CAMP TASMAN
NUDGEE JUNIOR PRIMARY SCHOOL
INDOOROOPILLY, BRISBANE
DURING WW2

visits since 28 November 2000

Group Captain C.C. Bell RAAF was appointed Deputy Controller of Far Eastern Liaison Office (FELO). He set up Camp Tasman at Indooroopilly in Brisbane where they created leaflet propaganda.

FELO was known as "Section D" of the Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB). It was the Military Propaganda Section of AIB.

Ian Caporn told me that Camp Tasman was located in the grounds of the Nudgee Junior Primary School which later became Xavier Teachers College. The 172nd Station Hospital (US) was also located at Nudgee Junior College at Indooroopilly during WW2.

When Ian  was camped there, one Priest was apparently still located at the school to act as a caretaker, although Ian or his mates never actually sighted the priest. The brothers and staff moved to Mt Tamborine. The school's boat, "The Gary Owen", was sunk during the Australian Army occupation. Xavier Teachers College would be most pleased to welcome back any members of the Army who worked at their school site during WW2 or who have stories or photos to share.

FELO's patrol boats would sail up the Brisbane River to the College when they had to do any work on them. Ian Caporn used to install radios in their patrol boats. They had the following patrol boats:-

45 foot work boats built by General Motors at Fisherman's Bend in Melbourne
46 foot Lars Halverson cruisers
64 Foot Lars Halverson cruisers
a 65 foot Harbour Defence Motor Launch (HDML)

The 45 foot work boats and the 46 foot cruisers had a single GM Grey Marine diesel engine and the 64 foot cruisers had three Grey Marine engines. The HDML boat was an American WW1 vintage boat with two American Liberty Aero engines. It was crewed by some English Royal Navy personnel who had picked up the boat in San Diego out of mothballs and sailed it across the Pacific Ocean to Brisbane. The dangerous Liberty engines were replaced as soon as possible with Grey Marine engines.

The following black and white photos were provided to me by Ian Caporn

	View from the Camp huts at Camp Tasman looking towards the College buildings across the oval.
	Nudgee Junior Primary School in November 2002
	A panoramic photo of the school (facing south) and the playing fields with intersection of Witton Road and Kate Street to the right of the photo. Witton Road runs left to right across the bottom of the photo.
	Close-up of the College
	Entrance to Camp Tasman via the road at the rear for the College. (possibly facing westwards)
	Close-up of the house in the above photograph. Are they still there?
	Some of the huts at Camp Tasman
	More of the huts at Camp Tasman
	More of the huts at Camp Tasman
	Unknown Lieutenant in charge of Camp Tasman. Does anyone know his name?
	More of the huts at Camp Tasman
	View from the huts looking towards the Indooroopilly bridges
	The back road winding down to the main road from the back gate.
	Looking to the right from the back gate of Camp Tasman.
	Indooroopilly Bridges
	View across the Brisbane River from the College.
	Indooroopilly Bridge
	Looking to the left from just outside the back gate to Camp Tasman
	Members of FELO at Camp Tasman at Indooroopilly. Ian Caporn is sitting on the bonnet of the jeep wearing a singlet
	Members of FELO at "Goodrest" at 104 Toorak Road, South Yarra in Melbourne. Albert Klestadt is 3rd from the left, Dov Notkin, a Russian Engineer, is on the far right and Ian Caporn is 7th from the right.
	Close-up of the above photograph.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Ian Caporn for his assistance with this home page. Ian was the signal Sergeant with Lt. Bob Cole in Far Eastern Liaison Office (FELO.

I'd like to thank Brother Jim D'Arcy of Xavier Teachers College for his assistance with this web page.

Can someone tell me more about "Camp Tasman" during WW2?

Were you based at "Camp Tasman" during WW2?

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

"Australia @ War"

This page first produced 28 November 2000

This page last updated 23 April 2008