The receipt this week of a photocopy from Andrew Brockett of an item posted in Darwin in January 1942 and thought to be from an American serviceman started me thinking about how little has been written in Australia about the handling of mail from US forces in Australia during WWII. This is strange because the arrival of the Americans in 1942 made a significant impact on nearly all aspects of Australian life.

As a schoolboy at the time I can recall the technical impact. Bulldozers replaced horses pulling scoops. Their aircraft and equipment were impressive and there were thousands of servicemen in the country.

On 29 November 1941, before the USA entered WWII, a convoy left Honolulu bound for the Philippines. The troops and equipment were intended to reinforce US forces there. The convoy consisted of eight transports and cargo vessels and was escorted by the cruiser US Pensacola. It is now known as the Pensacola convoy.

After the convoy had crossed the equator they were advised of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, that the USA had entered the war and that the convoy was to proceed to Australia. Thus the first American servicemen in WWII arrived in Brisbane on 22 December 1941.(2500 men landed in Brisbane and after along voyage there were many letters to send home).

This was the time when Australia was in the most precarious position. There appeared to be nothing to stop the Japanese onslaught south. Australia did not have the resources to defend itself. The Empire route was struggling to maintain its service to England and was using an emergency route to avoid Singapore under attack. The PAA Pacific service between Auckland and San Francisco had been suspended. There was no military air service across the Pacific as the Americans had arrived unexpectedly in Australia and there had not been time to set up an air transport service.

Intending to send some reinforcements to Manila in addition to establishing a force in Australia, two ships from the convoy (the Holbrook and Bloemfontein) left Brisbane on 28 and 29 December 1940 for Manila via Darwin. They arrived in Darwin on 4 January 1942 where troops and cargo were unloaded.

Figure 1. First mail from US forces Australia during WWII

Figure 1. First mail from US forces Australia during WWII

The envelope illustrated in figure 1 contains much of interest. It was posted through the Darwin civil P.O. which was destroyed on the first Japanese air raid on 19 February 1942.

It was censored by the Darwin civil censor and is franked 4 shillings for air mail to the USA.

Andrew Brockett, correctly I suggest, felt this letter had been posted by a US serviceman. That this letter was posted a few days after the arrival of the first US forces in Darwin and was addressed to a member of the US forces in the USA supports this view.

Before the arrival of US forces in Australia there was almost no contact between the ordinary Australian and people in the USA. It seems to me it is unlikely that a civilian in a small remote settlement would be writing to a serviceman in the USA.

The postage was paid at the correct rate for transmission by TEAL and the PAA Clipper service to the USA but that service was no longer operating. The suspension of the Clipper service had been announced on 19 December 1941. Nevertheless covers intended for this service are known posted much later. Until I saw this item the latest date I had seen for mail intended for the clipper service was 24 December 1941.

It seems understandable that a town as small (population 6,000 in 1938) and remote as Darwin would not be aware that a new service was about to start as postal notices from the managing post office in Adelaide, 2,000 miles away, would have taken time to reach Darwin by mail.

On 19 December 1941 the Brisbane Courier Mail reporting the suspension of the Clipper service added “Post office officials told the Associated Press that the new route for Australian airmail had not been decided and that air mail would be held up temporarily”.

On the same day, in Australia, it was announced that a new service between Australia and Britain was to be established, by sea to the USA and by air to England. The route across the Pacific to the USA was by sea only. The new rate was two shillings and one penny per ½ ounce to the USA. The earliest cancellation known to me is Jervis Bay on 3 January 1942. It was back stamped in England on 10 March 1942.

The American serviceman posting his letter at the Darwin Post Office would have asked for airmail to the USA. We know now that the Clipper service had ceased permanently but at the time people thought the closure was temporary and soon to be replaced with another air service. One has to be careful about condemning a letter which we now know was over franked. I suggest this letter was correctly franked according to the information then available in the Darwin PO.

It should be noted, too, that the Americans had not been expected to be sent to Australia when they left their homeland. They had, therefore, made no arrangements to establish their own field PO’s. These were not established until several months later.

Are any readers able to provide more examples of mail censored in Darwin or mail from the first US servicemen in Australia back to the USA? It would be great to be able to produce a follow up article with more examples and information.