Camp Strathpine

Area 1 (Head Quarters and Support units)

Type: Military camp
Region: South-East

One Mile Creek, Samsonvale Road, Forgan Road and Protheroe Road, Joyner 4500

Camp Strathpine was occupied by the US 1st Cavalry Division from mid 1943 to early 1944, and the camp was subsequently used by the 7th Division, 2nd Australian Imperial force (2nd AIF).

History

Camp Strathpine was built between December 1942 and July 1943 to accommodate the US 1st Cavalry Division, one of the four US Divisions (also including the 24th, 32nd and 41st Divisions) which trained in Queensland before being sent to New Guinea. The main body of the 1st Cavalry Division arrived in Brisbane on 26 July 1943 on the troopships USS George Washington and USS Monterey, an advanced echelon having arrived in late June on board the USS Maui. The 1st Cavalry, under Major General Innis P. Swift, was shipped as a Light Infantry division of 15,000 men equipped with vehicles instead of horses, and was assigned to the US Sixth Army.

Camp Strathpine was constructed by US troopers and Australian civilians, and the area’s forests, undergrowth, streams and ravines were used for jungle training. The men of the division also received amphibious warfare training at Toorbul Point, with practice landings on Bribie Island, while some trained at Port Stephens in NSW. Accommodation for most of the men was in tents, although the camp had plenty of buildings, including latrines, ablutions, shower enclosures, kitchens, canteens, recreation huts, water and power supply buildings, mess sheds and shelters, warehouses, various huts and store buildings, offices (at the HQ), picture theatres, and a prison stockade. Some log cabins were also built as mess halls.

Although the original design of the camp intended to make maximum use of natural cover, the felling of trees to erect rows of tents negated this plan. Tented areas had pathways gravelled with log edges, with logs also laid around the tents, while trees and stumps were painted white to 4′ (1.2m) high, to assist night navigation around the camp. The main fresh water pumping plant for the camp was at Gordon’s Crossing, with another pumping station at Young’s Crossing.

The site of Camp Strathpine stretched from Lakeside Road near Dakabin Station in the north to just south of the South Pine River at Albany Creek. However, the actual camp sites for units consisted of six main areas. Area 1 was located in Joyner, west of One Mile Creek, north of Samsonvale Road (then called Swift Drive), east of Forgan Road (then called Pershing Drive) and south of Protheroe Road (then called Scenic Drive). Units in this area included the 8th Engineer Squadron, 1st Medical Squadron, 27th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company, and the 1st Signals Troop. The HQ was roughly where Ribblesdale Court is now located.

Source/comments

Spethman, DW; Miller, RG; Deighton, LJ, October 2000. Divisional Camp- Strathpine, 1943-45. US 1st Cavalry Division, Australian 7th Division (2nd AIF). Fort Lytton Historical Association Inc.

Charlton, P. 1991. South Queensland WWII 1941–45, Boolarong, Brisbane.

Boudreau, WH. 2002. 1st Cavalry Division—a spur ride through the 20th Century, from horses to the digital battlefield. Turner Publishing Company, Paducah, KY.

Casey, Hugh J., ed. 1951, “Volume VI: Airfield and Base Development", Engineers of the Southwest Pacific 1941–1945, Washington, D.C, United States Department of the Army.

National Archives of Australia, Folder O to S Folio 63. Strathpine Camp Military Area - Roads and Facilities of Unit Areas - Site Plan [1/S/40]. 1945

National Archives of Australia LS705. Strathpine camp area 1942.

Dunn, P. Camp Strathpine in Brisbane

Dunn, P. 1st Cavalry Division United States Army based at Camp Strathpine, Qld and Port Stephens, NSW during WW2

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