This article is an English abstract of the two-part Dutch biography of Jack and Truus Hompe, published on IndischHistorisch.nl and based on Louise Hompe’s family chronicle Uitgestelde huwelijksnacht. Their story shows how the Netherlands, Australia and the Netherlands East Indies intersected during the final phase of the Second World War. Early background and wartime separation […]
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 »
Turning commemoration into opportunity: defence ties in 2027, global heritage in 2032 The Allied Co-operation in Brisbane during WWII: Australia, USA, Netherlands, UK symposium, held at the University of Queensland on 30–31 August 2025, brought together a full house of delegates, historians, community representatives, and descendants to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of
From Symposium to Strategy: Securing Brisbane’s Place as WWII Allied Capital Read More »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 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
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 »
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 »
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 (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 »
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 »
