Victorians at War - Oral History Project

Personal Stories
Nancy Ormsby (Australian Women's Land Army - WWII)
After travelling around a lot as a child, Nancy's family settled in Gippsland, Victoria. She was working in a private hospital at Korumburra doing housework and monitoring the wards when the war started. Nancy went to live with her sister in Clifton Hill and worked in a cigarette factory. She tried to join the army (Australian Women's Army Service) at aged 17 but was turned away because she was too young. She was allowed, however, to join the Australian Women's Land Army in May 1943 because they would take girls from the age of 17 with parental permission. Nancy trained for farm work at the Mont Park Mental Hospital that had a nursery and diary farm. Her first assignment was on a vegetable farm at Merricks for six weeks. She was then sent to the Werribee Research Farm to train in dairying before travelling to Gippsland to work on a dairy farm in Morwell. Inadequate working conditions and loneliness prompted Nancy to apply for a transfer to another position and she was sent to a diary farm at Nilma. After she became friends with another WLA girl she transferred again to work with her friend running a diary farm on their own at Lardner. Nancy stayed at Lardner until the end of the war when her assistance was no longer needed. She is the founding President of the reformed Australian Women's Land Army Association in Victoria.	Listen to the full interview. (1 hour) Read transcript