Australia

Pauleen Badke – a young woman’s wartime experience at Camp Columbia’s Officer Candidate School

Pauleen Lillian Badke was born at Booval in Ipswich in 1925. Her father’s name was ‘Wilhelm’ but he was known to everyone as ‘Bill’ – her mother’s name was Lillian. She had one brother, Keith. Bill was well known in Ipswich and surrounds as a building contractor, and for his love of harness racing –

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Australia’s military commander Thomas Blainey moved his headquarters to Brisbane in 1942

During World War II, the Australian military commander in Brisbane was General Sir Thomas Albert Blamey. Blamey was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces in 1939 and held that position throughout the war. After leading the Australian Forces in Europe and the Middle East he came back to Australia in 1942. Here

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Camp Columbia has new residents

We now have seven koalas on site at Pooh Corner Bushland Reserve, six of which are rescued individuals which have been released here. This is the first photo of the first offspring – Lady Jane’s joey (a son), now out of the pouch!! Mother and baby looking fine. Looks promising that her first offspring has

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Australians in Netherlands East Indies first ever UN Peacekeepers

In August 1947, Australian military observers were stationed in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) under the auspices of the United Nations Good Offices Committee (UNGOC). Their purpose was to monitor the ceasefire between the Dutch and Indonesian forces during the Indonesian National Revolution. The number of Australian observers increased after the Second Dutch military operation

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