It wasn’t all chop picnics

Images depicting life in the Top End for Defence Service personnel during WWII


Transport platoon at lunch, Coomalie
GA HODGINS, NTRS 1361, Photographs of 43rd Battalion activities during the Second
World War, 1942-1943, Item 3

During the Second World War, many personnel who enlisted with the Australian Defence Forces and in related fields, along with personnel from overseas, found themselves in the Northern Territory.

Whilst in the Northern Territory many service personnel recorded their experiences on camera, capturing images of their daily lives, their work, and their mates. The Northern Territory Archives Service has received donations of these collections, preserving and securing them as a valuable records of this pivotal time in the Northern Territory’s history. In addition to the personal collections, the Northern Territory Archives Service has a large collection of oral history interviews with former service personnel and civilians recording their experiences from this time. Excerpts from oral history interview transcripts have been included in this display.

The display has been organised under themes. Please select the links below to view the images and read the oral history transcript extracts.

Arrival and living conditions
At work and at war
Recreation

Please check our Guide to Archives relating to the Second World War for more details on Northern Territory Archives Service collections.

Full references to the oral histories used in the display are listed below.

NORTHERN TERRITORY ARCHIVES SERVICE Typed transcripts of oral history interviews with "TS" prefix 1979-ct

  • BRUCE ACLAND TS 677
    Bruce Acland came to Darwin during the Dry Season of 1940. He worked for the Department of Civil Aviation as a civilian aeradio operator, and remained in the town until October 1942.
  • REX CAUDLE TS 26
    Rex Caudle arrived in Darwin in March 1939 as a member of the regular Army and he was quartered at Vestey’s Meatworks.
  • BILL DEDMAN TS 692
    Bill Dedman came to Darwin with the Darwin Mobile Force on the Montoro in 1939. He stayed until September 1942.
  • BETTY DUKE (nee Page) TS 791
    Betty Duke, nee Page, arrived in Darwin in 1939. In 1941 she began nursing in the Military Ward of the General Hospital in Darwin. When war broke out
    she was appointed Divisional Commander of the Red Cross and assisted in preparing the isolation wings for a Military Hospital.
  • MELVIN DUKE TS 41
    Melvin Duke was an American serviceman onboard the USS Peary when it was hit by enemy fire on the 19th of February 1942.
  • DAVID DRUCE TS 516
    David Druce enlisted in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve and joined the Writer and Supply Branch in May 1941. He was drafted to Darwin, arriving there in September 1942.
You will find information about the photographs held at Northern Territory Archives Service in the Images in the Northern Territory Archives Collections leaflet. Go to the Oral History section of this site for information about the Oral History Unit. Please contact us if you need further information about Northern Territory Archives Service.