Group portrait of the Women's Australian National Service (WANS), Kogarah Detachment. Back row: ...

Group portrait of the Women's Australian National Service (WANS), Kogarah Detachment. Back row: June Picton; Miss Freeme; unidentified; Alma Swann; unidentified; Betty Marchant; two unidentified; Mrs Holder; Mrs Weller. Middle row: Linda Swann; two unidentified; Mrs Nunn; Jane Bray; six unidentified. Front row: Miriam Picton; unidentified; Gwen Tarrens; unidentified; Mrs Hunter- King; Joyce Thompson; unidentified; Esmie Swann. The Kogarah district WANS included women from the Carlton, Ramgate and Kogarah Bay areas. They met in the Kogarah Home Science Highschool for training and in the Congregational Church Kogarah for First Aid training. Their duties included; home nursing, making camouflage nets, performing administration tasks for the nearby 45 Battalion and entertaining and caring for the patients in Ward 17 at the 113th Australian General Hospital (AGH). Another role for many of the WANS was to work at the British Centre in Hyde Park, helping to provide companionship, entertainment and meals to the British troops. A few of the WANS also belonged to the Fire Brigade at Kogarah and would on occasion work at city headquarters in Castlereagh Sreet, Sydney.