Brisbane City Architect Frank Gibson Costello designed the City Council’s air-raid shelters to provide a post-war utility as well as short-term safety. After the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942 and the presence of Japanese submarines off the Queensland coast, Brisbane prepared for the possibility of attack, building more than 200 air-raid shelters throughout […]
The following transcript is of a letter written by Michael Arbuthnot Fraser on the 12th November 1916. “Dear Mr Sigley Tell Mrs S I got her first letter & the last one & I don’t know how I can thank her for her thoughtfulness in having my clothes attended to for I am sure they […]
March 1916 and the Australian Imperial Force had arrived in France, within four months they would find themselves at the centre of the conflict taking place on the Western Front. The 5th Division was the first to engage with the German military, taking part in a bloody engagement at Fromelles in Northern France on 19 […]
The strength of home front emotion can be found within the most unpredictable records. Take the rather dull sounding letterbooks for the Queensland Government’s Harbours and Rivers Department. These contain copies of memos and letters that provide insight into administrative instructions. What might surprise you is that, besides finding feelings of patriotism and support for […]