History

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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After the war Camp Columbia was opened for refugees and migrants

In the immediate post-War World years, refugees from war-torn Europe were resettled in different places across Australia. By 1949, it is estimated that one-tenth of the American/Dutch/Australian Army’s Camp Columbia area became the Wacol East Displaced Persons Holding Camp. In the early 1950s the camp was developed to become the Wacol Migrant Centre, the biggest

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Staging Camp Columbia – 1942

A large area in and around Wacol – which was nearly all bush land at that time – was selected as its major staging camp for the US Army in the South West Pacific. Here weapons, ammunition and equipment in transit were assembled or processed. A range of military facilities were build in the area

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African Americans at Camp Columbia

Officer Candidate School During 1942/1943 the Americans established the Officer Candidate School (OCS), on the other side of the railway in Wacol, in the area known as Camp area 3.  They  provided training for nine different army branches and was of the most comprehensive schools of its kind in the world. They provide training for:

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