CAMP BALACLAVA
US NAVY CAMP AT EARLVILLE
NEAR CAIRNS, QLD
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII

Camp Balaclava was built by the 19th Naval Construction Battalion or 19th Seabees at Earlville in Cairns in far north Queensland.

About the time we were finally accomplishing a routine we were boarded on train to Cairns where we constructed a camp called "Balaclava", which prior to our arrival was a sugar cane field. The purpose of this camp was for advanced training and to establish such a facility close to New Guinea which based in my recollection was still under contest. My understanding is that the camp at Cairns was later used by Army for their purposes.

The train trip was really quite an undertaking with the three different rail gauges requiring a complete loading and unloading of the train , people, freight, equipment and whatever else it took to move a Battalion. Because of this situation the trip as I recall took almost ten days or two weeks. For feeding field kitchens were set up and taken down on a daily basis. Card games, sleep and boredom were the normal of the day.

NAA Plan

Camp Balaclava near Cairns

1952 aerial photo from QImagery showing the location of Camp Balaclava at
 Earlville. The slabs of the two largest buildings on the plan can be seen along
with a smaller long building above those 2 slabs. Thank you to Peter Connors
and Paul Snow for helping me to pinpoint the camp's location.

The 26 Aust Company AASC of the Australian Army concentrated its personnel at Balaclava near Cairns in February 1943. It is not known where they were at Balaclava. 26 Coy AASC was reorganised in May 1943. Coy HQs, a transport Platoon, an RDI and part of the workshop became 157 Aust General Transport Company which moved to Merauke.

Trove:- Cairns Post Saturday 30 December 1944

The US Navy Seabees advertise their dance at
the Cooper's Hall at Edmonton on 3 January 1945

The US Navy supported the work of the Australia Army with their Malaria control measure in the Cairns area. Drainage works were carried out on the city's three main mosquito infested areas. These works included the erection of 12 or more flood gates to prevent the intake of brackish water into mainland streams, the spraying of the remaining water holes with D.D.T. in oil which led to the practical elimination of the particular anopheline carrier in the Cairns area. These works began in August 1943 and was completed in the last few months before 26 October 1945 by the Australian Army, Navy forces and the Allied Works Council AWC. An article in the Cairns Post dated 26 October 1945 stated as follows:-

"The Bungalow area, on Chinaman Creek, as the lost potential breeding ground for the anopheles punctulatus (var. moluccensis) was cleared first. Arterial drains were built along Spence and Moody Streets by the U.S. Navy and an engineering unit, using a mechanical shovel for their excavating work."

They used 3/4 yard draglines to help construct drains 30 feet wide and 3,000 feet long for the drainage project.

A memo dated 13 April 1944 suggestedd that the 2/109th General Transport Company might take over Camp Balaclava.

REFERENCES

"The Unit Guide - The Australian Army 1939 - 1945, Volume 5", by Graham McKenzie-Smith AM, Page 5.047

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thanks Peter Connors and Paul Snow for their assistance with this web page.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 2 January 2023

This page last updated 05 January 2023