Soldiers and Aliens
eBook - ePub

Soldiers and Aliens

Men in the Australian Army's Employment Companies during World War II

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Soldiers and Aliens

Men in the Australian Army's Employment Companies during World War II

About this book

Four thousand Australian soldiers in World War II who signed up for service were never to fire a weapon. Their work was essential for the war effort, but they were 'aliens' - non-British subjects - many born in other countries. Scholars and peasants, musicians and factory workers, communists and royalists, Jews and Catholics, animists and atheists, they all laboured under standard strict Army regulations, living in tents and huts, loading and unloading trains, working the wharves, cutting timber and transporting goods. They raised money for good causes, gave public concerts and staged theatre performances. And every day they feared for loved ones caught up in the horror of occupied Europe and Asia. They were a multicultural force in the Army long before the term 'multicultural' was coined. Largely forgotten, their contribution to Australia during World War II makes for an engrossing story and provides new insights into a critical period of Australian history.

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Yes, you can access Soldiers and Aliens by June Factor in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Australian & Oceanian History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Contents
  5. Author’s note
  6. Acknowledgements
  7. Introduction
  8. 1 Coming to Australia: home is no longer home
  9. 2 Life before the army
  10. 3 Joining up
  11. 4 We’re in the army now
  12. 5 Officers and NCOs
  13. 6 Hard yakka
  14. 7 The enjoyment companies
  15. 8 Most satisfactory service: the Chinese Employment Company
  16. 9 Refugees and rebels: Indonesians and Timorese in Employment Companies
  17. 10 Antagonists, allies and advocates
  18. 11 Religion and politics
  19. 12 Now the bloody war is over
  20. 13 Bergner and Sievers: two ‘alien’ artists in the Employment Companies
  21. Notes
  22. Bibliography
  23. Index