Personal Stories Archives

Saluut Batavia – Uncovering the untold story of female KNIL soldiers in Indonesia

In October 2024, Dutch journalist and copywriter Jorien Wallast published a groundbreaking work titled Saluut Batavia: Het verhaal van de vrouwelijke KNIL-soldaten (Salute Batavia: The story of the female KNIL soldiers), offering a rare window into a little-known facet of Dutch post-war military history. This non-fiction book explores the experience of young women who joined […]

Saluut Batavia – Uncovering the untold story of female KNIL soldiers in Indonesia Read More »

KNIL soldier Anne Beetstra: A Dutch-Canadian woman at Camp Columbia, 1944–46

This compelling first-person account, written by her daughter Claire Smith-Burns, traces the remarkable wartime journey of Anna Wiebrigje Beetstra, a Dutch-Canadian woman who served in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) during the final years of World War II. Born in Friesland in 1923 and raised in British Columbia, Anne was inspired to join

KNIL soldier Anne Beetstra: A Dutch-Canadian woman at Camp Columbia, 1944–46 Read More »

Vale Dr Jonathan (Jack) Ford

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dr Jonathan (Jack) Ford on 29 June 2025, at his home in Brisbane. Jack had recently returned from hospital following heart treatment and, when we last spoke two days before his untimely death, he told me that the new medication had given him a

Vale Dr Jonathan (Jack) Ford Read More »

UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) Blast Witness-Inala 1954

My family moved into a Housing Commission house in the new Inala in the early 1950s. We boys soon found that there was lots of small arms ammo round the area, remnants of the US Ammunition Dump. Finding it and extracting the cordite was a favourite pastime for the local boys, who spent hours combing

UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) Blast Witness-Inala 1954 Read More »

US to investigate 1943 blast Goodna schoolyard

The Australian 3 March 2003 “it 15 amazing what a coalition of the willing can achieve even on the home front. “ For almost two decades, Queensland pensioner Roy Thompson, 73, tried in vain for compensation, or at least an apology from Washington for a tragic accident in which one child was killed and seven

US to investigate 1943 blast Goodna schoolyard Read More »

UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) Blast Witness-Inala 1954

UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) Blast Witness-Inala 1954 Read More »

Joan Realia (nee Phillips/ Harrison) daughter of a US soldier

I was born in 1944 and grew up in a house of women in Richlands and Darra. Mum (Alma Bohan) was a strong woman of Irish descent, and she had two grown daughters. Then there was me-and Nita was born three years after me. I remember when I was about eight, Nita and I would

Joan Realia (nee Phillips/ Harrison) daughter of a US soldier Read More »

Dennis Hughes’ father – a private in the US Army,

During WWII, my father was in a Transport battalion and was based out near Darra-Wacol somewhere. He was on the road every day, driving down to the wharves to pick up incoming goods, and bringing them out this way to be stored-in igloos I was told, though I’m not sure where. My father was a

Dennis Hughes’ father – a private in the US Army, Read More »

Merv Bryant – a civilian employed by the US Army

I was born at the start of WWII, but I do remember a few things about those years. I remember the air-raid sirens, and the blacked-out windows. I remember taking the tram with my grandmother to get coupons at Ashgrove, then Red Hill (we lived in Red Hill then). We needed coupons to buy food

Merv Bryant – a civilian employed by the US Army Read More »

Eugenie Blackney (nee Shand) survived the Japanese Camps in Java

I have lived in Forest Lake for years. But during World War 11,-I was in Java. When the Japanese invaded, the Dutch East Indies government escaped to Australia and ended up at Wacol. My family came later, in 1945. Dutch East Indies My grandfather was Polish, and he met and married my grandmother, who was

Eugenie Blackney (nee Shand) survived the Japanese Camps in Java Read More »

Kelvin Lang- Armoury Driver for RAAF

I lived in Inala for almost forty years, and my kids went to school there. But I first came to the area during WWII, when I was in the RAAF. I was born in McLean, Northern Rivers on 10/5/1926. By 1944, I was working in Grafton, and a month before I turned eighteen, I received

Kelvin Lang- Armoury Driver for RAAF Read More »

Bill Bentson – studied at the US Officers School

I came to Brisbane with General MacArthur – his whole office moved from Melbourne to Brisbane in July ’42. I was a Staff Sergeant in Supply and Logistics – moving troops, ships and supplies. We moved into the AMP building in Queen Street, now MacArthur Chambers. I still visit there often, as I am involved

Bill Bentson – studied at the US Officers School Read More »

Bryan “Tex” Grantham – US Army, 32nd infantry division-“The Red Arrows.” Brisbane 1942-45

Bryan was in the US Army, 32nd infantry division-“The Red Arrows.” The departure of their fleet of 43 ships for New Guinea was headlined in the US newspapers – and then they set off from San Francisco with just one light carrier escort! There were 40,000 men-and they had three sleeping shifts to share the

Bryan “Tex” Grantham – US Army, 32nd infantry division-“The Red Arrows.” Brisbane 1942-45 Read More »

Lona Grantham (nee Price) – WWII and Oxley

Before the War My Dad’s great-grandparents were local pioneers. They homesteaded The Blunder – when the first selections were opened up there in 1865. King Avenue in Durack (then Oxley) bears their name. Dad’s parents came out from England as children, the Weekes from Devon, Prices from Oxfordshire. They met in Oxley and married in

Lona Grantham (nee Price) – WWII and Oxley Read More »

Ted Dunlop Remembering Oxley/Corinda during WWII

Background In 1863, John Andrew Dunlop arrived in Moreton Bay from Scotland. Just nineteen years old, he soon found a place, clearing land along Oxley Creek for a pioneer farmer. Eventually, he became a land-owning farmer himself and grew cotton and other crops along Oxley Creek for many years. Dunlop Park at Corinda was created

Ted Dunlop Remembering Oxley/Corinda during WWII Read More »

WWII stories from Redbank by Val Jackson

By Val Jackson (nee Valma Jones of Redbank Plains & Goodna) During WW2 a large Australian Army camp was established at Redbank in S.Qld. Raw recruits entered the camp, were trained, then shipped off to various theatres of war. My sister Queenie & her husband, Ted Evans, lived close to the Goodna Railway Station, one

WWII stories from Redbank by Val Jackson Read More »

Patricia Metcalfe and Wim van Wely met at Camp Columbia

Patricia (Pat) Metcalfe (born 1929 in Cairns) moved to Brisbane when she was 4 years old and after she finished the St Columba school at Wilson, was employed at Camp Columbia as a typist and secretary, first with the Americans and since 1945 with the Netherlands-East-Indies Government. Here she worked for the Department of Works

Patricia Metcalfe and Wim van Wely met at Camp Columbia Read More »

A Goodna child’s view of WWII – by Claire Wilson (nee Evans)

I was not quite six when war broke out. I lived with my parents, Ted and Queenie Evans, my older sister Shirley, and (from 1942) my younger sister Kaye, behind the H.L. Jones Beegoods Factory opposite the Goodna Railway Station. In the cottage beside us lived my Grandmother Jones, my aunt Audrey Jones, and Miss

A Goodna child’s view of WWII – by Claire Wilson (nee Evans) Read More »

Joan Lord (nee Murphy) – Wacol during WWII

I was born in 1927 in a Railway house at Wacol (then Wolston), the youngest of six children. Dr. Moray, a woman doctor from the Wolston Park hospital, delivered me. My father was the local Ganger—responsible for maintenance of the railway line from Darra to Goodna. He was from Roma, and my mother was from

Joan Lord (nee Murphy) – Wacol during WWII Read More »

Dick Holland – joined the Australian Imperial Force

I was born in the family home in Wacol, on 14 December 1923. The house was behind my present house at the golf course end of Wuriga Street. (Then the road was called Florence Street—and the suburb was Wolston). My father Fred was born in Wolston too, in 1896, in a slab hut just two

Dick Holland – joined the Australian Imperial Force Read More »