According to Rex Caudle “Chop picnics were very popular particularly at Rapid Creek…A chop picnic is now known as a barbeque...The social life generally for service personnel was somewhat restricted but there was sufficient entertainment to make life quite bearable… various trips into the outback were the thing, particularly Berry Springs which at that stage….was in a completely unspoiled state”.

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Bill Dedman talks about recreation in his oral history. “Besides our training we used to get our leave passes which ceased at twenty-three fifty-nine [hours]. We went walking around the streets, and we made many friends.”

“We used to get out, and in the afternoon we'd go to Dripstone and we'd dig a hole; we'd take a case of beer out, and we'd bury that in the sand. Then at night time we'd go back, and we'd sit around and light a camp fire. Peter Humble and [Bob] Rowan used to play their particular instruments, and the girls used to have dancing around in the sand. It was very nice, and there was no [misbehaving]. There was a lot of respect for our women in Darwin, and nothing was going wrong in the moral side of it. Everyone enjoyed the activities that went on, with the music and a few beers that we used to have during the evening. We'd all pack up around about midnight and go back to our respective [camps and] homes.”

“[We] used to [have] a lot of picnics at Rapid Creek, which used to run off to Darwin, with a lot of the families. We used to all get out together, and we'd have a lot of racing and entertainment. We had a great football team in the Darwin Mobile Force, which had come from all parts.”

“They did have their own dancing arrangements at the R.S.L. Hall, which was on the corner down here, which is a part of the side of – Paspaley [area] ... Quite a big one there. And we used to arrange our own Darwin Mobile Force dances and [other entertainment]. Most of our boys joined the Royal Australian Buffalo Club, which was number one-five-six. And we used to go and enjoy ourselves at [those] turnouts. Then besides that, we used to have our other days in which we used to go swimming [at Mindil Beach and Rapid Creek].” 

“We had a fish trap down at the bottom of Bullocky Point. We used to go down there and take the fishing out. Which we had to be very careful, had to wear our heavy boots, because once the tide went out we found that stingrays used to get in there, and little crocs. ... But we got quite a good supply of fish to keep us going for our menu, which used to be taken up and put in the freezers at Vestey's Meatworks.”

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Bruce Acland recalls  “The Town was fascinating. There were all sorts of nationalities there. There were some pretty rough types. The Gordon’s Don Hotel was referred to as “The Bloodhouse”, and really that was a good description of it. You’d often see somebody hurled out of the swinging doors of the Don onto the footpath outside.” 

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David Druce also describes time off duty in his oral history:  “There was a film theatre set up to show movies…Well, just a screen was erected, very similar to the drive-in theatres and a projector projected the films on to the screen. We had one at Myilly Point and the Army and the Airforce use to come and join us.”

“Also, later into 1943, nurses came to Darwin and the nurses use to come to the pictures. They had a spot reserved for them. Also, in later ’43 …football matches were arranged between the Navy, Army and Airforce…with the troops coming back from the Middle East in March ’43"…[troop numbers in the top end increased]… we had football, basketball, which was very, very rough, and the pictures and a bottle of beer and life became a bit better…We played a lot of poker, two up and all that sort of thing with the Army... well, you wrote letters, sunbathed, swam, played poker, Crown and Anchor. Some would read, but we just played cards. Of course, you had your job to do. You were on watch….You had to get your rest to do your watch. But you didn’t go anywhere. Occasionally in the dry season in ’43 …an Army truckload, or Navy truck, might take 20 or 30 chaps to Berry Springs for a swim or something like that…”

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Betty Duke talks about dances and the fact that she was friends with the girls from the Post Office who died during the first bombing raid on 19 February 1942. "When war broke out we used to have a monthly dance in our house. And of course it was always an effort to gather the girls together — there were never enough girls to share around. So when the post office telephonists used to arrive, we always made a point of meeting up with them, and inviting them, and of course you got to know all the nice young girls, without any problems. They'd come down, and always looked forward to the monthly dance at the Bells' place. It was always quite fun. So that's how we got to know them all so very well...
...we danced to records [laughs]. Oh, you had all the lovely old records that you could think of, and that was it. There was no band... a friend of ours, Peter Humble, who was with the Darwin Mobile Force, played the piano accordion. If ever we could inveigle him to come down and play, he would. It meant he wouldn't be able to dance — he was doing all the playing — but that would break the monotony."

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