CAMP VICTORIA PARK
HERSTON, BRISBANE
DURING WW2

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Sign erected by the Brisbane City Council at the Clubhouse of the Victoria Park Golf Course

 

Camp Victoria Park was built to accommodate all of the logistical support for the American forces who had started to swarm into Brisbane after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The camp consisted of a large number of pre-fabricated buildings which stretched from Herston Road across the park to Gregory Terrace.

The Headquarters for the United States Army Service of Supply (USASOS) was established at Camp Victoria Park from August 1943 until they moved to Hollandia in September 1944.

 

The entrance to Victoria Park Hqs. U.S. Army Services of Supply (USASOS)
 across the road from the Medical School on Herston Rd. in 1944. You can
see in the distance, the back of the Officers Club on Gregory Tce. Hqs. USASOS
was the main U.S. Army in Australia, after most of the Americans had left Australia.

 

Part of Camp Victoria Park
(Photo supplied by Bill Bentson)

 

Newspaper clipping on the flag pole at Camp Victoria Park
which was located at the Victoria Park Golf Club

 

The USASOS was responsible for the administration of the supply of all materials for the US Army from tooth brushes to a large tank. There was a mixture of office and living quarter buildings located  in Camp Victoria Park. RAAF Command took over the area after the US Army moved out in September 1944. 

The area is now mainly taken up by the Victoria Park Golf Links. There are at least two buildings left from Camp Victoria Park still existing near the Energex Control Centre. One houses the Queensland Energy Museum and the other is currently used by the Queensland Department of Health. The latter building had been previously used by the Queensland Electricity Generating Board (QEGB) as their Southern Region Office (I used to work in the building for a number of years).

The Gregory Terrace Officers' Camp was located on the other side of the railway line from Camp Victoria Park.

Just after WW2, the newly established Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) moved into the "temporary" buildings of the WW2 Camp Victoria Park opposite the then Brisbane General Hospital. They stayed there until 1977 when they moved to a new building, specifically erected for the purpose at the Royal Brisbane Hospital,

vp07.jpg (7413 bytes) United States Army Service of Supply (USASOS) Insignia
vp11.jpg (296748 bytes) An aerial photo taken in 1946 showing almost the full extent of Camp Victoria Park and the nearby Exhibition Grounds
vp01.jpg (33603 bytes) Former military building from Camp Victoria Park now used to house the Queensland Energy Museum in the rear of the Energex Control Centre
vp03.jpg (26890 bytes) The building that the Queensland Energy Museum is housed in is a very long building. It is believed that it was used as a store during WW2
vp02.jpg (46332 bytes) Inside the Queensland Energy Museum building
vp04.jpg (37549 bytes) Another building at Camp Victoria Park used after WW2
vp05.jpg (34642 bytes) USASOS Gate Guardian Schneider Howitzer
vp06.jpg (42850 bytes) Victoria Park Temporary Tenements, former RAAF huts
vp08.jpg (37147 bytes) Accommodation for the Air Training Corps at Victoria Park in USASOS huts after WW2
vp10.jpg (28737 bytes) Aerial photo of part of Camp Victoria Park, September 1943

 

In 1944, Ken Osterberg was a member of Detachment 3 of the 832nd Signal Service Company. Ken went overseas as a replacement and landed at Milne Bay, New Guinea and was then sent from there to Brisbane via Sydney. His group from the 832nd worked on the 7th floor of General Douglas MacArthur's General Headquarters, South West Pacific Area (GHQ, SWPA) in the AMP Building in Queen Street, Brisbane. Ken and his unit were initially billeted in an old orphan's home, then he moved to a camp which he believes was Camp Moorooka, then moved to a camp at a tennis club, and finally, they moved Camp Victoria Park.

 

campvictoriapark04.jpg (55632 bytes) 1. Mail Room
2. Mess Hall
3. The Club used by Ken Osterberg
campvictoriapark03.jpg (22207 bytes) Close-up of one of the above buildings at Camp Victoria Park
campvictoriapark02.jpg (39231 bytes) The "X" denotes the barracks that Ken Osterberg lived in at Camp Victoria Park
campvictoriapark01.jpg (17758 bytes) Close-up of two of the above buildings

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Ken Osterberg of Detachment 3 of the 832nd Signal Service Company for his assistance with this home page.

 

Can anyone help me with more information?

 

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©  Peter Dunn 2015

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This page first produced 28 November 2001

This page last updated 24 January 2020