Historical information

This is a set of 12 photographs taken in 1943 and 1945, during Army’s early years of occupation at Fortuna, Bendigo in WW2. The black and white photographs are contained in a photo album provided by the family of Rosemary (Atkinson) Bowman, who served in the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) and a former member of RA Svy.
On 1 Feb 1941, a Cartographic Section was reformed as the Land Headquarters (LHQ) Cartographic Company. Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General Sidney Rowell instructed Its OC - Major William Sarll, in the interests of security of plant and to provide against possible damage of air attack, to investigate suitable safer inland accommodation for LHQ Cartographic Company. Major William Sarll inspected many properties before finding one that would meet the requirements of the Cartographic Company. In late 1941, he came to inspect Fortuna, a rambling old mansion dating back to the gold rush, with about fifteen acres of ground in central Bendigo. On 23 March 1942, the Commonwealth of Australia, under the provisions of the National Security Act of 1939, took possession of the house, the old battery buildings and the fifteen acres of grounds. LHQ Cartographic Company moved to Bendigo on 11 Jun 1942, from Mitchell House, Melbourne. The responsibilities of this unit were map compilation, fair drawing and lithographic reproduction, including printing the work of other Units as well as their own. A decision of War Cabinet on 13 August 1941 had authorised the formation of the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS), in order to release men from certain military duties for employment with fighting units. Originally their employment was restricted to traditional female areas and numbers were strictly limited, but the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1942 led to a broadening of employment categories and an increase in numbers. The first AWAS arrived at Fortuna on 26 November 1942 and immediately became an integral part of the unit. Most of these women had artistic talent. Their work included fine drawing work, filling in all the topographical detail on fair copies of field sheets and pasting on names and figures, while others were drawing actual map outlines. Other sections the AWAS worked in were the duffing section, where unwanted features were painted out of the negatives before reproduction, and the retouching section where any defects in the zinc plates were corrected. The AWAS also worked on creating Army posters and other publicity material in this section. Seventy-five AWAS served with the Cartographic Company during the war.
Refer to Item 6099.17P for photos taken in 1942, the first year of LHQ Cartographic Company’s occupation at Fortuna, Bendigo in WW2. The Survey Corps’ occupation of Fortuna during WW2 is covered in more detail with additional historic photographs, in pages 17 to 27 of Valerie Lovejoy’s book 'Mapmakers of Fortuna – A history of the Army Survey Regiment’ ISBN: 0-646-42120-4. Other items from Rosemary (Atkinson) Bowman are: 9210.16P, 99211.6P, 9212.6P, 9213.4P and 9214.12

Physical description

This is a set of 12 photographs taken in 1943 and 1945, during Army’s early years of occupation at Fortuna, Bendigo in WW2. The black and white photographs are printed on photographic paper are contained in a photo album provided by the family of Rosemary (Atkinson) Bowman, who served in the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) and a former member of RA Svy. The photographs were scanned at 600 dpi and are part of the Army Survey Regiment’s Collection.
.1) - Photo, black & white, 1943. LHQ Cartographic Company, Fortuna Villa, Bendigo.
.2) - Photo, black & white, 1943. Ronye Bond.
.3) - Photo, black & white, 1943. Rosemary (Atkinson) Bowman.
.4) - Photo, black & white, 1943. Billie Hyatt.
.5) - Photo, black & white, 1943. Helen Morton.
.6) - Photo, black & white, 1943. Wes Runting.
.7) - Photo, black & white, 1943. Ronye Bond.
.8) - Photo, black & white, 1943. Rosemary (Atkinson) Bowman.
.9) - Photo, black & white, 1943. Accommodation Tents L to R: Norma Lewis, Billie Hyatt, Peggy Priest, Ken Taylor, Tiny Lewis, Norma Jeffrey.
.10) - Photo, black & white, 1943. Marching Contest in Bendigo’s Charing Cross.
.11) - Photo, black & white, 1945. In front of Regimental Office.
.12) - Photo, black & white, 1945. Part of Drive.

Inscriptions & markings

Some personnel are identified with dates in the photo album.