The association advocates for equal treatment and pay for female pilots, and has a financial support program for the training and further education of individual pilots, including a Lady Casey Scholarship.
The Nancy-Bird Walton Memorial Trophy is awarded for "the most noteworthy contribution to aviation by a woman of Australasia".
[3] The first official meeting was held at the Royal Aero Club Bankstown, Sydney, New South Wales and was attended by around 50 women.
[4] Jacqueline Jones, manager of the Kingsford-Smith Flying School, at Bankstown was elected Federal secretary, and Nancy Ellis, the only woman flying instructor in Australia at that time, became the inaugural treasurer.
[5] Leading up to the establishment of the AWPA, meetings were held in 1949 at the suggestion of Nancy-Bird Walton to foster a closer relationship amongst women pilots.