Information

Camp Columbia was a United States Army military camp built during World War II to accommodate American troops. This was an extensive site, divided into multiple areas that straddled the current Ipswich Road. It contained a general hospital, other medical facilities and an Officer Candidate’s School from October 1942 to July 1945. The Sixth US Army Headquarters was stationed there.

Following the departure of the US 6th Army departure to Hollandia, New Guinea, the site was taken over by the Netherlands East Indies Government-in-Exile (NEI – the only foreign government to be established on Australian soil) and was home to Dutch troops, the Netherlands East-indies Forces Intelligence Service (NEFIS), the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA) and the Netherlands Indies Government Information Service (NIGIS). A NEI transport unit maintained and flew Dakota aircraft at Archerfield. After World War II, the site was used by the Australian military and then as a migrant reception centre known as the ‘Wacol East Dependants Holding Camp for Displaced Persons’. In 2005, the National Service Heritage Precinct was inaugurated on 1.3 hectares of the former Wacol Army Camp. The rest of the land will be used for an industrial complex.

Citations

Queensland Government, Queensland World War II Historic Places, ‘Camp Columbia (United States Army 1943-44)’ (www.ww2places.qld.gov.au/places/?id=1786); Camp Columbia (Dutch Forces 1944-45) (http://www.ww2places.qld.gov.au/places/?id=1787), sighted 25 July 2017).

Image Citations

The Mess of A Company, 11th National Service Training Battalion at Wacol, 1958. Australian War Memorial. Record number P05887.008.

Map References

Qimagery. Ipswich Area 1944. Scale: 1:25,000.