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, moving from post-war reuse to Cold War training and eventually to closure and heritage.
1945–late 1940s: Transition and reuse
At the end of World War II, the extensive Camp Columbia complex was handed over from American and Dutch control to the Australian Army. What remained was a fully developed military site, including barracks, roads, drainage systems, storage areas and transport links.
In the immediate post-war years, the Army focused on reuse rather than redevelopment. The existing timber buildings were retained for accommodation and storage, and the site functioned as a general-purpose military facility. Its proximity to Wacol railway station ensured ongoing logistical value.
At the same time, parts of the broader camp area began transitioning to civilian purposes, particularly for migrant accommodation, marking the beginning of the site’s layered post-war history.
Late 1940s–1950s: National Service and the Nasho era
The most intensive period of military activity occurred during the 1950s, with the introduction of National Service in response to Cold War tensions and the Korean War.
Wacol became one of Queensland’s principal training centres for National Servicemen—the “Nashos.” Large numbers of recruits passed through the camp, undertaking structured training that included drill, weapons handling and field exercises. The scale of operations required extensive use of the former wartime infrastructure, supported by mess halls, medical facilities, vehicle depots and training grounds.
For many young Australians, Wacol became a defining introduction to military life during this period.
1950s: Establishment of Sanananda Barracks
As military activity expanded, the Army formalised its presence through the establishment of Sanananda Barracks. Named after the New Guinea campaign of World War II, the barracks became the central identity of the Army installation at Wacol.
This marked a shift from temporary wartime reuse to a more structured and permanent military facility. Sanananda Barracks supported accommodation, training and administrative functions and remained the core of Army activity at the site for decades.
1959–1970s: Post-Nasho military use
The end of National Service training in 1959 reduced the scale of operations, but Wacol remained an active military site.
The camp continued to be used extensively by the Citizen Military Forces (CMF), later the Army Reserve. Regular training exercises, annual camps and specialist instruction ensured ongoing use. Cadet units also trained at Wacol, embedding the site within Queensland’s broader military training network.
Although no longer a mass training centre, Sanananda Barracks maintained its importance as a reserve and training facility.
1970s–1990s: Decline and rationalisation
From the 1970s onward, the strategic importance of Wacol gradually declined as defence priorities shifted to more modern facilities.
Many of the original wartime buildings had aged and were progressively demolished or adapted. Military use continued but at a reduced level, primarily focused on reserve units and cadet training.
At the same time, the surrounding area increasingly developed into a mixed institutional landscape, with parts of the former camp transferred to other government uses, including correctional facilities.
1990s–2000: Closure of Wacol Army Camp
By the 1990s, Wacol Army Camp was no longer required as a major military installation. Defence restructuring led to the gradual withdrawal of Army functions.
Sanananda Barracks was closed, and the Wacol Army Camp ceased operations around 2000, ending more than fifty years of post-war military use.
Post-2000: Heritage, memory and the military museum
Following closure, parts of the former camp were redeveloped or repurposed, while others were incorporated into institutional and correctional precincts. However, recognition of the site’s historical importance led to efforts to preserve elements of its military past.
Within the former Sanananda Barracks precinct, a military museum was established. The museum maintains artefacts, photographs and equipment that document the full history of the site—from its origins as Camp Columbia to its role in National Service training and later Army use.
The museum provides an important link between different generations of servicemen, including Allied personnel of World War II, Australian Nashos, reservists and cadets. It ensures that the military history of Wacol remains accessible and understood within a broader historical context.
Together with surviving landscape features in areas such as Pooh Corner Bushland Reserve, the museum forms part of the physical and interpretive legacy of the site.
A continuous military legacy
The chronological development of Wacol Army Camp highlights a continuous military presence spanning more than half a century:
- A wartime Allied installation (1942–1945)
- A major National Service training centre (1950s)
- A reserve and cadet training facility centred on Sanananda Barracks (1960s–1990s)
- A closed but preserved heritage site with a military museum (post-2000)
This continuity demonstrates that Camp Columbia did not end in 1945. Instead, it evolved into a key part of Australia’s Cold War defence system and later into a site of historical memory.
Today, Wacol stands as a layered landscape where wartime, military, migrant and community histories intersect—making it one of Queensland’s most significant and complex heritage sites,
An extensive history of the Wacol Army Camp was written by Noel W. Wallis: Tracing the historical significance of the Wacol Army Camp to the City of Brisbane.
Personal memories from Terry McKenna
Wacol Army Camp
In 1947 my father was sent to Wacol Army Camp as a caretaker. The camp was south of Ipswich and stretched almost from Darra to Wacol. There were three watchmen — my father Tom McKenna, Percy Brown and another watchman. They were not employed by the Army but by another government department.
There was no military activity that I remember — the camp was deserted, with a number of huts — and we lived in one near the Ipswich Road entrance. We set up a vegetable garden nearby. We had no car, so we dealt with a grocer in Goodna who would deliver. I remember there was a convenience shop at Wacol too.
I was 14 then, the eldest of five children. I remember my brother Bernie and I rolled out a cricket pitch from ant bed – there were plenty of anthills in the surrounding bush. One of us bathed, the other bowled — there was one-on-one else to make up teams.
Bernie was going to Gregory Terrace (he had a scholarship) and my two sisters went to the convent at Goodna. I had to find a job locally. I worked for the Darra bakery then the brickworks before joining the Railways — on 27 June 1947, I became a “lad porter” at Indooroopilly station. We’d walk to and from Wacol each day.
We were at Wacol Army Camp from 1947 to 1950. Then the Army moved in to refurbish the camp for National Service training.
Wacol Housing Commission camp
They moved my father over Ipswich Road to patrol the Migrant Camp opposite. This too was largely of buildings from the US camp Columbia. Dad worked there till he retired.
There was a lot of housing around and the family was moved to the Housing Commission Camp at Wacol, right near the railway station (in Wacol Station Road). This was another part of the old US Army camp, this time being used as temporary housing — and there were quite a few families living there.
In 1953, after three years at the Wacol camp, the Housing Commission gave us a house in Serviceton (cnr Buddleia and Balsa streets). We were among the first to move into Inala. I think they closed the Housing Camp by the 1960s.
National Service, Wacol
I was in the first day intake at Wacol, 9 August 1951. We weren’t the very first Nashos — some of the Navy and Air Force conscripts went in earlier than us. Even then there were no huts ready for us — we were housed in big marquees which held 24 beds.
It was quite different to when I’d lived at the Camp before — in a big hut with my family and roaming free. But I did have one advantage: my family was still living in the Housing Commission camp when I was called up. They were almost next door to the Nashos Camp, so during all my 3½ months of Basic Training I took my washing home to Mum each week!
I was in No 23 Platoon, “D” Company: we were Artillery. I remember bivouacs, rifle practice up at Redbank, and grenade training — I think my turns scared my mates. I did manage to get one stripe, making me a lance-bombardier. This was enough to keep me in the signallers — the guns were too noisy for me.
When we came out, we had to do three years in the CMF (I was at Kelvin Grove with 3rd Light Anti-Aircraft). Some fellows enjoyed it and joined the regular Army: for me it was a nuisance working and having to take your rifle to work on CMF nights. After I’d done my full 3 years, they cut it back to 2! I am not much of an Army man and I was pleased when I was finished with the whole lot.
About 20 years later, some of the boys formed a club based on our two platoon tents and later they extended membership to other Nashos. The majority of my group of conscripts came from the other side of the city. I went to the meetings for years — but I’m too old to travel to meetings now.
Altogether my time in Wacol spanned 20 years, including home, employment and National Service. Some good memories…
This interview is the book: Wacol, Wolston, Woogaroo 1823-2014. Volume 2 Biographies & Interviews By Vicki Mynott. Richland, Inala and Suburbs History Group. Published with permission from the author.