmondson of Perth and Telegraphist Jean Simpson of Sydney among those pictured. Between duties that sustained the base, lunch was handed out one plate at a time to servicewomen with individual names and roles.
Military history is not made only of operations and equipment. The everyday organisation of women working in naval communications also included this quiet order for receiving lunch.