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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Subjects
Politics and Government
War
World War II

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

World War II

Subject

Japanese submarine attack 1942

Liverpool Internment Camp during World War II

Radar

Transcript: Miss Marjorie Tebb recalls coupons used after WWII in her family's butchering business

Transcript: Mr Domenico Scuglia discusses restrictions on Italians in Australia during WWII

Transcript: Mr John Costa recalls his family feeding American Italian soldiers on their Liverpool farm during World War II

Transcript: Mr Pat Cullen remembers using charcoal burners in cars during World War II

Transcript: Mrs Jessie La Trobe describes delivering newspapers to military camps during WWII

Transcript: Mrs Lillian Watson recalls an American Air Force plane crash during World War II

Transcript: Mrs Marjorie Gough knitting for the soldiers in WWI and WWII

War Memorials to World War II and later conflicts

HMAS Kuttabul

Japanese submarine I-22

Japanese submarine I-27

M24

Rusty Bugles

The Rats of Tobruk

USS Chicago

USS New Orleans

Bardia Barracks

Japanese submarine attack 1942

World War II

Allied Works Council

Australia First Movement

Booker T Washington Club

Central Flying School

Randwick Military Hospital

War Effort Publicity Board

War Widows' Guild

Woman's Fire Auxiliary

Women's Emergency Signalling Corps

Women's Voluntary Services

Bright, WJR

Cazneaux, Harold Ramsay

Cutler, Roden

Dancing man

Jackson, William

Mackey, Jack

Pietroszys, Genovefa

Pietroszys, Stefan

Starcevich, Leslie T

Yackels, Alfred Fritz

Coral Sea Park

Liverpool Internment Camp

Narellan Military Camp

United States Army Depot

Villawood munitions factory

War Memorial Park Manly

Centaur Memorial Window

El Alamein Memorial Fountain

HMAS Kuttabul Memorial

Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway

Northbridge Memorial Clock Tower

Second World War Servicewomen Memorial

Victory in the Pacific Memorial Wall and Fountain

'Australian Slang' from a guide to Australia for the United States Army during World War II, 1942

'Lost, Sweetheart?' 1940s

'Spy Murder Plot Alleged: Gang of 20 Caught, Says Forde' newspaper clipping March 1942

2011 Anzac Day Greece and Crete poster

A group of Italian prisoners of war behind the perimeter fence of the main compound at the Liverpool prisoner of war and internment camp November 21, 1945

AWA tower illuminated for VE Day May 1945

American soldiers laughing at a performance by comedian Joe E Brown at an army camp in New South Wales 18 March 1943

Americans entertained in Sydney c1943

Australian prisoners-of-war returning home. Released Eighth Division men coming ashore by barge from the catalinas at Rose Bay 16 September 1945

Constructing air raid shelter in Green Park Darlinghurst 1940s

Constructing an air raid shelter at Parsley Bay 30 December 1941

Crowds leaving a shelter in Hyde Park after the 'all clear' has been given c1942

Don't Waste Your Air Raid Shelter by EM Buhrich 1940

Doris Fitton's production of Sumner Locke Elliott's fine Australian Army play Rusty Bugles, 1948

GPO clock face being removed, Martin Place 14 June 1942

Gun turrets of HMAS Sydney II showing blistered paint on the barrels after the battle of Cape Sparda, Crete 19 July 1940

HMAS Sydney feared sunk - Most Secret memo to the Prime Minister 26 November 1941

HMAS Sydney reported overdue 25 November 1941

Internees of the Liverpool prisoner of war and internment camp working in the camp vegetable garden in front of the camp headquarters building 10 February 1944

Italian prisoners of war at Strathfield Station after arrival from country prisoner of war camps on the way to the internment camp at Moorebank November 17 1945

Italian survivors of the Bartolomeo Colleoni on the deck of HMAS Sydney II, Crete 19 July 1940

Japanese midget submarine being examined 1942

Japanese midget submarine is raised from Sydney Harbour 1942

John McCormack and unidentified woman assembling aircraft cowling in Wunderlich factory, Redfern 1943

Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Thomas Frederick Wong See, the first Australian of Chinese extraction to serve in the RAAF, 1940

Light Weight Air Warning (LW/AW) radar, Dover Heights c1942

Mrs Florence Violet McKenzie, OBE, founder of Women's Emergency Signalling Corps (WESC) c1941

Mrs Florence Violet McKenzie, the founder of the Women's Emergency Signallers Corps (WESC), c1939

Noreen Dudgeon of Rose Bay instructs US Naval personnel in visual signalling, Sydney c1943

Portrait photo of Genovefa Pietroszys attached to Australian Immigration file 1947

Portrait photo of Stefan Pietroszys attached to Australian Immigration file 1947

RPL field station, Army Reserve, Dover Heights 18 February 1943

Racegoers See Air Display 19 April 1942

Refugees arriving in Sydney on the Orontes 29 June 1939

Roosevelt nightclub, Kings Cross September 1944

Senator Cameron and Minister for Air, Mr Drakeford at a NSW Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber factory 1 February 1943

Servicemen entering Women's Emergency Signalling Corps, 10 Clarence Street 1940s

Shattered wall of a house in the eastern suburbs after Japanese Shelling of Sydney 1942

Shore defence radar equipment, Dover Heights c1940

The first prototype of the Light Weight Air Warning radar (LW/AW) being assembled, Dover Heights 1942

Three members of the Women's Emergency Signalling Corps, l-r Violet McKenzie, Pat McInnes, Esme Kura Murrell c1940

Two women operate a detoluator machine at the Commonwealth Explosives Factory, Villawood c1944

Unidentified medical personnel on board hospital ship TSS Oranje II, June 1941

Violet McKenzie with overseas naval personnel c1953

War memorial clock, Northbridge

Women's Emergency Signalling Corps members at Castle Hill c1939

Removal of the Sydney GPO Clock Tower 1942

Miss Marjorie Tebb recalls coupons used after WWII in her family's butchering business, interviewed 1986

Mr Domenico Scuglia discusses restrictions on Italians in Australia during WWII, interviewed 1986

Mr John Costa recalls his family feeding American Italian soldiers on their Liverpool farm during World War II, interviewed in 1986

Mr Pat Cullen remembers using charcoal burners in cars during World War II, interviewed in 1986

Mrs Jessie La Trobe describes delivering newspapers to military camps during World War II, interviewed in 1986

Mrs Lillian Watson recalls an American Air Force plane crash during World War II, interviewed 1986

Mrs Marjorie Gough recalls knitting for soldiers in World Wars I and II, interviewed in 1986

Peace Declared: a reminiscence of celebrations in Martin Place 1945

Reminiscences of the Japanese mini submarine attack in Sydney Harbour 1942

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World War II

Japanese submarine attack 1942

Often warned of the possibility of invasion, Sydneysiders were to experience the real thing in 1942 when three Japanese midget submarines slipped into the harbour, destroying the naval ship HMAS Kuttabul.

Liverpool Internment Camp during World War II

The Liverpool Internment Camp at Moorebank commenced on 15 October 1939 under the direct control of the Australian Army Base at Victoria Barracks, Sydney. When larger camps were built at Orange and Hay in 1940 the camp was closed, however, after eight months it was re-opened for internees in transit to other states and as a holding camp for 'special internees' including members of the Australia First Movement.

Radar

Radar research in Sydney was spurred by World War II and produced air warning systems for Sydney, and innovative portable technology used throughout the Pacific.

Transcript: Miss Marjorie Tebb recalls coupons used after WWII in her family's butchering business

Miss Marjorie Tebb was born in 1920 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' Here she is talking about the complex arrangements for coupons after World War II that regulated the wholesale and retail trade in meat for CR Tebb and Sons, her family's butchering business

Transcript: Mr Domenico Scuglia discusses restrictions on Italians in Australia during WWII

Mr Domenico Scuglia was born in Italy in 1924, came to Liverpool in 1937, and was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' He discusses here the restrictions placed on free movement of Italians in Australia during World War II, due to Italy's membership of the Axis Powers.

Transcript: Mr John Costa recalls his family feeding American Italian soldiers on their Liverpool farm during World War II

Mr John Costa was born in 1928 and was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960' project. Here he recalls his family feeding Italian American soldiers on their farm during World War II.

Transcript: Mr Pat Cullen remembers using charcoal burners in cars during World War II

Mr Pat Cullen was born in 1912 and was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960' project. Here he remembers the charcoal burners that were used to replace petrol in cars during World War II.

Transcript: Mrs Jessie La Trobe describes delivering newspapers to military camps during WWII

Mrs Jessie La Trobe, who was born in 1910, was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' Her family owned a news agency in Liverpool and here she describes delivering newspapers to local military camps during the World War II.

Transcript: Mrs Lillian Watson recalls an American Air Force plane crash during World War II

Mrs Lillian Dulcie Watson was born in 1904 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' Mrs Watson was witness to the crash of an American Air Force plane, due to engine failure over Hammondville, during World War II.

Transcript: Mrs Marjorie Gough knitting for the soldiers in WWI and WWII

Mrs Marjorie Gough was born in 1908 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' Here she talks here about her contribution to the war effort in both world wars

War Memorials to World War II and later conflicts

While memorials honouring the dead of the Great War were adapted to mark the sacrifice of those lost in World War II, the losses of a new generation led to innovations in memorialisation. Those who died on active service in Sydney, and those lost in conflicts Malaya, Korea, Borneo and Vietnam are remembered in new memorials in the city and suburbs, and along the road to Canberra. Women, prisoners-of-war and recipients of the Victoria Cross are also memorialised in Sydney.

HMAS Kuttabul

Ferry which had been requisitioned by the navy and was sunk at Garden Island by a torpedo fired from a Japanese midget submarine on 1 June, 1942.

full record »

Japanese submarine I-22

One of the Japanese submarines which launched midget submarines to attack Sydney Harbour on 31 May 1942.

full record »

Japanese submarine I-27

One of the Japanese submarines which launched midget submarines to attack Sydney Harbour on 31 May 1942.

full record »

M24

Japanese Imperial Navy midget submarine of the type which entered Sydney Harbour in 1942.

full record »

Rusty Bugles

full record »

Play written by Sumner Locke Elliott about life in the Australian army in the Northern Territory during World War II. Attempts to censor the natural language in the play eventually forced a revision of Australian censorship laws.

The Rats of Tobruk

Australian film made in 1944 that follows three drover friends who enlist during World War II and are amongst the Australian defenders during the siege of the Libyan city of Tobruk.

full record »

USS Chicago

US Navy heavy cruiser which was anchored in Sydney Harbour and was the target of a Japanese submarine attack on 31 May 1942. The torpedoes missed the Chicago but sank the neighbouring HMAS Kuttabul.

full record »

USS New Orleans

United States of America heavy cruiser which saw service in the Pacific in World War II, escaping serious damage at Pearl Harbour only to lose most of the bow to a torpedo in December 1942. It returned to service the following year and was eventually sold for scrap in 1959.

full record »

Bardia Barracks

Barracks which were once part of Ingelburn Army Camp. They were purpose built to accommodate soldiers being trained for World War II and were named for the battalion's first battle at Bardia in North Africa.

full record »

Japanese submarine attack 1942

On the night of 31 May 1942, three midget submarines, each with a two-member crew, entered Sydney Harbour, avoided the partially constructed Sydney Harbour anti-submarine boom net, and attempted unsuccessfully to sink Allied warships anchored near Garden Island.

full record »

World War II

Global conflict during the years 1939–1945. Australia's involvement in the second world war began with Prime Minister Robert Menzies' radio announcement on 3 September 1939 that the country was at war, and ended with Japan's unconditional surrender on 14 August 1945. As a member of the British Commonwealth, Australia fought with the alliance of powers known as the Allies (Great Britain, France, United States of America, the Soviet Union and China) against the Axis powers (Germany, Japan, Italy). More than a million Australians served, and for the first time the country came under direct military attack.

full record »

Allied Works Council

Organisation set up to oversee and organise military construction works in Australia during World War II.

full record »

Australia First Movement

Australian nationalist movement which was anti-British, anti-communist and anti-semitic, eventually advocating an alliance with the Axis powers thereby leading to suppression of its members in 1942.

full record »

Booker T Washington Club

Nightclub in Surry Hills established by the American Red Cross during World War II, exclusively open to those of African or Aboriginal cultural background.

full record »

Central Flying School

RAAF flight instruction facility which moved to Camden briefly during World War II before vacating for the United States Airforce and re-establishing in first Tamworth and then Parkes.

full record »

Randwick Military Hospital

Military hospital established during World War I in Randwick in the former Asylum for Destitute Children building and the Catherine Hayes Hospital. The grounds were in use by the millitary by August 1914, while the buildings were still occupied by children and Asylum staff. The last of the children left the Asylum in October 1915 and by November 300 wounded soldiers were being treated there. The site was formally taken over by the NSW Government in 1916. In 1953 remaining soldiers being treated at the hospital were transferred to the Concord Repatrition Hospital, and the buildings became part of the Prince of Wales Hospital.

full record »

War Effort Publicity Board

Board established in 1941 to co-ordinate advertising in papers and radio in relation to the war effort.

full record »

War Widows' Guild

Support group which promotes and provides companionship and counselling for its members. Begun in Victoria in 1945 and New South Wales in 1946, it initially taught handicrafts to members so that they could augment their inadequate pensions.

full record »

Woman's Fire Auxiliary

Voluntary organisation formed across New South Wales during World War II to perform basic fire fighting work.

full record »

Women's Emergency Signalling Corps

Training school formed to teach women to use telegraphic signalling, which ended up training over 12,000 servicemen and women during World War II.

full record »

Women's Voluntary Services

Voluntary organisation of British origin that connected with Anglo-centric heritage and cultural origins of many towns, whilst working to support the war effort.

full record »

Bright, WJR

Gordon district air raid warden during World War II, administering shelter at 'Killarney Castle'.

full record »

Cazneaux, Harold Ramsay

Son of photographer Harold Cazneaux who died in the battle at Tobruk.

full record »

Cutler, Roden

Soldier and Victoria Cross winner who became a diplomat and Governor of New South Wales.

full record »

Dancing man

An anonymous man dancing in Martin Place during celebrations at the end of World War II who appeared in the 1945 newsreel Peace: Australia Celebrates. His identity is disputed.

full record »

Jackson, William

Youngest Australian awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I who enlisted again in Work War II despite having lost an arm to the military action.

full record »

Mackey, Jack

Soldier awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery during the a battle on Tarakan Island in 1945.

full record »

Pietroszys, Genovefa

full record »

Eastern European refugee who arrived in Australia in 1948 with her husband Stefan as displaced persons. After being threatened with deportation because of health issues, the couple fled authorities and lived for more than twenty years in caves at Killarney Heights and around Middle Harbour. After her death from a heart attack in 1979, her husband went to live in an aged care home where he died in 1982.

Pietroszys, Stefan

full record »

Eastern European refugee who arrived in Australia in 1948 with his wife Genovefa as displaced persons. After being threatened with deportation because of health issues, the couple fled authorities and lived for more than twenty years in caves at Killarney Heights and around Middle Harbour. After his wife's death from a heart attack in 1979, Stefan went to live in an aged care home where he died in 1982.

Starcevich, Leslie T

Australian soldier of Croatian heritage who was awarded the Victoria Cross during World War II..

full record »

Yackels, Alfred Fritz

Man with a police record who was interned during World War II but who enjoyed two weeks freedom in 1940 when he escaped from Holdsworthy Internment Camp.

full record »

Coral Sea Park

Park in Maroubra created as a memorial to the battle fought in the Coral Sea between 4 - 8 May 1942 in which Australian and American aircraft and ships thwarted the Japanese.

full record »

Liverpool Internment Camp

Camp established at the outbreak of World War II to inter those suspected of being a security risk.

full record »

Narellan Military Camp

An extensive military facility from 1940 to 1944 established as a place for army units to form up before they were posted.

full record »

United States Army Depot

Military depot established bythe US Army during World War II on Glebe Island.

full record »

Villawood munitions factory

Factory which was established by the Commonwealth Government in 1941 to produce munitions during World War II.

full record »

War Memorial Park Manly

Public garden constructed in Ivanhoe Park, Manly, as a memorial to the dead of World War II.

full record »

Centaur Memorial Window

Stained glass window at Concord Repatriation General Hospital in memory of those lost at sea when the hospital ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on 14 May 1943. 268 lost their lives and 64 were rescued and their names are inscribed on a roll of honour.

full record »

El Alamein Memorial Fountain

Fountain to commemorate the Australian soldiers of the 9th Division who fought near the Egyptian town of El Alamein in two battles which helped change the course of World War II. As a work of modernist design it was a Sydney icon in the 1960s and 1970s.

full record »

HMAS Kuttabul Memorial

Sandstone column faced with a crown and anchor topped with a silver bell dedicated to those who perished in the submarine attack.

full record »

Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway

Eight hundred metre rainforest walk which links Concord Hospital and Rhodes Station as a living memorial to veterans who served in the South West Pacific area.

full record »

Northbridge Memorial Clock Tower

Square fluted sandstone column surmounted with a four sided clock, located on the northern approach to Long Gully Bridge, Northbridge.

full record »

Second World War Servicewomen Memorial

Memorial features a bronze statue of a uniformed servicewoman standing on a sandstone plinth in front of a sandstone wall. To her right is a bronze bas-relief illustrating the fields in which women served in World War II.

full record »

Victory in the Pacific Memorial Wall and Fountain

Blue wall and fountain in front of Holroyd City Council building dedicated 60 years after the victory in the Pacific to commemorate 44 service personal from the Holroyd area who served and died in World War II.

full record »

'Australian Slang' from a guide to Australia for the United States Army during World War II, 1942

full record »

Contributed By

Internet Archive

[pocketguidetoaus00unit]

('A pocket guide to Australia' prepared by Special Service Division, Services of Supply, United States Army, War and Navy Departments, Washington DC, 1943. p46)

'Lost, Sweetheart?' 1940s

full record »

Contributed By

Private collection

'Spy Murder Plot Alleged: Gang of 20 Caught, Says Forde' newspaper clipping March 1942

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[Press Extracts Australia First Re Internees, A375/NN 65667, page 10 of 31]

(CC BY 3.0 AU) (The Sun, March 1942)

2011 Anzac Day Greece and Crete poster

full record »

By

Department of Veterans' Affairs

Contributed By

Department of Veterans' Affairs

[anzac2011crete]

(Â© Commonwealth of Australia 2011)

A group of Italian prisoners of war behind the perimeter fence of the main compound at the Liverpool prisoner of war and internment ...

full record »

By

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

AWA tower illuminated for VE Day May 1945

full record »

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

American soldiers laughing at a performance by comedian Joe E Brown at an army camp in New South Wales 18 March 1943

full record »

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

[H2000.200/972]

Americans entertained in Sydney c1943

full record »

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

[H2000.200/1479]

(Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs)

Australian prisoners-of-war returning home. Released Eighth Division men coming ashore by barge from the catalinas at Rose Bay 16 ...

full record »

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

[Acc No: H98.103/4220]

(Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs)

Constructing air raid shelter in Green Park Darlinghurst 1940s

full record »

Contributed By

City of Sydney Archives

[028\028798]

(SRC2380)

Constructing an air raid shelter at Parsley Bay 30 December 1941

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ON 388/Box 050/Item 126]

Crowds leaving a shelter in Hyde Park after the 'all clear' has been given c1942

full record »

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

(Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs)

Don't Waste Your Air Raid Shelter by EM Buhrich 1940

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[The Home: an Australian quarterly, Vol. 21 No. 9 (2 September 1940) p 54 - 55 via Trove]

Doris Fitton's production of Sumner Locke Elliott's fine Australian Army play Rusty Bugles, 1948

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[Pix, 25 December 1948, p11 via Trove]

GPO clock face being removed, Martin Place 14 June 1942

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4078, N1914D]

Gun turrets of HMAS Sydney II showing blistered paint on the barrels after the battle of Cape Sparda, Crete 19 July 1940

full record »

By

Eric Charles Evans

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

HMAS Sydney feared sunk - Most Secret memo to the Prime Minister 26 November 1941

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[A5954, 2400/21]

HMAS Sydney reported overdue 25 November 1941

full record »

By

Frederick Shedden

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[A5954, 2400/21]

Internees of the Liverpool prisoner of war and internment camp working in the camp vegetable garden in front of the camp headquarters ...

full record »

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Italian prisoners of war at Strathfield Station after arrival from country prisoner of war camps on the way to the internment camp ...

full record »

By

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Italian survivors of the Bartolomeo Colleoni on the deck of HMAS Sydney II, Crete 19 July 1940

full record »

By

Eric Charles Evans

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Japanese midget submarine being examined 1942

full record »

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

(Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs)

Japanese midget submarine is raised from Sydney Harbour 1942

full record »

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

(Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs)

John McCormack and unidentified woman assembling aircraft cowling in Wunderlich factory, Redfern 1943

full record »

By

Wunderlich Limited

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a727004 / PXA 355, 803]

(Mitchell Library)

Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Thomas Frederick Wong See, the first Australian of Chinese extraction to serve in the RAAF, 1940

full record »

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Light Weight Air Warning (LW/AW) radar, Dover Heights c1942

full record »

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Mrs Florence Violet McKenzie, OBE, founder of Women's Emergency Signalling Corps (WESC) c1941

full record »

Reproduced courtesy of the

Ex-Wrans Association NSW

Mrs Florence Violet McKenzie, the founder of the Women's Emergency Signallers Corps (WESC), c1939

full record »

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Noreen Dudgeon of Rose Bay instructs US Naval personnel in visual signalling, Sydney c1943

full record »

By

Australian News and Information Bureau

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Portrait photo of Genovefa Pietroszys attached to Australian Immigration file 1947

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[PP15/1 1953/64/1306]

Portrait photo of Stefan Pietroszys attached to Australian Immigration file 1947

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[PP15/1 1953/64/1305]

RPL field station, Army Reserve, Dover Heights 18 February 1943

full record »

Contributed By

[Astronomy and Space Science Historical Photographic Archive B81-1]

Racegoers See Air Display 19 April 1942

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.news-article17798654]

(The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 April 1942, p 4)

Refugees arriving in Sydney on the Orontes 29 June 1939

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ACP Magazines Photographic Archive, ON 388/Box 035/Item 183]

(Mitchell Library)

Roosevelt nightclub, Kings Cross September 1944

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[Home and Away - 22272]

(Mitchell Library)

Senator Cameron and Minister for Air, Mr Drakeford at a NSW Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber factory 1 February 1943

full record »

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

(Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs)

Servicemen entering Women's Emergency Signalling Corps, 10 Clarence Street 1940s

full record »

Reproduced courtesy of the

Ex-Wrans Association NSW

Shattered wall of a house in the eastern suburbs after Japanese Shelling of Sydney 1942

full record »

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

Shore defence radar equipment, Dover Heights c1940

full record »

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

The first prototype of the Light Weight Air Warning radar (LW/AW) being assembled, Dover Heights 1942

full record »

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Three members of the Women's Emergency Signalling Corps, l-r Violet McKenzie, Pat McInnes, Esme Kura Murrell c1940

full record »

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Two women operate a detoluator machine at the Commonwealth Explosives Factory, Villawood c1944

full record »

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Unidentified medical personnel on board hospital ship TSS Oranje II, June 1941

full record »

By

Contributed By

Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons

[Object no. 00021315]

(Samuel J. Hood Studio Collection)

Violet McKenzie with overseas naval personnel c1953

full record »

Reproduced courtesy of the

Ex-Wrans Association NSW

War memorial clock, Northbridge

full record »

Contributed By

Willoughby City Library

[PF 6535348]

Women's Emergency Signalling Corps members at Castle Hill c1939

full record »

Reproduced courtesy of the

Ex-Wrans Association NSW

Removal of the Sydney GPO Clock Tower 1942

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4189/1]

Miss Marjorie Tebb recalls coupons used after WWII in her family's butchering business, interviewed 1986

full record »

Miss Marjorie Tebb was born in 1920 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' Here she is talking about the complex arrangements for coupons after World War II that regulated the wholesale and retail trade in meat for CR Tebb and Sons, her family's butchering business.
Transcript

MARJORIE: We went to the abattoirs every morning for a while and then we started to only go three times a week: Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. In the meat hall we had a rubber stamp and if you said 'Right, I want that, how much is that?' they'd tell you so much a pound, or a kilo, as it is now, and then you'd put that rubber stamp on. And then when they delivered it you knew that it was what you'd got at the abattoirs because it had your stamp. At the time there was coupons [for] meat, and you had to have coupons to buy it. Many a coupon I counted; each beast was so many coupons or each lamb or mutton so many coupons per animal, pigs were so many coupons. And when you sold it you had to cut the coupons out of their [customers] books; and those coupons had to be counted and put in an envelope and sealed. You had five hundred in each envelope, an ordinary manilla envelope. You'd put them in and you'd put your stamp on the back of it - we've got a 'CR Tebb and Sons' stamp, you'd seal it and put the CR Tebb stamp on it and write 'five hundred coupons' on it. And you had to send that in to the Metropolitan Meat and Industry Board. They'd receive the coupons form you. That would give you the authority to buy the meat at the abattoirs.

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Miss Marjorie Tebb for 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith.)

Mr Domenico Scuglia discusses restrictions on Italians in Australia during WWII, interviewed 1986

full record »

Mr Domenico Scuglia was born in Italy in 1924, came to Liverpool in 1937, and was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' He discusses here the restrictions placed on free movement of Italians in Australia during World War II, due to Italy's membership of the Axis Powers.
Transcript

DOMENICO: During the war you couldn't go out of Liverpool, a certain distance. If you planned to go anywhere on business you had to get a permit, to let you go. Provided that you didn't get into trouble, and we carried on like that, we had no problems

INTERVIEWER: That was because you are Italian?

DOMENICO: Yes, that was for the war years.

INTERVIEWER: Did your family resent that at all?

DOMENICO: No, you're there and that's it; you had to do it. My father used to never go out or cause trouble or anything and everybody could see that. We had no problem.

INTERVIEWER: You didn't get any harassment from the local people during the war?

DOMENICO: No, no, not here because as I said we knew nearly everybody; small town. Tell you what, they did intern some naturalised [Italians]; it all depended on political involvement. But the majority wasn't naturalised. We applied for it, and they refused our naturalisation during the war years. After the war we applied again and got it through. Actually, we weren't interned but [we were] in the area, in the town itself. If you wanted to go anywhere you asked for a permit and they gave you a permit. You behave yourself and you can get it again.

INTERVIEWER: Who did you have to go to?

DOMENICO: The police.

INTERVIEWER: The Liverpool police?

DOMENICO: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: And what were they like?

DOMENICO: They were alright. As I said we used to know everybody, we used to know the sergeant in charge because his kids and us go to school together, friendly, you know.

INTERVIEWER: Did you ever have to request to go out further than the seven miles [limit]?

DOMENICO: If you had to go on business they would give you [a permit]; but if not, if it was just for pleasure, 'no'. They'd say 'What do you want it for, what are you going to do over there?' and if you say 'visit a friend' well, 'no'. If I had to look for something to do with the farm, then 'yes'. That was fair enough, I think. They used to call us 'aliens', enemies, see? Not the Greeks, not the Russians because they were Allies; but we had nothing to do with the war, they started the war over the other side [of the world]. If you had crook neighbours, and they kept reporting you every day, you had a headache, I tell you.

INTERVIEWER: And what were your neighbours like?

DOMENICO: Very good. Once in a while they used to go there [the police station] every week, they told us long afterwards; always told them [the police] '8 o'clock [Scuglia family] turn the lights out and they're in bed.'

INTERVIEWER: So they would report on you once a week?

DOMENICO: They [the police] were checking up, to see our movements, thought we might be spies or something. We had none of that, we got on all right. [1]

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Mr Domenico Scuglia, from the 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith)

...

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Mr John Costa was born in 1928 and was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960' project. Here he recalls his mother feeding American soldiers on their Italian family farm during World War II.
Transcript

JOHN: My parents were from Italy, from Sicily. My father came out and three years after my mother came out. My people, they came to Chipping Norton, we had a vineyard there and a market garden and I can remember then across the river from our place there was Warwick Farm Racecourse, where quite a few American sailors were in there at the time and they used to come across the river. The river at that time you could walk across it at low tide, it wasnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t very deep, and they used to come around and up to the house, ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“cause a lot of Americans were Italians too, and they used to come over there and have feeds of spaghetti and stuff, Mum used to feed them. I can never forget their faces (we had a couple of cows) they used to like milk shakes, egg flips, and all that sort of thing. They really made us at home - we used to go across with them and they used to give us a few supplies, to keep us going because we had a family, IÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢m from a family of ten, and they were all born around the Liverpool area, all except my sister [who] was born in Pamarea in Italy.

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Mr John Costa, from the 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith)

Mr Pat Cullen remembers using charcoal burners in cars during World War II, interviewed in 1986

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Mr Pat Cullen was born in 1912 and was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960' project. Here he remembers the charcoal burners that were used to replace petrol in cars during World War II.

Transcript

PAT: In the war years, we did our work here, we sold charcoal burners, they were a big thing in those days.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us about those? Were they instead of petrol?

PAT: Yes, petrol got rationed to a very great extent and we had charcoal burners that we fitted onto the backs of cars. We bought the charcoal from Bringelly Council. There they used to burn the charcoal and bring it in. All the cars ran very well on this charcoal over a period of years.

INTERVIEWER: How did it work?

PAT: You started the engine up by a blower, made the gas in the charcoal burn by a blower. If you had a little drop of petrol you could start the engine and get the fire going. The air going through the charcoal made it get red hot, and this red hot gas, red hot coke, gas came off it. It would burn quite ok. TheyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re quite good. In fact, I kept one under my house for years thinking I might come back to it one day but I got rid of it eventually. I supplied all the charcoal burners for all the market gardeners out at Leppington.

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Mr Pat Cullen from the 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith.)

Mrs Jessie La Trobe describes delivering newspapers to military camps during World War II, interviewed in 1986

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Mrs Jessie La Trobe, who was born in 1910, was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' Her family owned a newsagency in Liverpool and here she describes delivering newspapers to local military camps during World War II.

Transcript

JESSIE: We had all the camps to do and down there, where all the houses are now on the left hand side, near Warwick Farm Station, before you cross the bridge, that was a big army camp. It was the British navy that really had it and they called it the 'Golden Hind' and they treated it like a ship. When they went in the gate they went 'onboard', when they came out they came 'ashore'. Then we had the Americans in the centre of Warwick Farm racecourse so we had all that to do, and all the extra people who were about. We had nothing to do with Moorebank and Ingleburn as far as papers went but there were a lot about, a lot of people in the street. I still have my pass to go aboard the Golden Hind. They gave me a pass because we used to have to take papers in to the boys, the paperboys. I used to have to pick the papers up at the railway station, Warwick Farm railway, and take them and deliver them into the camps to the boys in different parts of the camps because they were big camps, and take them down, and then the boys would ride their bikes back here and check their money in.

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Mrs Jessie La Trobe in 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith)

Mrs Lillian Watson recalls an American Air Force plane crash during World War II, interviewed 1986

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Mrs Lillian Dulcie Watson was born in 1904 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' Mrs Watson was witness to the crash of an American Air Force plane, due to engine failure over Hammondville, during World War II.
Transcript

INTERVIEWER: Do you recall the plane crashing?

LILLIAN: Down the back here? Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me a bit about that?

LILLIAN: Yes, I can remember that quite well. It was night time, or dusk, and an air raid warning went and of course the next thing you see all these planes and this plane came round over the house and you could sort of hear the wheels, it wasn't very far off the roof. The next thing we heard Bang! Of course all the kids were out like a shot out of a gun, they were going no matter what happened, they were going to see what happened, and of course they came home and all the tales they came home to tell us. Some gruesome tales they were, some of them. Anyhow, they came home and they had bullets, all sorts of bits and pieces they had, they brought home for souvenirs. I didn't know what to do about them. 'Well' I said, 'You're not taking them into the house, you can put them out in the shed.' A couple of days afterwards, a chap came knocking on the door. He was an American negro, and he said to me 'You got children?', a very abrupt sort of a man he was. I said 'Yes' . He said 'Have they been down the scrub (as he called it)?' And I said 'Oh yes, naturally,' I said, 'All the children have been down there.' He said 'Have they brought anything home from the wreck?'. I said 'Yes'. He said 'You know you can't have them. They belong to the American camp.' I said 'Oh well, you better come and take them'. So he came out and he had a big box and he lumbered all this stuff into the box and he said 'Thank you, you'll hear more about this.' I said 'Oh boy'. So when Don [son] came home from school, because the first thing, all the kids dive out to the shed to see all their souvenirs. And he came in and he said 'What happened to all our things'. I said 'Oh, a chap came and took them all away.' 'Oh, he had no right to do that, we found them!' But they took them just the same; but he never ever came back, we never heard any more about it.

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Mrs Lillian Watson from the 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith)

Mrs Marjorie Gough recalls knitting for soldiers in World Wars I and II, interviewed in 1986

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Mrs Marjorie Gough was born in 1908 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' Here she talks here about her contribution to the war effort in both world wars.
Transcript

MARJORIE: I knitted socks for the first war [WWI] when I was seven. I was born in England and came out. War broke out in 1914 and we came out in 1915 and our boat was the last boat that came out to Australia and then they stopped bringing people out. And we used to knit, in the last war [WWII] you'd knit in church and everywhere, in the last war. Now you wouldn't see people knitting in church but we knitted in church, socks and things for the soldiers.

INTERVIEWER: Who would get the knitted items to the soldiers? Would it be through Red Cross?

MARJORIE: Through Red Cross, yes, and we used to put a little note in and say who did them. My sister, she's still got it I think, she got a reply back from one of the chaps. But the Red Cross, they would supply the wool, and then [we'd] knit for all the soldiers, that was in the first war [WWI]. Then in the second war [WWII] [we] knew people that we'd send them to them.

INTERVIEWER: It wasn't through an organisation in the Second World War?

MARJORIE: No, just knitted them and sent them to people that we knew; little balaclavas and socks, jumpers, things like that. I used to like knitting..

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Mrs Marjorie Gough in 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith)

Peace Declared: a reminiscence of celebrations in Martin Place 1945

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By

Magella Blinksell

Contributed By

Internet Archive

[PeaceDeclaredAReminiscenceOfCelebrationsInMartinPlace]

(Excerpt from A Track Winding Back: Morshead Home Oral History & Reminiscence project)

Reminiscences of the Japanese mini submarine attack in Sydney Harbour 1942

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By

Magella Blinksell

Contributed By

Internet Archive

[ReminiscenceOfNightOfSubAttacksOnSydneyHarbourWwii]

(Excerpt from A Track Winding Back: Morshead Home Oral History & Reminiscence project)

War