Anzac Day 2020: School program highlights women on the frontline

Schoolchildren will for the first time understand Anzac history is now more than just men in trenches with a new program highlighting the role of women on the frontline.

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Ten years ago Melissa Houston was filling her car with petrol at an Adelaide servo when the attendant looked her up and down.

“They let women fly planes now do they?” he mused, staring at her flight suit.

She nodded, smiled, paid and drove off mad.

She was indeed flying and is now not only a squadron leader but is the first female flight commander of the RAAF’s proud 11 Squadron, that since 1939 has defended the nation’s coastline.

Her promotion is one of the last few posts in the Australian Defence Force that hasn’t had a woman at is head and comes as schoolchildren will for the first time this Anzac Day finally learn of women’s roles in the ranks.

No. 11 Squadron C Flight Commander Squadron Leader Melissa Houston, is acknowledged for her significant appointment as part of International Women's Day 2020. Picture: Supplied

Schools, educational institutions and community groups have received a mass mail out of educational material ahead of this Anzac Day and for Term 2 lessons that focuses on contemporary wars and peacekeeping missions and critically the role of women.

In the past, those featured wartime roles have simply been at home in factories or clerical roles or “keeping the home fires burning” but now features active service on the frontline.

The Department of Veterans Affairs sees it as a win that will ensure the next generation of schoolchildren understand Diggers these days aren’t just men.

Australian Women in War, Service, Courage and Care. Picture: Department of Veterans Affairs

Australian Women in War, Service, Courage and Care. Picture: Department of Veterans Affairs

“I remember to this day being really shocked that anyone would have that view or would voice it,” Squadron Leader Houston recalled yesterday of her servo experience.

“I was gobsmacked but I think those attitudes are changing and 10 years on I’m not seeing that anymore, people don’t see me in a flying suit at Woolies on the way home and are shocked, it is becoming more normal.”

From left: No. 11 Squadron C Flight Commander Squadron Leader Melissa Houston, No. 10 Squadron Executive Officer Squadron Leader Jenna Higgins and No. 292 Squadron B Flight Commander Squadron Leader Trisha Kelly are acknowledged for their significant appointments. Picture: Supplied

Sqd Ld Houston, originally from Melbourne, said it was good that women in senior ADF roles was becoming more normalised.

“I’ve always been of the belief that you can’t be what you can’t see as in you don’t think you can be something you can’t see, so when I was coming up through the ranks we didn’t have female flight commanders and we didn’t have female commanding officers.

“So what I am enjoying seeing now is that you’ve got some really strong women in some significant leadership roles.”

For Sqd Ld Houston, when she joined she had no idea where her life would go when as a schoolgirl she attended a careers expo in Melbourne and was called over to the ADF desk.

“I had a chat to a recruiter and in the space of 15 minutes I was convinced to apply and the rest of history, 15 years later here I am,” she said.

Then Flying Officer Melissa Houston, a navigator with Crew 3 of 10 Squadron, carries out her pre-flight planning ahead of air, ground and naval forces from Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and the UK in the South China Sea in 2009.

She has since been on multiple deployments, notably to the Middle East.

The 11 Squadron is Australia’s primary operational maritime patrol squad flying the P-8A Poseidon, state-of-the-art intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft with diverse missions to war zones and also most recently to help map the movement of this year’s devastating bushfires in NSW and the ACT.

A Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon armed with Harpoon Missiles. Picture: Supplied

Veterans’ Affairs Minister Darren Chester said while coronavirus meant there could not be Anzac Day gatherings, the mail-out provided schools with engaging tools to assist them in observing this national day of commemoration.

“There is also a focus on the important role women have played during wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. This is a significant undertaking, with a wide range of community groups and other stakeholders engaged, and is a key part of many communities’ Anzac Day preparations and ongoing education about our military history.”

Originally published as Anzac Day 2020: School program highlights women on the frontline