A few decades ago, I pasted a copy of a ‘Rosie the Riveter’ poster, into one of my history class notebooks. This poster was considered to be a symbol of women’s empowerment in the workforce during World War 2 in the United States. Rosie, in her denim overalls, red kerchief, rouge lips, and stern stare, flexing her arm in a ‘check out these guns’ posture to show that power was equal parts physical strength, gumption and beauty, was to me the embodiment of the figure I wanted to become. Here in Aotearoa New Zealand during the Second World War, women also entered the workforce en masse, although not many people are aware of their significant contributions to the war effort today.
With International Women’s Day having recently passed, it seemed suitable to write about some notable women in our District. The challenge was, where to start? I selected several books from the Ashburton Museum’s research room, including one about pioneer women, one about women elected to office, and I talked to a few locals to try to find some inspiration. However, it was a book lent to me by my neighbour that ultimately sent me down the interesting path of writing this story about the New Zealand ‘Land Girls’ who served our country on the Home Front during the Second World War (1939-1945).
Women’s Land Service
In the book New Zealand Country Women: photographs and interviews by Michelle Moir, I came across the brief autobiography of a Diana Wallace of Ashburton from 1996:
“I joined the Women’s Land Service and they issued me with a little brown uniform. They also issued dungarees, and clogs – because rubber was in short supply and there weren’t any gumboots. Clogs were hilarious to walk on, you had to sort of roll, but they were good in the mud – made your legs nice and strong.
We were quite unsung heroes then. My husband used to go to the RSA and he said, ‘My wife was in the Land Service.’ But they said, ‘oh no, we can’t have her as a member, only the WAAFs and WAACs can be members of the RSA’. But the WAACs and the WAAFs had glamourous office jobs, whilst the poor old land girls were getting up at six o’clock in the morning to to milk the cows, working hard for the butcher shops, and planting wheat.”
Who were the Land Girls?
Inspired by the British Land Girls of World War One, the Women’s Land Service was established in New Zealand around 1940 to provide unmarried women from the age of 17 onwards suitable work on farms across the country. This was promoted as a chance for women to ‘do their bit’ for the war effort by filling the jobs left vacant by farm workers who had enlisted and were serving on the front lines.
The mass exodus of skilled farm labour left a hole that desperately needed filling in order maintain the agricultural industry that was to feed the country, as well as British citizens, and American soldiers stationed in New Zealand and around the Pacific. This was also a unique opportunity, as traditionally farmwork was men’s work and any woman working on a farm was usually the farmer’s own wife or daughters, and it could be assumed they were not receiving wages.
Land Girls were kitted out with a brown uniform, dungarees, and a pair of work shoes. They were promised a place to sleep, meals, and a wage from the farm at which they were placed. On the 7th of November 1941 the Agricultural Workers’ Labour Legistation Suspension Order ensured that “female agricultural workers… employed on dairy farms, or on farms and stations used for the commercial production of wool, meat, and/or grain” received a minimum wage of 30s (shillings) a week plus keep and were eligible for a raise to 35s after 6 months. Women who were working on dairy farms started at 35s plus keep which was raised to 42s after six months. It should come as no surprise that during this time, materials and supplies were scarce and several requests were made publicly to Members of Parliament to find equipment for land girls to use at work.
Not every Land Girl had prior experience with farm work. Some came from urban backgrounds or left school or office jobs and thus needed training before being sent into the fields. Here in Canterbury, Lincoln University offered their first agricultural course to 22 women in March of 1941. The course lasted six weeks and was jam-packed with information to prepare the women for the types of responsibilities they could expect on the job. Upon completion, the women were swiftly sent into various farms and stations around the South Island.
The challenges they faced
Land Girls not only had grueling work schedules, they also faced discrimination from the public. In the book Land Girls in a Man’s World 1939-1946, Dianne Bardsley travelled up and down the country in the 1990s to try and collect stories from surviving Land Girls. While many of the women reminisced about the experience as an opportunity to learn new skills and grow a sense of resourcefulness in times of great scarcity, they also shared the challenges they faced with being women in a ‘man’s world’.
Some of the challenges they faced included the idea that women’s physical ability was inferior to men and that the single women taking up these roles were disrespectful or immoral. It was even more difficult for Māori women, who were turned away by farmers based on deeply ingrained predjudices that had nothing to do with the women’s ability as a farmhand.
The work being done by Land Girls was very much needed, but acknowledgement and appreciation for that work was scarcely given. A disagreement between an anonymous ‘Shop Assistant’ and two ‘Land Girls’ that took place over several days was detailed in the Ashburton Guardian in (date needed):
“In last night’s ‘Guardian’ Mrs. L Sherborne stated that more girls should be taken from shops, offices, and domestic work for essential work. What I want to know is what is being done about these so-called ‘land girls’? I’ll admit some help on the farms, but the majority of them living at home couldn’t put a chicken in a coop….” SHOP ASSISTANT.
The Land Girls’ responses:
“… I might say that I am a Land Girl Now after serving four happy years as a shop assistant of no mean order. …I find myself up early, happy in the determination to serve my country and so support the men overseas. My face may often get dusty shifting sheep, driving a team or tractor… please give us Land Girls a chance. We can win this war only by all working and pulling together and I suggest to ‘Shop Assistant’ that some week-end, just for a change, she comes [to see] what Land Girls really do.” LAND GIRL.
“… in the fair days that used to be we were quite happy to be standing behind counters and working in offices; but now when the country is in danger and our men are sacrificing their lives we are happy in knowing that we had sufficient intestinal fortitude to take on this essential job. Has it ever occured to ‘Shop Assistant’ that for three or four hours while she is lying in bed in the morning we Land Girls are busy getting the milk ready for her breakfast, and everyday in all weathers we are doing a man’s job. … If ‘Shop Assistant’ thinks a Land Girl’s Life is easy, why not take it on as a war effort?” ANOTHER LAND GIRL.
There were 4,290 women registered as Land Girls in New Zealand during the Second World War and more who took up the roll informally. They replaced a workforce left behind by 28,000 men. Despite everything that was set against them, the Women’s Land Service increased the level of agricultural production across the board, from grain and wool to produce and animals. However, in 1946 the Land Service was disbanded and women were expected to go back to life as it was before the war. Nonetheless, the women who chose to serve our country by undertaking roles that were not expected of them at the time helpedchange the future direction for the working woman.
The Ashburton Museum has very little history of the Land Girls of our District. If you or someone you know was a Land Girl, we are keen to document your story, so please do get in touch.
By Natalie Liverant
Unless otherwise stated, photographs and research materials on this page are owned by the Ashburton Museum & Historical Society Inc. This post was modified for this blog and was originally published in the Ashburton Guardian, 25 March 2023.
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