Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
This
comprehensive retelling of her incredible and inspiring life
is helping to make that so. Dufty’s new biography captures
her unwavering dedication in the face of adversity and the
sheer force and scope of her determination. Florence Violet
McKenzie is one of my Australian touchstones, and I hope
through this book she will be yours too!’
Genevieve Bell
Distinguished Professor and Florence Violet McKenzie Chair
College of Engineering and Computer Science,
Australian National University
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Preface1
The Morse Code 5
1 Austinmer 7
2 A Tale of Two Engineers 15
3 The Wireless Shop 26
4 The Metropolitan Radio Club 35
5 Wireless Weekly 42
6 Love and Loss 52
7 The Phillip Street Radio School 63
8 The Electrical Association for Women 71
9 The Body on the Lawn 82
10 Cooking with Electricity 87
11 The Australian Women’s Flying Club 94
12 The Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps 102
13 A Sense of Rhythm 111
14 Women in Uniform 119
15 The Woolshed 126
16 Women for the Air Force 134
17 The Arms of the Navy 142
18 Harman 153
19 An SOS from Mary Bell 163
20 The Next Eight 168
21 Musical Morse 176
22 The General and Mrs McKenzie 183
23 Harbour Intruders 191
24 Corvettes 196
25 The Lady at the Top 200
26 Peacetime 208
27 Einstein’s Correspondent 219
28 Honours 223
29 Out of the Woolshed 227
30 The Sailor’s Lessons 236
31 The War’s Long Reach 245
32 Ex-WRANS 248
33 The Pilot Flag Flying 254
Acknowledgements260
Notes264
Bibliography288
Index295
PREFACE
•——• •—• • ••—• •— —•—• •
1
PREFACE
2
PREFACE
3
PREFACE
4
THE MORSE CODE
A •— T —
B —••• U ••—
C —•—• V •••—
D —•• W •——
E • X —••—
F ••—• Y —•——
G ——• Z ——••
H ••••
I ••
J •——— 1 •————
K —•— 2 ••———
L •—•• 3 •••——
M —— 4 ••••—
N —• 5 •••••
O ——— 6 —••••
P •——• 7 ——•••
Q ——•— 8 ———••
R •—• 9 ————•
S ••• 0 —————
5
1
AUSTINMER
•— ••— ••• — •• —• —— • •—•
7
Radio Girl
•—•
8
AUSTINMER
9
Radio Girl
•—•
10
AUSTINMER
•—•
Hard times came upon the country. The property boom of the
1880s ended in a bust in 1890; the slow-motion collapse of the
financial sector began, with a string of building societies and
then banks hitting the wall. By the mid-1890s, the downturn
had become a full-blown depression, and companies were
going out of business all over the place.
The Austinmer mine, which was the largest local employer,
wound back its operations, resulting in lay-offs. The unions
fought back, embroiling the mine in a series of strikes and
industrial disputes, but nothing could stave off the reckoning:
in 1895, the mine closed altogether. Miners and their families
moved away, the population shrank, and enrolments at the
school plummeted.
Mr Fuller left Austinmer in 1897 and was replaced by
Mr William G. Masters, who found himself in charge of
a school with a student population of ‘almost zero’. When
the Department of Education closed the school in 1899, Mr
Masters’ brief tenure as schoolmaster came to an end.10
Unhappy with the lack of educational opportunities for
their children, a group of local families banded together
to remedy the situation. They lobbied the Department of
Education and doorknocked Austinmer households to
impress on their neighbours the importance of sending their
11
Radio Girl
12
AUSTINMER
13
Radio Girl
14