"We lived in darkness. My husband was a pilot and he said you could see a match struck to light a cigarette a mile in the sky if you were up there, that's how clear it was. We had to be very careful," she said.

"When they turned the lights on, it was really quite overwhelming. You could see right down the main highway all of the lights, we hadn't seen them for four or five years. Even now, I get quite emotional about it."

The former cipher assistant is one of more than 300 women whose story has been brought to light in a new book about the service of women on the homefront during World War II.

At its launch at Campbell High School on Monday, author Jacqueline Dinan said Between the Dances answers questions she wished she'd taken the opportunity to ask her own grandmothers before they died.

"These are the unsung heroes, their stories aren't in any official history books," Ms Dinan said.

"Their oral history is now captured for future generations to enjoy."

When war broke out, Thea Commins was just starting a career as a stenographer.

She decided she wanted to defend Australia's shores by manning searchlights and anti-aircraft guns.

"I don't think many people realise this, but a third of Australia's coast was defended by women at one stage, from Brisbane right down," she said.

Her chief officer had other ideas though and sent her to train new recruits.

"[When they told me] I drew breath and said 'Oh madam, I wanted to be on the anti-aircraft guns and searchlights,' and she said, 'Corporal, you heard me, dismissed!' so of course I had nothing else to do but turn around in a military fashion and march out!" she said.

Evelyn Booth assembled detonators and 303 rifles during the war and even did a stint in a cannery pitting peaches – long enough to turn her off eating them for a lifetime.

She married in 1944, after her sweetheart returned from his first tour of duty overseas.

They spent two months together before duty called him away for another 18-month tour. When he returned he was not the same man.

"I spent 31 years nursing him, I had to give up in the end because it just proved too much, I just couldn't do it. I think [with our break-up] we were just more victims of the war," she said.

You can order a copy of Between the Dances online.