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.
Tag Archives: Queensland
Australia Day
Today is (the increasingly controversial) Australia Day, so here are three girls and a kangaroo in Australia, circa 1900-1910.
From the collection of the State Library of Queensland.
On this day: land for sale in Australia
This 1884 poster from the Australian coastal colony of Queensland advertises a land sale in the northern town of Townsville on the 6th of November.
Eighteen years earlier the area had been declared a municipality, and two years before this sale took place the area’s population was 4000.
On this day…
Miss Bonnie Orchard, the winner of the Sirens of the Surf competition on the 5th of October, 1936. The competition took place in springtime at the holiday resort of the Gold Coast in the state of Queensland in Australia’s north.
The image is credited to George Jackman.
Eighty Years Ago: Australia’s Women’s National Emergency Legion is Formed
Horsewoman in the Australian Women’s Emergency Legion. September 1939. X
The Women’s National Emergency Legion, an auxiliary organisation in Australia during the Second World War, was formed in September of 1938.
Based in Brisbane, Queensland, only women of British origin were allowed to join.
Article from The Morning Bulletin. Rockhampton. 18 November 1938.
Women considered eligible were provided with training in areas considered necessary to the war effort, such as first aid and truck driving.
Miss Tony Mitchell at Somerville House in Brisbane, 1942. Mitchell drove cars and trucks for the US Army. X
When war broke out in the Pacific at the end of 1941 women were attached to US military units to work as drivers and clerks. They also worked for British and Dutch units based in Australia.
The organisation ceased operations a couple of years after the end of the war.
On this day: Australia at the outbreak of war.
Seven weeks after the outbreak of the First World War, and six weeks after Britain – and therefore Australia – declared war on Germany, a military parade took place in the streets of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was the 14th of September, 1914.
Featured prominently in this postcard image are the Light Horsemen, who played a significant role in Australia’s participation in the war.
Labour Day in 1911
Today is Labour Day in the Australian state of Queensland, though the holiday falls on different dates in other parts of country. The image below, from Queensland’s State Library’s collection, is of a Labour Day parade in 1911.
Labour Day in 1914
May Day in 1953
This image is of the “Labour Day” float in the May Day parade in Queensland, Australia in 1953.
In Times Gone By... 
