Ann Howard on the evacuation of Australian children during WW2 | “A Theatre of War”

What would you do if you felt Australia faced an imminent invasion?

On Afternoon Light #157 Georgina Downer speaks with Ann Howard to explore how Australian families dealt with the very tangible threat of war on Australian soil. Mass child evacuations are a little-remembered aspect of war on the home front, but one which those who were sent away will never forget.

Ann Howard came out from London in the 1970s, and became an Australian citizen. She was struck by the richness of Australian history, and after obtaining a Master of Arts and a Master of Science in Sydney, started up her own publishing company, Tarka to publish You'll be Sorry! about the AWAS in World War II, giving a voice to these 26,000 women. She moved to an island in the Hawkesbury River, where she restored a heritage house, and has lived there for 52 years. Mainstream publishers took her up, and she concentrated on unwritten histories, focusing on women and children. A Carefree War was written 10 years ago. She interviewed over 100 people to write this book, which she thinks is the only one of its kind of an account of Australian WWII child evacuees.