This document provides a first-hand civilian account of Brisbane’s wartime aviation environment during the Second World War and the immediate post-war years, as experienced at Archerfield Aerodrome. It reflects the strongly international character of Brisbane at the time, shaped by the presence of American, Australian, Dutch, and Netherlands East Indies personnel operating within a shared Allied framework.
Written by Jean White (née Forrester), the memoir begins with her early employment at Archerfield from the age of sixteen, working for Australian aviation firms that supported Allied air operations, including those connected to the large American military presence in Brisbane. Her recollections convey the scale, pace, and pressure of wartime aviation activity during the years when Brisbane functioned as a major Allied base in the South West Pacific.
The narrative later shifts to her work with the Netherlands East Indies Transport Service (NEITS), which operated from Archerfield following the Japanese occupation of the Netherlands East Indies. In this phase, the document provides insight into Dutch airmen who had escaped to Australia and continued flying from Brisbane, as well as the close operational cooperation between Dutch, Australian, and a small number of Indonesian personnel during the post-war recovery period.
Although Camp Columbia is not mentioned directly, the experiences described in this memoir sit firmly within the wider Allied system headquartered and coordinated from Brisbane, of which Camp Columbia was a central element. By combining perspectives on American-led wartime operations and Dutch post-war aviation activity, this document adds an important personal dimension to understanding Brisbane’s role as a key Allied centre during and after the war.
See also:
Nederlands Military Air Transport Services at Archerfield – WWII
Archerfield Airport – situated next to the extended Camp Columbia area
Photographs from Jean White (Collection Moorooka Historic Society)
