Fashions on the Front Ep 4: Make-do and Mend

In this episode we look at some specific garments created during the war which are particularly good examples of the ‘Make-do and Mend’ movement. From Adelaide, to Sydney, and finally to Port Moresby, Papau New Guinea, these garments incite discussion about patriotism and war crimes – a powerful example of how integral clothing is to our histories.

I’d like to especially thank the Museum of Clothing, Maitland, NSW, for their help in this episode and allowing me to use photos of these garments on the blog. Don’t forget to subscribe! It really helps me to continue to create this podcast for you.

Make sure to check out Laura Clouting’s ‘Top 10 Tips for Winning at ‘Make-do and Mend‘ and check out our special Bonus Episode on YouTube for a visual reminder of why making-do was necessary with rationing restrictions.

Apologies for the poor quality of these photographs, the website is currently unresponsive but I have asked for higher resolution copies so this blog will be updated when they become available –

Men’s underpants made from a ca. World War I sewing pattern by Mary Ridley for her brother-in-law, Tom Ridley.

Forgotten Threads from the museum of clothings collection summer evening gown belonging to an australian nurse front bodice view

Forgotten Threads from the museum of clothings collection summer evening gown belonging to an australian nurse serving in Papau New Guinea

Forgotten Threads from the museum of clothings collection summer evening gown belonging to an australian nurse

Summer evening gown created from curtain fabric by nurse Frances Gregory in Port Moresby, PN.

Error in pronunciation; referring to the massacre of Australian nurses, it sounds like I am saying ‘Baji beach,’ the correct name is ‘Raji beach,’ of Banka Island, Indonesia.

Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel was the sole survivor of the massacre, after which she became a prisoner of the Japanese and was interned at Pelambang POW camp. You can read more about Bullwinkel on the Australian War Memorial website, including viewing her uniform.

It has been suggested by at least one researcher that the reality of these nurses’ experience was much more horrific than Vivian Bullwinkle admitted. Researcher Yuki Tanaka found the soldiers who killed these women were investigated for earlier incidents of rape and murder of British nurses in Hong Kong. The women’s bodies were never recovered, so this accusation cannot be proved.

From the same article is an account given by a Japanese woman about the war; “The Australian soldiers were the worst. They dragged young women into their jeeps, took them to the mountain, and then raped them. I heard them screaming for help nearly every night.”

We must acknowledge that human rights abuses occurred on all sides during the Second World War.

Resources used;

History Hidden in Hunter Wardrobes by Nell Pyle.
VAD’s in Peace and War, by Rupert Goodman.
Audio describing the war in the Pacific; War in the Pacific, British Ministry of Information, 1943. Accessed through the Australian War Memorial digitized collections. This audio was edited to be more concise.
Audio describing the duty of Australians to their country; The New Front Line, Department of Home Security, 1940s. Accessed through the Australian War Memorial digitized collections.

Other suggested reading/viewing:

Hidden Horrors: Japanese war crimes in World War II, by Yuki Tanaka.
Australian Women’s Army Service in Lae New Guinea, 1945;
Nurses from Rabaul in Manila on the Way Home, 1945;

It is possible that some of the nurses featured in this film were severely malnourished. Footage of civilians and nurses returning from prisoner of war camps were sometimes deliberately misleading for propaganda and morale purposes. More obviously ill or malnourished people were dressed in baggy clothing or placed in the back of the frame to hide their state. In the last shot of this film, there are several women toward the back of the group who raise very slim arms to wave at the camera, and these women may have experienced tougher internment camps.

For a more academic reading about nurses in POW camps; ‘Sisters Behind the Wire: Reappraising Australian Military and Internment in the Pacific during World War II,’ by Angharad Fletcher.
Kokoda Front Line!, 1942. This film shows some iconic footage of Australian soldiers on the Kokoda track. Notice the (at the least) incredibly dated way indigenous people are described.