Olwen Abigail Wooster BEM (22 December 1917 – 11 October 1981) was an Australian air force officer and pioneering

telecommunications engineer Telecommunications Engineering is a subfield of electrical engineering which seeks to design and devise systems of communication at a distance. The work ranges from basic circuit design to strategic mass developments. A telecommunication engine ...

expert.

Early life

Wooster, was born on 22 December 1917, in Charters Towers in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

to Vivian Henry Wooster, a telephone mechanic, and his wife Ethel Abigail Wooster (née Albrecht). Wooster attended Blackheath College in Charters Towers, Australia.

Career

Working as a

switchboard operator In the early days of telephony, companies used manual telephone switchboards, and switchboard operators connected calls by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks. They were gradually phased out and replaced by automated system ...

in the Postmaster-General's Department beginning in 1934, she was stationed in

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

in 1936, and then in Townsville in 1941. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she was a wireless telegraphy operator in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force in 1942. She served at the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

's Melbourne Wireless Transmitting Station as a cypher officer and signals traffic officer. In January 1945, she received an award for 'good service' and was promoted to temporary flight officer. After the war, Wooster worked at Trans Australia Airlines in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, specialising in ground communications. Her work grew to cover the Territory of Papua and New Guinea in addition to Australia. By 1954, her team had grown to a total of 120 people. For this work, she received a

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to ...

in 1961. In 1964, Wooster then joined the Victorian

Totalisator Agency Board The Totalisator Agency Board, universally shortened to TAB or T.A.B., is the name given to monopoly totalisator organisations in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. They operate betting shops and online betting. They were originally governm ...

, which operated gambling and betting shops. Here she worked on communications and computing systems which connected around three hundred town and country agencies and district centres with racecourses. Then in 1967 she began work for

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

. In 1978, she launched her own consultancy, O. A. Wooster & Associates Pty Ltd, specialising in computing and communications.

Memberships

Wooster was an associate of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(Australian Section), the

Australian Institute of Management The Australian Institute of Management Education and Training Pty Ltd, commonly known as AIM or AIMET, is an Australian education provider. Its courses include business, management and leadership. AIM offers short courses, nationally accredited qu ...

, and a member of the

Society of Women Engineers The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is an international not-for-profit educational and service organization. Founded in 1950 and headquartered in the United States, the Society of Women Engineers is a major advocate for women in engineering and ...

(U.S.), the Victorian Computer Society and the

Telecommunications Society of Australia The Telecommunication Society of Australia (TSA) has served the Australian telecommunications industry as its learned society since its initial formation as the Telegraph Electrical Society in 1874, in response to enthusiasm for the then new enginee ...

. She spoke on Communication at the first International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists in New York in 1964 and was the Australian representative for the organisation of the Second International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists held in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, England in 1967. She was president of the Melbourne

Soroptimists Soroptimist International (SI) is a global volunteer service club, service organization for women with nearly 72,000 members in 121 countries worldwide. According to Soroptimist.org, their mission statement says that, "Soroptimist is a global volun ...

from 1972 to 1973 and a member of the Lyceum Club. Wooster died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on 11 October 1981 in Melbourne. Her archives are held at

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wooster, Olwen 1917 births 1981 deaths Australian women in World War II Recipients of the British Empire Medal Australian women engineers 20th-century women engineers People from Charters Towers