At regular intervals the Camp Columbia Heritage Association is presenting a display at the Inala Library.
The artefacts highlight the presence of Australian, Dutch and American personnel and families during and after WW2 in the Camp Columbia area (Pooh Corner, Wacol Bushland and other accessible council areas in current Wacol). Also, artefacts come from Camp Cable, a former WW2 American camp then Australian army camp and training area, now in the suburbs of Yarrabilba and Kairabah.
The artefacts cover all aspects of military, camp and home life that occurred in these locations. The items displayed show various types of military ordnance – anti-tank shell and shot, inert bullets, practice grenade and parts, fighting knife, rifle cleaning kits and gas mask parts; army uniform badges and buttons; US Army identification tags; eating utensils and cutlery and, American Coke bottles.
At the ANZAC exhibition in 2024 the medical presence of the hospital at Camp Columbia shows medicine and tablet bottles, First Aid bandage packs, Ponds and Nivea Cream.
Dutch soldiers and their families displaced from the Netherlands East Indies lived in this area. Their artefacts are represented by children’s period toy cars, miniature soldiers and cap guns; NEI Army unform badges and buttons; travel container badges, handles and hinges with a clear Indonesian influence, together with the Nivea Crème container showing all Dutch text.
All the artefacts were found individually and in shallow, small dumps by metal detecting, mostly less than 10cm below the ground surface. All recoveries respected the Metal Detectorist’s Code of Conduct requiring minimum impact to the environment and minimum evidence of any recovery.
The display features a range of artefacts from the private collection of Victor Suchocki.
The presentation below was again with artefacts from Victor Suchocki in November 2024
