This year marks the 75th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The significance of this anniversary provides an opportunity to recognise and acknowledge those Australians who contributed to the war effort and defended the freedom of our nation throughout the Second World War.
To commemorate this anniversary, there will be an exclusive preview screening of the The Battle for Australia: Far North Queensland at War documentary, which we had produced thanks to the Department of Veteran Affairs.
On the 15th August 2020 at 6:00pm we will be holding an event in the Shangri-La Ballroom where we will be accompanied by the esteemed Gordon Grimwade (BA, M.Lit, C.Geog, FRGS, MPHS) We feel privileged to be in the company of such a great man with strong ties to the wider Cairns community. Gordon will be addressing Cairns’ involvement during the Second World War and the significant military battles around our region.
Gordon’s several decades of experience in military heritage projects are diametrically opposed to his negligible experience in the military: two years as an Air Training Corps cadet. However, oral history does record that during a 1944 air raid in London he was unceremoniously bundled under a bed when a V1 engine cut out just above the hospital.
Since settling in Far North Queensland last century Gordon’s heritage work has extended from recording ancient axe quarries in northwest Queensland to conservation and presentation of diverse military hardware and infrastructure. The latter have ranged from conserving nineteenth century, six-inch, breech loading guns and associated fortifications along with 1915 German light mortars, and developing Anzac drive trails. More recently, he has added several Second World War features to the list: a 3.7” anti-aircraft gun in the Torres Strait, a Second World War military hospital site and the Cairns naval fuel tanks.
Gordon has published widely and is co-author of ‘Northern Anzacs: How the First World War Shaped the Far North’. He holds Adjunct Senior Lecturer positions in archaeology at both Flinders University and the University of New England and is also a professional historian and geographer. Gordon is a former member of the Queensland Heritage Council.
