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The Geelong Times Issue #297
That is until the invasion of Poland by Germany on September 1, followed two days later by the static echo of King George the Sixth’s voice through the wireless: "… For the second time in the lives of most of us we are at war… For the sake of all that we ourselves hold dear, and of the world’s order and peace, it is unthinkable that we should refuse to meet the challenge… May [God] bless and help us all." Eager to prove loyalty to Britain and power to the rest of the world, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies declared war against Germany on the same day, and it was after this declaration that Geelong and the rest of Australia became a very different place. Conscription was introduced in to Australia in 1942, whereby it was compulsory for all men aged 18 to 35, and single men aged 35-45 to join the Citizens Military Forces (CMF). In Geelong prior to that, Dennys – a wool-broking company – established an informal conscription policy which required "every single man of military age to offer himself for military service", and upon their safe return, Dennys guaranteed the men a permanent job. Pilkington Glass and Ford Geelong also made significant contributions. Pilkington glass produced goggle glasses, tank windows and scuba glasses during WWII, while Ford Geelong’s production facilities were converted in order to manufacture landing barges, military vehicles and ammunition materials. Having just moved to Kardinia Park after Corio Oval was commandeered by the military in 1941, the growth of Geelong Football Club was put on hold after the players joined the war efforts in 1942-43. It was during this period of conscription that Geelong truly began to transform. Young men were mostly at military training camps, or already fighting in the battle forcing more women in to the workforce. The Geelong showgrounds were transformed in to a bustling military base. "It was scary… but I suppose we were younger then and just accepted life as it was. You knew something was going on because there were always servicemen in the area doing routine military marches in the streets. We all lived day by day, and kept thinking ‘how long was it going to last?’ and hoped it was going to be over soon," said eighty-nine year old Geelong lady, Edna Dean. Edna remembers the presence of soldiers at the Palais dance hall, the difficulties of food, clothing and petrol rationing and the absence of her then Dimboola-born fiancé, Reg Dean, who was a sergeant stationed on the Torres Strait Islands. During the day, Edna spent her time working at her neighbour’s haberdashery store on Pakington Street, "selling dresses and things like that". The American soldiers stationed in Geelong – "at the race course and different places" were "just part of normal life". "We saw them through church. They had their leave passes at night and went to dance halls. We used to go down to the Sailor’s Rest where the sailor’s went who came in off the boats and servicemen used like a recreational place. I did a bit of voluntary work to help out with the entertainment – like prepare supper and play billiards. I was good at billiards back then… don’t know if I could still play now," Edna mused. In spite of the ugliness and hardships of WWII, in 1944 Reg sent Edna a milestone telegram from Townsville just before he served on Thursday Island that simply read, "Arranged wedding. 14th October"; finally a wedding date since their first meeting four years earlier. But he was forced to send another telegram soon after from Queensland’s capital: "Hold everything. Held up in Brisbane". Edna said: "My grandfather was staying at our place at the time and he kept saying ‘don’t worry about it, he’ll arrive in time’. Our church minister said ‘we’ve just got to take it as it is and see what happens’. He was used to what went on with the servicemen." "I arrived in Geelong on Thursday, and we were married on the Saturday," said Reg. "This year we’ll have been together 68 years… you only get twenty years for murder." Edna laughed. "We didn’t have the coupons or the money," she recalled. "I borrowed [my neighbour’s] wedding dress. The church was only just across the road – I could’ve walked there really but I still took the car. We went around the block in it." After Reg returned to Thursday Island, the married couple communicated through letters that were "hard to write because you didn’t know what you could and couldn’t write". "Anything written that was [inappropriate] was cut out with scissors or a razor blade," Reg said. "All mail was censored," Edna added. "We didn’t really know things were as bad as what they were down here. It wasn’t let known in the papers. People didn’t realise [the war] was that close. We didn’t know there was the bombing up at Darwin. It was hushed." "[The Darwin bombings] were definately something I knew all about," said Robert (Bob) MacDonald, having been sent over to Western Australia as military reinforcement after Japan attacked Darwin on February 19, 1942. But after the threat of a food shortage in Australia, Bob – and his farming knowledge – was sent back to his property "Blairwood" in Mannerim, Geelong. "Australia was getting into difficulties as far as food, farm workers and men with qualifications. So they decided to release 32 000 servicemen and I was one of them. I realised that I was going to be doing a better job for the country at home producing food… and my father had all the necessary gear and the land to produce more food, but he had no labour," Bob said. "[During the war], the feeling wasn’t too good. Lots of people shifted from the likely targets. Queenscliff was highly fortified but even the people down there sent their children inland to get away from [the bay]. People were pretty worried about the water supply. Another thing they were terribly concerned about was incendiary bombs. The outcome was that lots of fire brigades were formed." Like Edna Dean, Bob vividly remembers the "ration tickets" for food, petrol and clothing, but because of his family’s access to food and petrol on the farm, the only "problem was you needed quite a lot of ration tickets" for appropriate farming clothing for cooler weather – "like an overcoat". According to Bob, when it was announced the war had ended in 1945, the relief and exhilaration Geelong felt was evident through excitable "street celebrations and dances everywhere". But the laughter, music and cheers dulled when Australian soldiers and prisoners of war began to return home. "One fellow I remember came off the boat so thin they had to carry him, and that was terrible. Shocking. My mother lost three brothers in the First World War. That was really sad. Imagine three people out of the one family getting killed. "Hitler was an evil man, but I always thought the Germans were generally good people. I had an uncle who served in the first war and he told me how stupid it all was… you’d be out there in the battle field firing away as hard as you could, and then all of a sudden you’d have a cool off to bury the dead, and you’d be out there working together with them," Bob said. "I know a German fellow who was a POW in Queenscliff. He was working on a farm out here, and then came back after the war to work for the family that he had worked for during the war. They accepted him back and treated him like part of the family." By Lisa Humphries |
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25 April 2012