Distant Land, Distant Conflict
By Jessica Stroja
April, 2015
Between 1939 and 1945, Australian society can be characterised by numerous ideological
tensions that were accentuated as a result of the increasing threats and concerns of the Second
World War. The nation faced significant social and economic changes as a result of the conflict
while also retaining an awareness of security and territorial concerns as a relatively isolated nation
during the conflict. Although a geographically distant war, the Finnish winter war of 1939 and 1940
provides parallels to the Australian situation and reveals connections to the Australian war time
experience.
The winter war of 1939 and 1940 was part of a larger conflict termed the Russia-Finnish War. This
conflict included the winter war, an interim peace signed in 1940 and the continuation war which
occurred between 1941 and 1944. The winter war saw the invasion of Finland by Soviet forces
after Finland refused to grant the Soviet Union territorial requests in 1939. As the invasion took the
Finnish population by surprise, the nation was largely unprepared for such an event although
Soviet forces were themselves not adequately prepared for the harsh environment of the Finnish
winter.
Despite this, as the country was such a small conscription base, it was significantly outnumbered
by opposing forces, Finland could not withstand invasion for long and events rapidly escalated until
the country signed an interim peace treaty with Moscow.
At this point in time, the Soviet Union was operating under non-aggression terms with Nazi
Germany as a result of the Nazi Soviet pact. The Soviet Union was not allied with the United
Kingdom and British views towards the Soviet Union were highly complex during this period.
Ideological tensions arose and increased as a result of the Nazi Soviet pact although British
opinion did support the position of the Finnish nation during this time.
Australian engagement with the winter war was influenced by the nation’s own wartime concerns
and the nature of international responses to the Finnish conflict. While responses to the winter war
varied throughout society, many Australians positioned the conflict as one between the victim and
aggressor. Growing concerns regarding the Second World War that were conflated with fears
regarding the perceived threat of communism influenced perceptions of the conflict.
Newspapers presented the winter war as a question of justice citing Finland as the victim of
aggression and inhumanity. Revealing the complexity of the nation’s wartime concerns, some
Australians challenged the construction of the Finnish victim denying the growing belief that the
invasion of Finland was ruthless, aggressive and a threat to Finnish independence.
Despite the complexity of these differing attitudes, support for Finland gained momentum
throughout Australian society. Australian newspapers reflected the belief that the Finns should be
offered greater assistance and a sense of dissatisfaction with official responses to the conflict
grew.
Scholars have confirmed that official external assistance for Finland was limited and generally
related to humanitarian needs. In response, some Australians contributed to fundraising causes
for the Finns and others supported the role of volunteers in the conflict.
Volunteers from the United Kingdom, Australia and various Scandanavian countries chose to travel
to Finland and assist with the war effort. As Australians fought for the role and volunteers in
Finland increased, officials recognised the difficulty that would be faced by Australian volunteers
due to the distance separating Australia and Finland.
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Nonetheless, some Australians did begin to take up their own action by travelling to Finland as
volunteers yet one woman in particular captured the attention of Australian quarters and print
media. Miss Betty Sale, an accomplished and well known Tasmanian personality who often
featured in Australian newspapers.
The youngest daughter of a Hobart couple, Betty Sale was an Australian interstate golfer and the
women’s golf champion of Tasmania. She held the position of the first car sales woman in
Tasmania before taking up a similar role in England and had been featured in an interview series
titled Careers for girls.
Prior to her involvement in the Finnish conflict, Betty donated her time to local fundraising
endeavours and was well known throughout her community home in Tasmania and her earlier
childhood home in New South Wales.
While recognised in society pages, Betty had been a regular name in Tasmanian reporting for
several years however it was her voluntary work on the Finnish battle field that captured the
attention of Australians in much greater detail than many others who volunteered in the same
conflict.
At the announcement of war in 1939, Betty Sale was working in the United Kingdom employed by
a London motorcar sales firm. In November 1939, she was holidaying in England when she joined
the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, a ambulance corp transport service of the English Army.
Her decision to join this unit was connected to her desire to work within a transport role for the war
effort. By 1940, the Finnish prime minister made a public plea for ambulance personnel on the
Finnish battlefield. A number of women from Betty’s unit volunteered for the Finnish cause. Betty
was the only Australian in the all female unit which included only 22 women.
She was chosen for a position on the Finnish front due to her driving ability and extensive
knowledge of car engines. Reflecting on her position in the ambulance core for Finland, Betty
stated that:
“when a place could be found for me I was delighted. I have driven all over Australia, over
all sorts of roads, under all sorts of conditions but driving in the snowy waste [?] land will be
something new and exciting for me”.
After completing the journey to Finland, Betty’s unit worked directly with the Finnish Red Cross
where they assisted Finnish nurses, military hospitals and first aid personnel are performing both
transport and technical tasks.
Betty was primary based at Salamena [?] where many of her duties directly involved refugees and
military casualties. After six months of assisting in the Finnish conflict, Betty Sale and her unit
returned to England by an Arctic route. Betty’s time in Finland was hazardous, due to secrecy that
limited her communications with her family and friends in Australia, and at times the unit would
drive continually for days and nights just to reach their destination.
Upon her return to England, she was awarded British Honours for her efforts however she was
also the recipient of Finnish military honours which was noted by reporters as a unique honour for
an Australian woman in the Finnish war.
While reports of her Finnish war honours were at times unclear, Finnish war medals and ribbons
were highly specific in nature and it is likely she received the winter war ribbon.
Betty Sale’s actions in Finland provided Australians with a personal connection to a distant conflict.
Australian officials, Australian society and even Finnish migrants when settled in Australia each
identified the complexity surrounding travel to Finland and the significant geographical distance
separating the two countries.
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Australian newspapers reported on the Tasmanian for Finland for stated that Tasmanians may well
feel proud of the Australian woman volunteering on the distant arctic battlefield. Indeed,
publications such as The Mercury and The Australian Woman’s Weekly reflected the public
admiration of Betty and her desire to volunteer for the job because she wanted to do something for
the brave Finns.
For those who knew Betty, such as the Tasmanian and New South Wales communities where she
had lived and worked, Betty provided a tangible personal connection to the distant conflict. For
those who did not personally know her, she was representative of an Australian presence in
Finland. As one Australian reflected – Betty was a tall, brown haired smiling, sporting type of
Australian girl, thereby providing a clear representation of the Australian presence in the winter
war.
Betty’s involvement in the winter war was an entirely voluntarily position. Once she had indicated
her desire to offer her services for the conflict and had been accepted into the Ambulance Corp for
Finland, she also self-funded the arctic survival kit that was required by all those assisting in the
conflict. In so doing, her motivation for the role and her intrinsic desire to engage in voluntary
assistance for the Finnish conflict, provided a direct connection to the Australian involvement in
voluntary war participation.
Indeed, Australians had exemplified a history of voluntary war participation and many viewed such
as actions as a worthy cause. The [?] who contributed to the war effort on the home front and
those who engaged in voluntary assistance for conflicts but did not officially involve Australia. The
Australian support for Betty’s role in Finland provided a parallel with the volunteerism during the
Second World War and the sense of volunteer spirit and it is recognised by Melanie Oppenheimer
as a constitutional element of the Australian wartime experience.
However, it also provides a connection to the memories and experiences of the First World War.
Joan Beaumont has noted that during this earlier conflict, volunteering had become recognised as
the supreme civic virtue. As such, volunteerism was an integral aspect of the Australian wartime
experience during both the First and Second World Wars which [?] to the connections identified
between Australians and Betty Sale.
During the Second World War, Australians were acutely aware of their nation’s position as a
geographically isolated outpost of the British Empire. Certainly reports and letters to the editor in
various Australian newspapers revealed an awareness of the Finnish position as an isolated arctic
outpost. As a writer in The Examiner noted in 1939, the Finns were a gallant people who are
defending the eastern outposts of our western civilisation and who are closer today to Great
Britain, materially and spiritually, than they are to Russia or Germany. Many supported the view
that Finland regards itself with some justice as an outpost of a western civilisation with the
geographical concerns facing both Finland and Australia influencing the wartime experiences of
the nation.
In this way, Betty’s direct involvement in the conflict heightened Australian awareness of this view
and provided a connection to Australia’s own wartime sense of embattled isolation. Scholars have
recognised that Australian nationalistic values and sense of patriotism have foregrounded during
times of conflict. During the Second World War this became particularly apparent and these
values intercepted with aspects of the Australian identity that many deemed to be under threat as a
result of the widespread conflict.
This sense of patriotism and values of freedom and democracy, duty, loyalty, honour, courage,
perseverance, mateship and Anzac were crucial to the wartime experience. While Betty’s
involvement in Finland consisted of only six months service on the arctic battlefield, her actions
provided a representation of these values that resonated with the Australian nation despite the
distance separating Betty from her home.
In various ways this also contributed to the increased interests in Betty’s actions as a volunteer in
Finland. Betty’s involvement in the winter war provided Australians with a reflection of their desire
to serve their country during time of conflict. When assessing Australian involvement in overseas
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conflicts during this period, Elizabeth Roberts has noted that the ideological motivation and the
desire to serve one’s country are both factors that can precipitate voluntary responses to conflict
across the world.
Similarly, Roberts also notes that for those assisting the Finns, particularly British units,
involvement in the winter war provided volunteers with an opportunity to fight an enemy of their
country. Australian nationalism during this period was based on a local sense of patriotism that
drew on British connections and ideals. Many Australians were driven by this sense of patriotism
and as Ian Willis notes “they wanted to do their bit for the war effort”.
For Betty, who was able to draw on the similar situation facing both Finland and Australia, the
conflation of Australian patriotism, her connections with the United Kingdom and the Finnish
situation itself, allowed her to demonstrate a sense of affinity for the courage and determination of
the Finns. This contributed to an increase in public attention towards the conflict and provide a
connection to the Australian situation allowing those who figuratively felt that the Finns are fighting
our fight to reflect on the parallels between the two nations.
Australians value the concepts of freedom and courage. Both of these values increased in
importance within the context to the Second World War and both provided connections to the
Australian identity. Betty herself reflected on the Finnish fight for freedom stating that Finland has
resisted the aggression of the teeming millions of Russia also drawing on the significant
differences between the Finnish and Soviet forces.
While Betty drew on the importance of freedom, a concept that resonated with many Australians,
those viewing the conflict from Australia also felt a sense of affinity for Betty’s representation of
Australian courage on the Finnish battlefield.
Basil Wraite[?], writing in The Sydney Morning Herald in 1945, reflected on the widespread battle
for civilisation and the heroism and bravery of those such as Sale. Betty Wilson also writing in The
Sydney Morning Herald in 1940 reflected on similar themes in her discussion of the only Australian
in the Ambulance contingent for Finland. Wilson noted that to choose Sale as one of the 22 first
class drivers was a tribute to her resourcefulness, capability and courage. Australian’s perception
of Betty’s courage and initiative became intertwined with the importance of perseverance as a
distinctly Australian value.
Discussing the primitive conditions of the arctic winter, newspapers reflected on the intensely cold
conditions which Miss Sale and her companions will experience. Mary St Clare[?] writing for The
Australian Woman’s Weekly also noted the arduous and sometimes heartbreaking work that would
face Sale and her unit in Finland. Nonetheless, Betty was not deterred by the extreme conditions
she would be facing. Unperturbed by the difficulty she may well face, Betty noted that her unit
would do any job asked of them reflecting on the perseverance and hardiness that was required by
the volunteers in Finland.
The Mercury drew attention to the presence and representation of the Australian values in the
Tasmanian volunteer stating that the hazardous times and the escapes experienced going to and
from Finland will be memorable for Miss Sale. The women worked for military hospitals sometimes
22 hour day conveying Finnish patients over tracks with only sleigh marks to guide them. On many
occasions, ice and snow had to be shovelled from the tracks. Miss Sale developed measles but
nothing daunted, continued her work.
Such reflections regarding Betty’s role were discussed by various Australian publications. The
attention focused on the woman who drove her ambulance over icebound roads under arctic
conditions out in all weathers was in part driven by her representation of the Australian desire to
contribute to the war effort, an action that in Betty’s case many believe that she, through the
tangible realisation of Australian ?, two qualities that are intertwined with Australian history and the
nation’s wartime experiences.
The concepts of honour and loyalty, deeply integrated with Anzac, were highlighted within the
winter war and the Australian [?] as a result of Betty’s involvement in Finland. This provided a
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tangible connection between Tasmania and Finland and those viewing the widespread conflict of
the Second World War from Australia.
During her time abroad with her unit, Betty served not only in Finland but in England, North Africa
and the Middle East before returning to Australia as a liaison officer. In an interview with The
Mercury published in 1940, Betty reflected that she felt a sense of honour to be chosen to serve
abroad. Indeed, as the only Australian in her unit, chosen from hundreds of volunteers from
various nations, Betty’s role did emanate a sense of honour. She also demonstrated a loyalty to
her unit and the cause of the Finns and provided a symbolic connection to Anzac and the
Australian wartime experience of both the First and Second World Wars.
The Finnish winter war occurred during a period of widespread conflict and wartime tensions. For
those viewing the conflict from Australia, many perceived the Finns as victims of external
aggression identifying parallels between the situations facing the two geographically isolated
countries.
While official external assistance offered to Finland was limited, volunteers from various nations
travelled to offer assistance to the Finns. Australians also volunteered in Finland, many of whom
were men, however the actions of Miss Betty Sale, an accomplished woman from Tasmania,
captured the attention of Australia’s print media in great detail. Her actions in Finland provided a
tangible connection to the Australian identity and the nation’s wartime experiences. In so doing,
Australian reporters presented Betty Sale as a reflection and a representation of the values that
have become foregrounded in the Australian identity and wartime experiences as a result of the
ongoing and widespread conflict of the Second World War.
Thank you.
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