This painting by Brisbane-based artist William Yaxley offers a rare visual interpretation of an American military camp in southeast Queensland during the Second World War. While it does not depict Camp Columbia directly, it is included here because it captures, in a single image, the physical form and lived atmosphere of a typical American Army camp — something for which very few painted representations exist.
Titled Southern Comfort (2014), the work imagines the Redcliffe Peninsula as it may have appeared from 1941 onwards, when Brisbane and its surrounding coastal areas became a major staging and support base for United States forces in the Pacific. American aircraft, identifiable by their star insignia, fly overhead, while below a temporary military camp sits alongside beaches, roads and civilian settlements. Rows of tents, military vehicles and uniformed figures coexist with domestic buildings and open coastline.
This visual juxtaposition is central to the painting’s significance. Military infrastructure and everyday civilian life are shown side by side, reflecting how the war was experienced locally — ever-present, yet woven into daily routines. For many, the war brought fear and uncertainty, but also activity, movement and a heightened sense of engagement with the outside world.
Historically, the scene aligns closely with documented wartime realities across Brisbane and its surrounding districts. Tented camps were established not only on the Redcliffe Peninsula at Clontarf and Scarborough, but also at Camp Columbia, where large-scale temporary accommodation formed part of the broader Allied staging infrastructure. Troops passed through Redcliffe Showgrounds, while American personnel made use of hotels and guest houses across the region for rest and recreation. Nearby airfields at Lawnton and Strathpine, together with Archerfield Airport to the south, generated intense military air activity. Civilian landscapes, military camps and aviation infrastructure existed side by side, making the American presence a defining feature of wartime Brisbane.
The painting forms part of the Museum of Brisbane collection and was displayed in 2025 as part of commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Although it is not a Camp Columbia image, its inclusion here is intentional. It provides a rare visual proxy for understanding what an American Army camp looked like, how it sat within the landscape, and how military and civilian worlds intersected during the Pacific War.
In this way, Southern Comfort helps fill a visual gap in the historical record. While photographs of wartime camps survive, painted interpretations that convey scale, environment and atmosphere are uncommon. The work therefore complements the Camp Columbia story by offering a broader visual context for the American military presence that transformed Brisbane into a key Allied hub during the Second World War.
