The Australian Women's Land Army mostly recruited women from urban areas, many with no farm experience.
At its enrolment peak, in December 1943, the organisation counted more than 3,400 women. This is one of the Australian Women's Land Army recruitment posters of 1943, printed by H and G Pty Ltd in March of that year (series code WLA 3-43). The organisation was established on 27 July 1942, on the model of the British Women's Land Army, to fill gaps in rural labour.
This image shows cattle herding. The Imperial War Museum holds this design (PST 16609), and the Australian War Memorial holds a version too.
On the poster
A land girl in a khaki-yellow work shirt turns toward the viewer, arm extended, guiding cattle across an open pastoral hillside. Behind her are rolling green-yellow hills, a distant farmhouse and a broad cream sky. The header at the top edge is printed in blue: "A VITAL WAR JOB... A HEALTHY OPEN-AIR LIFE." Below it, in hand-lettered black italic and bold crimson capitals: "Join the Women's Land Army."
About this print
A digitally restored reproduction, printed on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art paper with pigment inks.
