Stills and interview with Pat Penrose (When the war came to Australia)

Patricia Penrose joined the Australian Womens' Army as a driver which was unusual as men were considered primary drivers only. Pat was assigned to the Australian Corps of Signals and she was posted to the Z Force at Arlie on the corner of Domain Road. Patricia's task in the Z Force was to encipher and decipher messages. The Z Force was also the communications link with the Z Special Unit which organised parties to carry out guerilla - like missions in Borneo, New Guinea, Timor and the Solomon Islands. Pat described her work as requiring a lot of responsibility and discretion. Her main problem was the secrecy of the information. She could not discuss the messages or her concerns for the men involved in the missions. Rapport was built depending on the parties she was communicating with. Her use of Australian inuendo helped to keep up the morale of those in the Z Special Unit. When Singapore fell, the fear was Australia's vulnerability to the Japanese. Australia had relied on Britain's word that Singapore would not fall. Pat was grateful that the Americans arrived to help defend Australia. Pat described the Americans as clean cut with money and the style of their uniforms. MacArthur and his wife were welcomed in Australia after their arrival from the Philippines. MacArthur organised the completion of the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the hanging of the American Leonski who became a serial murderer while in Australia. There were many social problems in Australia after the war. Many of the returning soldiers could not re-adjust to civilian life. Housing shortages strained prospects for newly married couples wanting homes of their own. Women too had to adjust to decision making after years of military drill and regulation, and the decrease in the levels of responsibilities previously given to them during the war.