Australian Officer’s Club

Seaview Hotel

Type
Recreation/community
Region
Townsville

The Strand (cnr Gregory Street), Townsville 4810

The Seaview Hotel on the Strand was the wartime home of the Australian Officer’s Club. Personnel from the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) staffed the club. In a Report on civilian morale, the picture was painted that the Officer’s Club was the scene of regular “drunken debauches” and “depraved orgies". The report details several supposed incidents which gave the Officer’s Club this reputation.

Source/comments

Department of Defence Correspondence files Report on Civilian morale in North Queensland ACT A816, 37/301/199.

HQS Base Section Two Telephone Directory, May 1944, Restricted. Author collection.