It also provided training in first aid, field cooking, physical fitness and radio communications.[11] At about this time the WNEL also became affiliated with the British First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.[12] The WNEL and other war-related women's organisations prominently participated in the 1941 Brisbane Exhibition.[13] In late 1941 General Thomas Blamey, the commander of the Australian Imperial Force, stated that Australian women should prepare to work in the national economy rather than train to be dispatch riders or signalers.