Stage Number: MBNH.09.03.22
Group: Old Town & River
Local Study Area: Fortitude Valley-New Farm-Newstead
Epoch: Early 20th Century
Street Address: 42 Oxlade Dve. New Farm
Latitude & Longitude: -27.47308333,153.04972222
Time Link: 1943
Map Link: 1946
Image Time Point: 1946
The US 7th Fleet Officers’ Club was built in 1943. The U.S. Navy built it as the 7th Fleet’s Officer’s Mess for its New Farm submarine base, one of two major USN bases in wartime Australia. Due to American access to liqour and other luxuries and its regular dances, this became a popular entertainment venue in Brisbane. After the 7th Fleet rebased in the Philipinnes in early 1945, the New Farm base facilities were handed to the newly arrived British Pacific Fleet. Ater WWII, this building was leased by the Commonwealth to the Returned Limbless Sailors and Soldiers Association, which ran it as the ‘Riverside Ballroom’. Then it became the New Farm R.S.L. offices. It is the only remnant of Brisbane’s U.S.N. submarine base.
Discover Queensland at war, Queensland World War II Historic Places website
Qimagery. Brisbane City Council Series 1946. Scale: 1:15,900.
