This photograph shows Perth, Western Australia at Christmastime in 1923. The Majestic Theatre is in the foreground, displaying posters advertising Fools of Fortune (1922) and The Buster (1923).
Category Archives: Vintage
On this day: Edwardian London from the air
7th November 1909: English scientist Norman Lockyer photographed London from the air with a use of a helium balloon. This image shows Sloane Square, on the boundaries of the Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Chelsea districts.
Lockyer, who – along with French scientist Pierre Janssen – was credited with discovering helium, was seventy-three at the time the photograph was taken.
Vintage Canberra
It’s springtime in Australia! Here’s an image of the season in Canberra in the past.
Bombed London Under Snow
January 1942: London stands in ruins and covered in snow after German bombing in the Second World War. A crane and truck can be seen clearing debris.
St Paul’s Cathedral – which survived the Blitz – is in the background.
From the collection of the Imperial War Museums.
On this day: Australians off to War
28th December 1940: Members of the Australian 2/15th Infantry Battalion wait to board the troop transport the Queen Mary at Pyrmont in Sydney. They were about to leave to fight in the Middle East.
Second World War.
From the collection of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
On this day: Christmas after the Korean War
23rd December 1953: Australian soldiers finish decorating a Christmas tree near the new border between North and South Korea. The tree is decorated with electric lights, to be powered by a generator.
The Korean War ended earlier that year, in July. 17 000 Australians served in Korea between 1950 and 1953.
From the collection of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
New Zealand Mistletoe
New Zealand Mistletoe circa 1920, by Nina Jones (born in Christchurch in 1871, died in Nelson in 1926). Jones was a prominent New Zealand botanical artist.
On this day: Australians off to War
Nearly one in ten of the personnel serving under Britain’s Royal Air Force command in the Second World War were from the Royal Australian Air Force.
On this day: Attack on Pearl Harbor
US Marines are seen here taking up positions near the unfinished swimming pool during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the 7th of December, 1941.
The attack finally succeeded in drawing the United States into the Second World War.
A Vietnam War Christmas
This collection of images shows Australian soldiers celebrating Christmas in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s.
Australia committed approximately 61 000 troops to the Vietnam War between 1962 and 1972 (and again occasionally until 1975), including many thousands of conscripts.
All the photographs are from the collection of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
Private David McColl of Canberra, hanging puddings to mature before Christmas.
December 1967. Nui Dat, Vietnam.
Newly arrived members of 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), preparing their base camp for the Christmas season.
November 1970. Nui Dat, South Vietnam.
Corporal Arthur Wallis, 21, sharpening a knife in preparation for carving the three prime hams he has prepared for Christmas.