By April 1940 the WNEL had 51 branches in rural areas of Queensland as well as a large branch in Brisbane.[8] As at May that year, the Legion was organised into a first aid and home nursing auxiliary, a transport division (which included horse and mechanised transport units) a land workers' section, a communication unit, despatch riders, a cooking unit and the air wing section.[9] By July 1940 there were six different organisations training women for war work in the Brisbane region. Ryan and the members of the other organisations rejected a proposal made by The Courier-Mail that the six organisations be combined, however.[10] At this time the WNEL had 4,000 members, of whom 1,600 were located in Brisbane, and included a transport section and an air unit.