Australia

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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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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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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Wolston House and Camp Columbia: shared heritage in Brisbane’s wartime landscape – MoU signed

Wolston House at Wacol is one of Brisbane’s oldest surviving colonial homesteads and occupies an important place in both Queensland history and Brisbane’s World War II heritage landscape. Built in 1852, the house long predates the military transformation of the surrounding area during World War II, yet its wartime experiences directly connected it to Camp

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Charles van der Plas: colonial expert and advocate of gradual reform

Charles van der Plas: colonial expert, wartime administrator in Australia and advocate of gradual reform Charles Olke van der Plas (1891–1977) was one of the most experienced Dutch colonial administrators of the Netherlands East Indies. Born in Buitenzorg, now Bogor, in West Java, he developed a deep knowledge of Indonesian society, Islam and local languages.

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Brisbane’s Three Wartime Headquarters: Australia, America and the Netherlands East Indies

When people think of the Allied command centres of the Second World War, cities such as London, Washington and perhaps Chongqing come to mind. Yet few realise that for much of the Pacific War, Brisbane became one of the most important Allied capitals in the world. Between 1942 and 1945, Brisbane served not only as

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From Camp Columbia to World War: Understanding Australia’s Role in the Pacific

During discussions in the Netherlands in June 2026 between the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), the University of Queensland and the Camp Columbia Heritage Association, it became clear that the history of Camp Columbia – also for the UQ students – is best understood within the broader context of the Second World War

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From Camp Columbia to Operation Kraai: The Australian training of NEFIS officer Jan Bakker

Introduction Among the Dutch servicemen who passed through wartime Australia, few went on to an intelligence career as remarkable as that of Jan Bakker. An Engelandvaarder who reached Britain in 1944, Bakker subsequently joined the KNIL and was sent to Australia for military training. In November 1944 he was commissioned as a reserve second lieutenant

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Preserved Camp Columbia buildings at the National Service Heritage Precinct, Wacol

In 2001, when the Department of Defence proposed disposing of the Wacol barracks, Allom Lovell Pty Ltd, Brisbane architects, completed a heritage assessment of the site and concluded: “…The retention of perhaps a sample of typical buildings may be appropriate to recognise the history of this place but any listing of the site in whole

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