item details
NameLand Girl
ProductionUnknown; photographer; 1942-1946; New Zealand
Classificationblack-and-white prints, studio portraits
Materialspaper, silver
Materials SummaryBlack and white photograph
Techniquesblack-and-white photography
DimensionsImage: 52mm (width), 78mm (height)
Registration NumberO.043719
Credit lineGift of Pat Rogers, 2016
Overview
This unidentified woman was a Land Girl during the Second World War (1939-45). She is wearing the dress uniform issued to members of the Women's Land Service (WLS). The uniform was dark chocolate brown with a cream shirt, green tie, brown stockings and shoes, and either of two styles of hat (a brimmed felt hat with the left hand side turned up as in this photograph, or a pleated beret).
Women's Land Service
The WLS began as the Women’s Land Corps in November 1941, and was reorganised as the Women’s Land Service in September 1942, when the dress uniforms were first introduced.
The Women's Land Service was the largest of the women's war services in New Zealand: 2,711 land girls were placed on farms, and hundreds more served unofficially on family farms, totalling 2,963 different farms.*
*Bardsley, D. (2000). The Land Girls: In a Man's World, 1939-1946, p. 6
Women's Land Service
The WLS began as the Women’s Land Corps in November 1941, and was reorganised as the Women’s Land Service in September 1942, when the dress uniforms were first introduced.
The Women's Land Service was the largest of the women's war services in New Zealand: 2,711 land girls were placed on farms, and hundreds more served unofficially on family farms, totalling 2,963 different farms.*
*Bardsley, D. (2000). The Land Girls: In a Man's World, 1939-1946, p. 6