room

So elegant in every way. I love the dome.

First class only, steerage gets the mess hall

The advent of World War II in September 1939 prompted the government to proceed with the project, as wireless communication with the civilian population was an important aid to the war effort. The design of the transmission station fell to Alf Howard and Vernon Kenna. Kenna was the divisional engineer for the Commonwealth’s Post Master General’s (PMG) Department’s broadcast construction section. Construction of a transmitter building and its adjoining wireless mast commenced in late 1941. The mast was 76 meters in height. Bald Hills was seen as a strategic location for a transmission station, because its inland location plus the horizon, as seen from the ocean, would be considerably lower. In February 1942, the Bald Hills wireless station became operational after a 10 kW water-cooled, the short-wave transmitter was installed in the station building. To reduce the threat of a bombing raid, the smaller 4QR (also a medium wave station) transmitter (2 kW) in the Brisbane CBD was shut down and replaced by a homemade transmitter established behind Fischle’s jam factory in Roghan Road. This was a temporary stopgap measure undertaken until the move to Bald Hills was completed. The 4QR main transmitter was then removed and re-erected to the Bald Hills wireless station, where it was connected to a new mast. The station’s aerial array had been emplaced in the northwest corner of the former farm’s grounds. But fear of the station being a potential Japanese air raid target prompted many Bald Hill residents to express their concerns about the station’s location. In particular, the aerial mast was not camouflaged, standing in the middle of a cleared field and so it was easy to spot from the air. Experience learned from the 1940 Battle of Britain had shown these transmitter aerials were prime enemy bombing targets. Source: heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/219

The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) was formed in March 1941 after considerable lobbying by women keen to serve and by the Chief of the Air Staff who wanted to release male personnel serving in Australia for service overseas. The WAAAF was the first and largest of the World War II Australian Women's Services. It was disbanded in December 1947. During the early years of World War II the necessity to make use of women in many new avenues of employment became apparent. Despite resistance from some members of the War Cabinet, bureaucrats and the Service, in February 1941 the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) received approval to create the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF). Wireless telegraphists were urgently needed to assist in meeting a temporary deficiency of male wireless telegraphists. Airwomen were accepted into 73 different musterings (trades), including highly skilled technical employment on aircraft. In addition to telegraphists, women became armament workers, electricians, fitters, flight mechanics, fabricworkers, instrument makers and meteorological assistants, besides using skills in many clerical, medical, transport, catering, equipment, signals and radar fields of employment. Over 700 women held commissioned rank and like airwomen, worked in a great variety of administrative, technical and professional tasks. A number commanded units in operations rooms, at General Douglas MacArthur's Headquarters in Brisbane dealing with intelligence matters, at Operational Units, in RAAF Hospitals, Aircraft Depots, Radar Stations, RAAF Bases – wherever they were needed, they served. Airwomen were paid two-thirds of RAAF male pay for equivalent positions. The officers were paid a good deal less than male officers of equal rank. The value of the work and the skills of the WAAAF during a period when thousands of men needed to be released for operational duty overseas and Australia itself was at risk, encouraged the formation of the Women's Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAF) in 1951. This branch of the RAAF was disbanded in 1977 when its members became an integral part of the RAAF. Source: www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0400b.htm