Norma Uhlmann's first step on a 30 year career in the Navy was marked by three red lines. They were struck through the words "Petty Officers and Men" at the top of her record of service. Above it is a handwritten correction, "Womens Royal Australian Naval Service".
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Norma would spend the rest of her working life crossing red lines drawn by men.
The WRANS were born in the Second World War when the need to free up sailors to fight at sea forced the Royal Australian Navy to admit women.
On April 28, 1941, the first 14 female telegraphists arrived at the Royal Australian Navy Wireless/Transmitting station in Canberra, which was later commissioned as HMAS Harman.
By 1945, there were over 3000 WRANS, making up more than 10 per cent of Naval personnel. But the service was abolished with the declaration of peace and the last wartime WRANS were discharged in 1948.
The service was reborn in 1951 and two years later - as an aging record of service in the Australian Archives records - a 23-year-old "window dresser" from the tiny Queensland hamlet of Woombye joined the ranks.
Her postings to HMAS Harman (Canberra), HMS Terror (British Naval base in Singapore) and HMAS Melville (Darwin) shine a light on the shadows of her career path. A former colleague Margie Gadd says Norma worked in support of the National Intelligence Collection effort - monitoring, analysing and reporting on foreign naval communications.
"She would have been receiving morse at 25 words per minute, operating specialist telegraphy equipment, and analysing target transmissions. A very prestigious and important role, surrounded by secrecy," Margie recalled.
In a 1975 article on Norma's career in Sydney's Daily Mirror she was asked about the many limitations the Navy imposed on the WRANS, including a separate rank and career structure. And the two hard ceilings: women could not serve at sea and those who married had to quit the service.
"I would have liked to have gone to sea but I was well aware when I joined up that I never would and I didn't expect that to change," she said.
"Marriage? I suppose you could say that I never married because of the Navy. Because whenever I had an opportunity to marry, what I was doing seemed rather more attractive than the offer."
What Norma was doing was working her way through the ranks of the WRANS and Australia's intelligence community.
She completed her WRANS officer training and was promoted to Third Officer in March 1961. From here her career is recorded in the routine Report on Officers form, filled in by her commanding officers.
The observations of male superiors range from the dismissive to champions of her cause. Overwhelmingly they recognise Norma as a woman of talent and determination.
She is "dedicated", "particularly zealous and reliable" and an officer of "great integrity and high standards and, in every way, a credit to the service".
Her determination is recorded in the lengths she went to improve herself through private study. In 1961 a captain records she is "currently taking a course in Indonesian which occupies a great deal of her time". By 1966 she had "completed all but one subject for matriculation". That done, she enrolled in an external arts degree through Queensland University.
Her progress through the ranks is marked by firsts. In 1969 she was the first woman to qualify as a linguist when she completed her Indonesian language training at the RAAF School of Languages, Point Cook Victoria. She was the first woman to attend the Joint Services Staff college.
In 1979 one Rear Admiral notes she is not just working for herself.
"She is quietly determined to demonstrate that there is a part for female officers to play in the middle ranks of the service," he wrote.
Norma rose to the WRANS rank of Chief Officer, equivalent to Commander, and then hit the ceilings imposed on her sex by the Navy.
In 1979, Norma wrote to her superiors to challenge the different rank structures for men and women. She notes a decision was made to align the two in 1975 but, four years on, nothing had changed.
"Not only does the difference in rank title serve to emphasise the fact that women are not fully accepted as members of the Service, it is also confusing for the public and the majority of male members who are never quite sure which female rank equates to which male rank", she wrote.
Her acknowledged mastery of Indonesian makes her a natural fit for a posting to the Defence attache's staff in Jakarta. She is recommended but never sent with one note saying "it is appreciated that certain social and country factors may preclude this".
Norma anticipated that her sex would be used against her and wrote in support of her application that the "general Australian perception of the Indonesian attitude to women" was wrong.
"In Indonesia there is a considerably greater proportion of women in the business, professional, diplomatic and political fields than is the case in Australia," she said.
Norma is recommended for promotion to Captain in several reports, with one Rear Admiral saying "I have marked her 'NOW' as she deserves this". But the offer never comes.
Norma Uhlmann paved the way for women who would go on to serve at sea, who did not have to choose between marraige and their job, who could aspire to fill more than just "the middle ranks" of a service that was cast just outside Navy's tent.
One male Navy Captain had a glimpse of the future in 1965 when he amended Norma's printed officers certificate (from "he" and "himself) to read "she" has conducted "herself"... "to my entire satisfaction".
"I have found this WRANS officer to be the most dedicated officer, male or female, with whom I have served," he wrote.
Norma died in Brisbane on January 22, 2023 of heart failure having reached 93 years.
She is survived by her brother Keith and nine nephews and nieces.
