Author name: CCHA

Life at the Wacol Migrant Centre in 1969 – A photographic record

From Camp Columbia to migrant accommodation The site at Wacol, southwest of Brisbane, has a significant place in both Australia’s wartime and post-war history. During the Second World War, Camp Columbia served as headquarters of the United States Sixth Army and subsequently became an important centre for Netherlands East Indies military and administrative activities. After

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Norm Bremner’s war memories

My mother’s parents were born in Australia, of Irish stock, and my father’s parents were English. My parents were married in Paddington in about 1925. I was born in Paddington in 1927, the eldest of five children. My father had a milk and ice run in Paddington and Toowong, but when the Depression came, custom

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Camp Columbia and Australia in the Huygens Institute’s documentary record of Indonesian decolonisation

The Huygens Institute is a key research partner of the Dutch Australian Cultural Centre and an important source of digitised historical records relating to Dutch–Australian history. A more detailed article on the Huygens research is available in the DACC article. Huygens online research collection Nederlands-Indonesische betrekkingen, 1945–1969 brings together published documents concerning relations between the

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UQ students explore Camp Columbia’s political history, migrant experiences and changing landscape

Three University of Queensland history students are contributing to a deeper understanding of Camp Columbia through research into its wartime political role, postwar migrant experiences and the evolution of its buildings and landscape. During the second semester of 2026, Joshua Suchunow, Kahlia Mills and Liam Edge are working with Associate Professor Geoff Ginn and the

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The 268th Station Hospital with African American Nurse Officers at Camp Columbia, 1943

The 268th Station Hospital was a segregated African American United States Army medical unit staffed by Black doctors, nurses and enlisted medical personnel. Its wartime journey took it from Fort Huachuca in Arizona to Camp Columbia at Wacol and subsequently to Milne Bay in New Guinea. The unit’s presence at Camp Columbia connects the site

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VK-KNIL Women at Camp Columbia: Work, Daily Life and Personal Recollections

Women served at Camp Columbia during both its American and Dutch periods. American Army nurses worked in the camp’s medical facilities, while members of the American Women’s Army Corps served within the wider United States military organisation in Brisbane. From 1944, after the principal American units moved north, Camp Columbia became the headquarters of the

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Short video of the Home Front Festival

Short video produced by Peter Rasey at the Home Front Festival at Walston House on 16 August 2026. The event was organised by the National Trust of Australia (Queensland) and the Camp Columbia Heritage Association. Brisbane’s complex Allied command structure during WWII Paul Budde explains the complexity when suddenly Australia faced itself with an invasion

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Brisbane in the Second World War—from regional city to Allied headquarters

At the Home Front Festival at Wolston Farmhouse on 16 August 2026, Associate Professor Geoff Ginn of the University of Queensland and Camp Columbia Heritage Association Chair Paul Budde delivered two complementary presentations about Brisbane during the Second World War. Professor Ginn first established the broader historical setting. He explained how the Pacific War transformed

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Camp Columbia within Brisbane’s intelligence network

Intelligence cooperation in the Southwest Pacific Area When the Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service (NEFIS) moved its headquarters to Camp Columbia in 1944, it entered one of the most concentrated Allied command and intelligence environments in the Southwest Pacific. Brisbane was already the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific Area command and home to a

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$20,000 Stronger Communities grant delivers lasting legacy for Camp Columbia heritage

The Camp Columbia Heritage Association has completed a major project funded through a $20,000 Australian Government Stronger Communities Programme grant, providing new exhibition, digital and audiovisual resources to help preserve and communicate the remarkable history of Camp Columbia. The grant was secured with the support of the Hon Milton Dick MP, Federal Member for Oxley,

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Strong community interest in Camp Columbia at the Home Front Festival + video and photo gallery

The Camp Columbia Heritage Association’s participation in the Home Front Festival at Wolston Farmhouse on Sunday 16 August 2026 attracted strong interest from visitors and the local community. Presented by the National Trust of Australia (Queensland) in partnership with CCHA, the festival commemorated Victory in the Pacific Day and brought Brisbane’s wartime Home Front to

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Mapping the road home: NEFIS, Camp Columbia and the Allied intelligence war

Among the collections preserved at the Bronbeek Museum are a series of unassuming red file folders labelled: N.E.F.I.S. Kaarten – JAVA no. 2699 N.E.F.I.S. Kaarten – MOLUKKEN no. 5999 N.E.F.I.S. Kaarten – EILANDEN in de ARAFURA ZEE no. 1999 At first glance they appear to be ordinary filing folders. Yet they contain evidence of one

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Beyond Camp Columbia: The Dutch Government-in-Exile and Australia’s Wartime Alliance

A new six-part historical series on the Dutch Australian Cultural Centre (DACC) website The story of Camp Columbia is one of the cornerstones of the Camp Columbia Heritage Association (CCHA). Yet Camp Columbia was only one part of a much larger wartime network that linked Australia and the Netherlands during the Second World War. While

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From Camp Columbia to Wacol Army Camp: a continuing military landscape – pictures added from 2005/6

The post-war history of Camp Columbia is best understood as a continuous evolution rather than a single transition. From 1945 onward, the site developed into a major Australian Army facility, later known as Wacol Army Camp and centred on Sanananda Barracks. Over more than fifty years, its role changed in line with Australia’s defence priorities,

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