Florence McKenzie ‘Mrs Mac’: Trailblazer in Engineering and Radio Communication

In this article, volunteer researcher Michele Harper details the crucial role Florence played in establishing the Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps (WESC) and how her advocacy led to the formation of the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS). Her significant connection to two Harbour Trust destinations is also revealed.

Early life and pioneering achievements

Florence Violet McKenzie (nee Wallace) was born in Melbourne in 1890. At the age of two, her family moved to Austinmer, just north of Wollongong. Excelling at Thirroul Public School, young Florence won a scholarship to attend Sydney Girls High School. After graduating from high school, Florence attend the Sydney Teachers’ College and, later, the University of Sydney but was unable to continue her studies due to financial constraints. Influenced by her brother, who studied to be an electrical engineer in England, Florence enrolled at the Sydney Technical College and completed a Diploma of Electrical Engineering.

Florence was the first woman in Australia to be awarded this qualification. To be accepted for enrolment in the course, Florence needed to first undertake an apprenticeship. She did this by establishing her own electrical contracting business where she gained a contract to install electrical work on a building… and subsequently apprenticed herself! Florence was also the first woman in Australia to hold an amateur radio operator’s licence and the first certified female radio telegraphist. Florence was fascinated with broadcasting and used morse code to communicate with operators all around the world. In 1924, she married Cecil McKenzie, an electrical engineer working with Sydney County Council.

Empowering women and preparing for war

Florence was an advocate for electricity and believed that this power source would provide women with relief from the drudgery of housework. She founded the Electrical Association for Women, which was a non-profit organisation to provide women with information on electricity, modern appliances and electrical safety. During the 1930s she published two books – one a guide to cooking with electricity and the second an educational book for children called The Electric Imps. In July 1938, Florence joined the Australian Women’s Flying Club and became responsible for training female pilots in Morse Code.

Florence began teaching morse code in preparation for war.  She is quoted as saying “When Neville Chamberlain came back from Munich and said, ‘Peace in our time,’ I began preparing for war”. At her own cost, Florence rented a small room in Clarence Street in Sydney where she taught women to be telegraphists so men would be free for war duties. The demand for people trained in morse code became overwhelming, so Florence formed the Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps, and her female students were trained to teach servicemen communication codes.  Soon the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), began sending its volunteers for pre-enlistment training and later, the Navy and the Army volunteers and recruits. The work by Florence and her assistants was undertaken on a voluntary basis with the entire operation funded by Florence and members of the WESC. The training was provided free of charge, and the organisation declined any donation offers from students.

After hearing about the British navy forming the WRNS, Florence tried to convince the Navy Board to form an Australian equivalent. The Naval Board were against the idea, but Florence threatened to offer her trained women to the Air Force or Army women’s corps. In 1941, the Navy established the WRANS, with the first group of 14 women admitted to HMAS Harman in Canberra on April 28. They wore uniforms designed by Florence for her Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps.

Florence’s school for aircraft and marine signallers trained over 14,000 pupils during the Second World War in morse code, visual signalling and international code. After the war, the school expanded due to the increase in commercial air travel. Until the school’s closure in 1955, ninety percent of Australian civil airline operators were trained in signalling at Florence’s school. The school eventually closed as the demand for signal training diminished, with the armed services and airlines starting to conduct their own internal training programs.

A lasting legacy

In 1950, Florence was awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honors for voluntary services to the Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps. She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Navigation in 1957 and became the patroness of the Ex-WRANS Association in 1964.

Florence Violet McKenzie died in 1982, remembered affectionately by her pupils and members of the WRANS by her nickname ‘Mrs Mac’. Two years prior to her death, Florence unveiled a plaque dedicated to her honour at the Mariner’s Church in Sydney. In September 2023, a park in the suburb of Campbell in Canberra was named in her honour. Today, Middle Head and Sub Base Platypus, managed and protected by the Harbour Trust, stand as a tribute to Florence Violet McKenzie. These places, where Florence’s WRANS were trained and employed, reflect her enduring legacy and passion for their establishment.

Florence is remembered as a being a trailblazer for women in many fields. It is reported that shortly before she died at the age of ninety, she said, ‘It is finished, and I have proved to them all that women can be as good or better than men’. 

References

• Centenary of Federation Victoria, 2001, Women Shaping the Nation. Victorian Honour Roll of Women.  Volume 1 2001 Florence McKenzie, OBE.  Page 38
• Royal Australian Navy News. Passing of Wrans’ “Founding Mother”.  Friday 21 May 1982, page 12
• Smith’s Weekly, Saturday 5 June 1943, page11
• Smith’s Weekly, Saturday 10 August 1946, page 23
• The Advertiser, Thursday 25 June 1953, page 12
• The Australian Women’s Weekly, Thank You, Mrs Mac. Greg Glynn (author), Wednesday 12 July 1978, page 41.
• The Australian Women’s Weekly, Ex-WRANS Plan Get-Together for 30^th Gloria Newton (author), Wednesday 10 March 1971, page 15
• The Herald, Monday 12 June 1950, page 8

Article was originally published on 29 January 2025.