She wanted her story told: Searching for Lt Nell Gould

I undertook a labour of love in 2017. I wrote a piece telling the stories my mother, Norma Price, told me about her life in the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) during World War II. Enlisting in 1942, a time when Melbourne was preparing for possible invasion, Norma worked at Royal Park.  She was transferred to Sydney to work at the showgrounds and then to Cowra Military Training Camp in rural New South Wales.

As I researched the AWAS at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra I came across an article by Norma’s commanding officer at Cowra, Lt Nell Gould:

Gould N (1984) Personal Reminiscence of Lt Nell Gould CO 42 AWAS Barracks, Cowra Australian War Memorial unpublished accessed March 2015

The article tells Lt Gould’s story of 100 AWAS stationed at Cowra at the time of the only armed face to face combat against an enemy on Australian soil. Reading the article convinces me Lt Gould wanted her story told.  I believe she wanted Australia to know about the women who were not protected and who bravely carried on for their country.

The problem is the article is unpublished. 

Lt Gould never signed a copyright release.

‘The duration of copyright in published materials is generally 70 years from the death of the creator, or (for sound recordings and films) from the date of publication. For unpublished materials, such as the Library’s archival or manuscript collections, the duration may be even longer.’
Source: National Library of Australia website https://www.nla.gov.au/about-copyright

Norma Price at Cowra 1944

 

My choices are now to leave my piece in a folder gathering dust, modify the article leaving out Lt Nell Gould’s story or find the heir of Lt Nell Gould to request signing the copyright release or to give me written permission to publish.

To modify the article will cut out much of its heart.  There is no other source of this material.

In my view Lt Nell Gould’s reminiscences are a valuable contribution to the history of women during the war and the article’s publication would be a valuable addition to the literature on women in war time Australia.