Walking The Battle of Brisbane

Over two days in November, 1942 Australian and United States servicemen clashed in a series of riots that became known as 'The Battle of Brisbane'. This video explores the places in Brisbane where the conflict took place.
#battleofbrisbane #brisbane #queensland

[@johnledingham852]

Another event that took place at the same time, under the Battle of Brisbane umbrella, unfolded on the platform at South Brisbane. The northern terminal of the interstate line between Brisbane and Sydney. A trainload of American servicemen were disembarking from the south, as a trainload of Australian servicemen were boarding to go south. There was good natured bantering being swapped between the two allied sides...until an American soldier called out "Don't worry guys. we'll look after your girls while you're away!' Then it was on! The Aussies spilled out of their train and the biggest punch up South Brisbane has ever seen erupted. Crazy days!

[@ceedeekaytee1961]

As a Builders Labourer in the 1980's I was involved in the renovation of both the PX building and MacArthur's Chambers. The PX building was gutted from top to bottom and was nothing too flash whereas MacArthur's Chambers was full of beautiful old timber and marble and was a well constructed old building. We had to take great care not to damage alot of the interior. Thanks for sharing.

[@lorenzomagazzeni5425]

Mac Arthur alway stayed in the best places. When things went bad, Adios,. Manila hotel, they say that he bought it. Ciao from the Philippines.

[@ozatwar]

Did you see the large steel door on rollers and steel wire ropes under the Edward Street doorway that could be raised to block that entrance? I took photos of it. Your site foreman showed me. He also showed me all the small cages and generator in the basement

[@wefukthenwo]

My Aunty is half American and was born in Brisbane, September, 1943. She never knew her biological father. She only knew that he was a Jewish redhead. Great video!

[@ozatwar]

The Americans left a lot of babies behind. I have received emails from lots of them. Had she done an Ancestry DNA test?

[@grouchogroucho7743]

One of my aunties would often mention the fact that during the war, there were several brothels along Wickham Tce. She always thought kindly of the girls who worked there as, in her opinion, they "saved" ordinary girls like herself from unwelcome attention by the thousands of soldiers in the city at the time.

[@puppooseman2118]

Very well presented, I never knew anything about this incident. Thank you.

[@descloake3041]

My Nanna told me about the battle of Brisbane when I was in primary school (in the early 80's) while taking us grandkids for an excursion to buy ''proper art pencils' from Ekersley''s on the corner of Mary and Edward Streets. Rob mentioned the army kitchens. I was told that the Army Mess was on Mary Street and these old sheds became cheap parking for me in my early twenties. Nanna told me a story of an incident which happened to her while she was here while my Poppa was stationed in Darwin. Nanna was in town with my Uncle Glen as an infant and some GI's offered her some entertainment and also offered to look after the little fella while they were going about it. She said that she was rescued by some Australian soldiers. I heard about this in the early 80's and she outlined the Battle of Brisbane from her perspective.

[@petercastles5978]

Percy, a member of the 2/15 Battalion, 9th Division AIF, told me this story. The Div. had just returned from the Middle East, early 1943, after giving Mr Rommel a touch up at the battle of El Alamein. Most men went straight to their homes in Brisbane etc, but the men from further out had to wait for the weekly train. So the blokes went to a dance at the "Coconut Grove". Well there were plenty of yanks there, in their tailor made uniforms, and our men had the drab Australian uniform on. Our girls rejected them, and wouldn't dance with them. These men had been going in on German troops with the bayonet, so they weren't going to cop this crap. They grabbed a few yanks, flattened them, the band stopped playing, the lights went out, and the dance was over...... My father, another member of the 2/15th , was wounded before the big battle of El Alamein, and at the time of the above story, was convalescing at Greenslopes hospital in Brisbane. He went out one time and an American serviceman took him under his wing. He said to the dad on their jaunt that he thought every Australian soldier was like Joe Louis, the famous American heavyweight. One only had to turn around and an Australian serviceman would knock your block off.

[@hoightb]

A very interesting video mate, an incident which i knew nothing about. I really enjoy your videos mate and look forward to them coming out. Welll done.

[@SteveMack]

Very interesting, and very unknown to most people these days. 👍

[@duncaninglis5407]

Great show Rob I was an Australian Soldier doing the Bicentennial Tattoo we toured every Australian capital city & funny enough me and about 6 of my got into a hell of a blue with American sailers in Brisbane in a pub called the Wintergarden, over the exact same reason you stated we won the blue but still didn’t get the women😂 and I think it’s safe to that mild friendship but hatred it still exists today.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Duncan Inglis thanks so much for sharing this! What a great read. History does repeat itself

[@chuckanoo1455]

From what my dad told me about the "Battle of Brisbane" it was not just the Aussie serviceman in the scuffle, but they where joined by the civilians who (for one reason or another) where unable to join the war effort.

[@colinpenrose8275]

My grandfather spoke of this as he was a serviceman during ww2. He stated that the Aussie soldiers were treated like shit in their own city and the welcome mat laid out to the Americans. Not only that the Americans knew they had the flash uniforms and were much better paid and didn't mind rubbing it into the noses of the Australians. Although some Australian servicemen topped up the pay packets by lining up for the brothels and then selling their spot in the line to the Americans. It was easy money according to the grandfather. According to my grandfather most people in Brisbane were well and truly sick of the antics of the Americans and were happy once they were gone

[@julieschipplock9439]

Very interesting Rob.🙂

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Julie Schipplock thanks!

[@peterblack1538]

G’day Rob, I saw this video a few days back but forgot to comment on it, sorry mate. I knew about this incident as both of my now late parents were in Brisbane at the time of the Second World War. I did not know such detail about it though and thank you so much for bringing it to our attention. You have done a great job as always. Perhaps a visit to what is now called the “reload“ cafe might be of interest to you. It is in chrome Street at Salisbury and was the sight of a munition works during the Second World War. My father worked there on the assembly line. I doubt that you could make an entire video on it, but could be useful for future reference. Yes, keep them coming please as I really enjoy hearing about the history of the city in which I grew up, thanks Rob.

[@clubgus07]

Rob theres just so much to Brisbane City its amazing i just walk the streets and not notice the fine detail, you walk over the Victoria bridge and theres remenants of a Rail wow!! i wonder i mean that piece of light rail but if it were 30-40 years ago and Cross River rail was not even thought or even the Inner City Busway was in it infancy about What im trying to get at if Brisbane City didn't rip up or tar over the trams lines up adelaide st then i think Brisbane would take a Melbourne directiion. This Tram that would cross the old Victoria Bridge would ease the Bus congestion, and now they building a Metro hybrid public mover. Great history on the Battle of Brisbane so much detail thx i love it.

[@raysieber9233]

Another great video, another place on my list to go visit when I'm not working

[@AChannelFrom2006]

This is probably my fave smaller channel.

[@sharynwillis8920]

Thank you Rob, interesting

[@Foeid]

Thank you so much for such an awesome video Rob. I watched it with my wife and kids who usually couldn’t care less about local history, but you kept them highly engaged. You’re doing a great service to our city.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Harry most kind of you to offer such positive feedback. I adore local history and love sharing it with others. Many thanks indeed.

[@Sem5626]

what a gem of a channel, subscribed

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Sem thanks indeed! Great to have you here 🙂

[@chaffcutter58.]

My Grandad Cpl.L. Beutel was amongst it,his name is written under a wall now preserved under the city hall ,where he ran actwo up school.

[@gabjor1969]

Enjoyed the video great work 👍

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Interesting stuff, and a well-put together video. I've shared it on my community tab, in case some of my subscribers are history buffs.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Adam Robert Young thank you indeed for sharing the video, much appreciated. Thanks also for your kind feedback.

[@baymanaustralia]

Excellent video. Subscribed.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Bay Man Australia thank you!

[@shellebelle53]

This was really fascinating Rob, thank you. My Dad was part of the first Aussie troop sent to Vietnam...he reckoned the Aussie soldiers didn't like the yanks

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@shelleigh5993 Thanks! Was the war something he spoke about a lot, or just little bits? I know that some soldiers aren't always keen to go over what they went through.

[@shellebelle53]

@walkaboutwithrob he did talk about it quite a lot but not always about the bad stuff. He used to say the Americans were too loud, and his troop would stay away from the camp during the night because of their noise giving away their position

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@@shellebelle53 It really makes one wonder how they became a superpower with such behaviour.

[@shellebelle53]

@@walkaboutwithrob exactly. If you watch any of their takes on the war through movies, it's like they single handedly won the war. Dad always reckoned they were soft

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@@shellebelle53 They always seem to arrive late for the wars that really matter, yet they start one war after another on their own and then fail to achieve anything.

[@raindog428]

Great stuff! Thankyou xxx love yr sense of humour

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Adele Wall thanks indeed. I try not to be to serious all the time!

[@raindog428]

@@walkaboutwithrob it was the dead pan look when u said about putting yr bag on his desk that cracked me up.Understated is underrated.

[@scottarmstrong2705]

Thanks Rob, appreciated your work

[@graeme8624]

Do you have any information regarding a gun battle between US and Aussie troops at the Indooroopilly Bridge which may have also occurred?

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@graeme86 I don't no, I do know that other minor confrontations did occur in other parts of the city so one may well have happened at the bridge.

[@michaelflanagan8265]

My mother was a teenager and lived at breakfast creek during WW2. I remember her telling me stories of what see saw first hand during the Battle of Brisbane. She also had an older female cousin what meet an American serviceman and eventually married him and moved to Delroy Beach Florida.

[@Rottnwoman]

This seems to be a very "sanitised" version of the story I was told by my father, an Australian Army Colonel. Aboriginals were not allowed to enter the city - defined by streets named Boundary Street in various locations - after dark. American authorities were anxious to fall in with local rules as a PR exercise, so "coloured" American troops were banned under the same rule. My father saw an American GI, not doing anything wrong, shot dead by American military police on the corner of George and Herschel Streets one night. He wanted it treated as murder but nothing was done. He had the start of the battle as being just uphill from the corner, at the entry to an arcade that ran through to Queen Street.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Rottnwoman I don't think it is "sanitised" at all. The purpose of the documentary was to outline the causes of the confrontation and that's what I did. This also included going into detail at 7:19 about a riot that resulted in the African American troops being confined to the south side of the river. As for Aborigines not being allowed in the centre of the City after sunset, that was a rule from the mid 19th century, not the mid 20th century.

[@7403QCM]

​Hey Rob...brilliant stuff as always.. Thoroughly enjoy all your vids that I've seen so far! Great recap of a very 'significant' part of Brisbane's history. Important to understand the tensions, fears, rivalries and Humanities that contribute and form our amazing Australian Culture. Cheers!

[@marcusher4979]

Interesting subject, perhaps a map of the area might help tie the important locations together and show how close they were? 😀

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Marc Usher agreed. I really should have put a map in.

[@ozatwar]

@@walkaboutwithrob www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/bob01.jpg

[@ozatwar]

www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/bob01.jpg

[@growlusnotneeded3251]

It's only recently that wartime correspondence documents released we now can read about it, MacArthur didn't think too highly of the locals and only acknowledge as an Allied victory if the US military wasn't involved and because it was wartime it was censored. As you stated Overpaid, Oversexed and Overseas, the reputation is that they would actively chase married women whose husbands were deployed overseas. But in the end the seppos(yanks) weren't there in defence of Australia, to them it was just R'n'R as they had no skin to loose.

[@gabjor1969]

Have you done any videos on the history of Archerfield airport ? I worked in the area for 20 years and heard about US military using local holes to dump a lot of equipment ? I rennet in mid 80s they drained a water hole and found a lot of cars ect

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@gabjor1969 not as yet but have thought about trying to include Archerfield airport in some way. The old cemetery there is quite interesting.

[@colinvincent9101]

I am coming back over this year, now I can educate my grandchildren, cos you can bet none of this in the P/C schools.

[@sdev2749]

To be honest nothing has changed to this day. I remember back in the 80's and 90's when I was younger girls I knew would find out American warships were in town here in Brisbane so they would dress up and flock to the city night clubs in search of a good time with American sailors. I will be totally honest here and say it pissed me and my friends off...

[@gordonoldfield403]

There was alot of military camps out in Pine Rivers , an old Rum distilary out the back of Westfields Shopping Centre to service them !!! My brother lives at Warner , he's got tent pads on the block behind his house block that he owns too , the officers had concrete pads across the road on the higher ground , there was a block down the road with a bunker on it , they covered it with dirt , & left it closed + other military stuff in the area !!! 100 thousand Americans + 100 thousand Australian troops all around the Pine Rivers area i was told ???

[@Rottnwoman]

Many camped in Kalinga Park too.

[@BradGryphonn]

@gordonoldfield403 I spent most of my teens in Strathpine. The area of Strathpine where the high school and the streets east of there were part of a military airfield complex. Spitfire Avenue was one runway, whilst down the end of Bells Pocket Road there was another airfield. In April 1944, two Spitfires on training runs collided midair, killing both pilots. There was another airfield at Brendale, at the bottom end of South Pine Road.

[@annerowan3647]

Of course the girls went wild, they gave stockings of silk lovely chockies and access to silk by the yard!!! The Brittish girls were the same. The navigator of the Enola-Gay stayed at the block of flats across diagonally to the new Brisbane museum in South Brisbane. Mum found his photos on top of a wardrobe when we lived in that flat. He sadly committed suicide throwing himself off the Storey bridge. How sad, his was the voice that said " dear God ... What have we done!!!" Poor man . Mum still has the photos.

[@servantofgod5642]

The navigator of the Enola Gay lived till he was 93 in 2014 none of them suicided.

[@annerowan3647]

@@servantofgod5642 oh, glad to hear that. He left some photos behind in South Brisbane in Australia. Mum has still got them.

[@deborahprior6486]

the fourth floor, now home of the Lyceum Club, we must add this to our history. Thansk Rob.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Deborah Prior no worries, and thanks for watching the show. What is the Lyceum Club?

[@deborahprior6486]

@@walkaboutwithrob Hello Rob, The Lyceum Club is a club for women interested in arts, sciences and contemporay issues and life long learning, we celebratated our centenary in 2019. Many would be interested in your Battle of Brisbane walk, can you contact me about this please.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@@deborahprior6486 Sure :-) what's the best way to contact you?

[@lencollie1243]

My dad was a raaf driver seconded to aussie SPs.. On the night of the fight he drove a van to catch and arrest aussie diggers. As the SPs put them in and ran off to collect more soldiers, dad broke the lock on the van got back in the drivers seat then informed the diggers that the lock didn"t function and he was not allowed to leave the vehicle, so couldn't stop then from leaving. The SPS were not happy as you could imagine but couldnt spare anyone to keep those arrested in the van A long night arresting diggers with nothing to show for it at the end Dad was posted back to the RAAF.

[@jimw7916]

Im now living in The Philippines and I often get told that.... "Macarthur saved the Philippines" .............. and the first thing I always say is .... "and who saved Macarthur?" Of course it was Australia! ............. Because he was a freemason and they are the ones who write the history, very few people actually know what really happened back then, but if you are lucky enough to speak to the very old generations here in The Philippines, you will hear the truth. Macarthur was DEFEATED by the Japanese army in the Philippines, and immediately retreated to Brisbane Australia, where he was provided with a well trained army and leading officers , by Australia. He was armed up and received Gorilla tactical training from the Austr. Army. He then "returned" to The Philippines with many Aussie troops and equipment and consequently defeated the Japanese. This is why Macarthur's boat (The Bataan") remained in Brisbane as a museum piece. The general was proclaimed (by his own county"s army) as being "insane" because of his crazy insistence of wearing his OWN designed uniform.

[@jamescolindaley]

wow, i use to drive around that city streets in the cab driving days ....

[@reecegurnett1368]

Fun fact, I heard the US government had did a cover up of the incident and never publish a newspaper about Brisbane is because they didn't want to have bad term relationship with there closest ally

[@Dissentient]

I think You are a wizard! 12:41 you had a haircut and then at 14:02 you grew it back!

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Dissentient You're the first person to notice this!

[@sarcasmo57]

I wonder where all the troops will stay during the upcoming war.

[@servantofgod5642]

Jupiters Casino 19:16

[@natashasharik2067]

All those Covid quarantine centres, they’re currently full of US & French service people due the China’s current shenanigans.

[@BARNESSHANE713]

Love it ❤️

[@duncanrichardson5306]

Interesting - so it wasn't about Aussies vs Yanks, in spite of all the tension. The spark was the incident with the MP. And it wasn't the only incident beginning that way, in Brisbane.

[@1247rimini]

Just doing a quick calculation on my mum’s younger sister’s birthday, and wonder if a causation US officer was having a good time with local married ladies around the time of the battle of Brisbane.

[@fortunateson7852]

Growing up I knew 3 people that had US soldier fathers. Of course they never met them or knew who they were. So a lot of women must have been getting laid and not really knowing who with because they never kept in touch. And that was just people I knew from Brisbane. Imagine how many are out there.

[@chaffcutter58.]

Well told mate.

[@ozatwar]

The Australian Canteen was in Desmond Chambers

[@SilkyS1LK1ESilk]

My eldest sister's father was a usa solider. Half sister

[@CHANANNAIRMOSHINGLEFAIRE]

Mate! just a brotherly "Biff" boys get bored when you train us to fight and we don't get to.

[@nigelericbaxter]

Well except the few that got shot

[@ryanzhang-y1i]

Hey Rob, how would populations of various different ethnicities be distributed in this era of the second world war?

[@walkaboutwithrob]

In Brisbane or elsewhere?

[@ryanzhang-y1i]

@@walkaboutwithrob yes in Brisbane.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@@ryanzhang-y1i As far as I know in terms of Brisbane, no one was "distributed" around during the war.

[@MicahBell_1860]

The only grumblings of the diggers directed towards the US troops was that they were, "Overpaid, oversexed & over here!" Update: 15 seconds later you said the same thing

[@aussiedonaldduck2854]

Did you know that people living within 10 Km of the Toowong cemetery can Not be buried there? Got to be dead first. I don't know why cemeteries have walls, The people outside don't want to get in and the people inside can't get out! 🤣😂

[@AlphaGeekgirl]

14:27 🤣 The only way to describe it 😝

[@jahismygod2]

7:35 Lmao

[@Domsfun]

When the US army turned up in Rockhampton qld they were greeted at the old train station as the train came in and a mass riot broke out. Word had been passed across qld of US solders taking advantage of women and leaving them with babies and abusing their power. They took from communities that were left to clean up their mess and left out of pocket with debts unpaid. This behaviour still occurs in CQ when they come in for training with thousands of dollars owed to businesses to this day the US military still refuse to pay. They even did a class action to try to get their the monies owed for stolen goods and services unpaid. The Au gov doesn’t hold the US military accountable to their obligations to the communities affected by the crimes of theft of goods and services owed to those communities. The community is at risk of this every year they come for military training in the region. I have personally witnessed this in my community and was one of the service workers affected that was never paid. It was thousands of dollars owed to multiple businesses as the marines repeatedly scammed their way in the community.

[@abutrug]

that makes a whole lot of sense seeing as all australian gov have passed laws that make our life more difficult. The winners of the war are our enemies. the american gov act like victims yet they dont get invaded, its USA invading every country on the plane since the US civil war. They love war and so do lockheed martin. Wars end when sheep stop sending their children there. As for your story it makes a whole lot of sense. Why don't we learn this at school? I know why

[@kyza_bee]

There was segregation in the USA but not here do though we accepted African American soldiers assistance, the "Yanks" didn't like that they were welcome in pubs and shops etc.

[@teamtoken]

But aboriginals weren’t welcome?

[@geoffmccoll4640]

The Brisbane Line where was it 1942?

[@muddyboots007]

The Brisbane Line was a fallacy. Google Eddie Ward and the Brisbane Line.

[@ozatwar]

There never was a Brisbane Line

[@gordonoldfield403]

From Brisbane to Western Australia (a direct line across) , they were going to give half of Australia away if the Japanese came in through the top !!! McAuther was in Brisbane , he was gunna bolt to Sydney to defend Australia from there !!!

[@ozatwar]

@@gordonoldfield403 There never was a Brisbane line. The mythical "Brisbane Line" was invented by politician Eddie Ward based on a rejected plan (which was not based on a line of defence involving Brisbane by the way) and he used the false story for political purposes. The Australian War Cabinet and General Douglas both rejected the defence plan submitted by General Sir Iven Giffard Mackay.

[@gordonoldfield403]

@@ozatwar Why did McAuther have a bunker in Brisbane & 1 in Sydney ???

[@lorenzomagazzeni5425]

I m old, back then Australian were racist toward Greeks and Italian, now you're telling me they were welcoming black Americans.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@lorenzomagazzeni5425 yep, that's correct.

[@kevinlatham5661]

australians were racist, it was in the immigration laws. australians were racist against countries but made exemptions for individuals.they did not like being told to whom they were to be racist and were disgusted by the americans treatment of their negro soldiers. the negro soldiers were banned from brisbane cbd, confined to south bank. before the greeks and italians it was the irish who were looked down on.

[@waynemcauliffe-fv5yf]

Crawling to the yanks over our own

[@Rottnwoman]

EXACTLY!

[@WELLBRAN]

how about if the aussie females went out with aboriginal men?

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@WELLBRAN well what about it?

[@WELLBRAN]

@@walkaboutwithrob would it be ok

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@@WELLBRAN How should I know. Ask some Aussie females.

[@desembrey]

You may like to contact the RUSI (Royal United Services Institute) at Victoria Barracks on Petrie Terrace (if they are still there - they used to be located in the old stables/WW2 signals building/RUSI Hall at the Countess St end of Blackall St) - they comprise a number of retired folk, who keep records and books on this stuff, and back in the 80s there were some who had been there at the time of this and had much to say (and write) on the subject. Interesting elder folk with lifetimes of experiences between them.