About this record

This is a notice, published in Western Australian newspapers in early 1943, announcing that all youths and girls who were 14 or more in 1943, but were under 16 in March the previous year, had to apply for an identity card and civil registration not later than 22 April 1943.

Educational value

• Is an example of the type of announcement made by the Manpower Directorate during World War II(1939–45) in Australia – the Manpower Directorate (commonly known as the 'Manpower') was established in January 1942 at the height of the threat of a Japanese invasion, and had extensive powers over what Australians could or could not do, including powers to: exempt a person from military service or stop them enlisting in the armed forces; stop people from working in the job of their choice; prevent people from leaving their job; and direct people to leave one job and work in another.
• Shows the Manpower using one of its powers – the power to compel individuals to register and provide information about themselves.
• Reveals that a national registration of all men and women, 16 and over, had been completed in March 1942 – once a young man or woman turned 18, the Manpower had authority over their work.
• Illustrates that the Manpower was planning for a long War – the first year in which the youths and girls who registered in 1943 would have come under 'Manpower' control was 1947.
• Shows that Australians were first forced to apply for an identity card in 1942 – the war years were the last time that Australians had to have an identity card; moves to introduce the Australia Card failed in 1986.
• Reveals a time when the individual rights of adults and children were severely restricted in order to mobilise all of Australia's efforts to help win the war.
• Refers to the young Australians who needed to register, as 'British subjects' – in 1943 there were no Australian citizens (Australian citizenship was introduced in 1949); Australians were British citizens and subjects of the British monarchy.