WRAAC arrive in Singapore DPR/TV/743

The first members of the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps to serve overseas since the Corps was formed in 1951 have arrived in Singapore. They are Captain Heather Gardner of Malvern, Victoria; Lieutenant Pam Smith of Padstow, NSW; and Warrant Officer Mary Bulmer, of Brighton, Victoria. Captain Gardner and Warrant Officer Bulmer are working at Australian Army Headquarters, Far East Land Forces, in Singapore. Lieutenant Smith is employed at the 121st Signals Squadron, an Australian Army unit in Singapore. The three WRAAC members are the advance party of a larger contingent of the corps who are due in Singapore during December. A WRAAC sergeant, two corporals and four privates will also be employed at 121 Signal Squadron. The three members of the WRAAC spent their first week sight seeing and familiarizing themselves with the city. They visited Change Alley - line up of traders who deal in clothing, souvenirs, furnishings and even tool kits for tourists. Change Alley, where price bargaining is a way of life, is in the heart of the city's major tourist attraction blocks. They also walked the outskirts of the city's chinatown where 80,000 people live in one square mile. The women, who are on clerical and adminstrative duties, are quartered in hired accommodation and with the British Women's Royal Army Corps.