2/43rd Australian Infantry Battalion and the Woodside Camp: Daily life in a 1940 South Australian Battalion

The 2/43rd Australian Infantry Battalion was formed on 17 July 1940, after the start of the Second World War. It was stationed at Woodside Camp in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia from July until December that year, alongside two other South Australian Battalions of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).

The recently digitised 2/43rd Australian Infantry Battalion diaries provide insights into daily life at Woodside Camp, which contained a YMCA hut, hot baths and laundries, a camp hairdresser, field cookery units, a hospital, an army ordnance workshop, a picture theatre and a 30-yard range.

Mentions of the camp picture theatre are found throughout the diaries, usually consisting of mundane reporting, such as changes in the picture theatre program. Not everyone was well behaved in the theatre. In September, complaints were made that “personnel are using obscene language in the picture theatre” and direction was issued for this to cease.

Daily housekeeping was updated in the diaries, with lost and found notices, and advice on dealing with worn out socks. There are also mentions of a course in chiropody (commonly known as podiatry), with multiple members of the battalion attending the course at Victoria Park.

The 2/43rd Battalion participated in sporting events including football and boxing. Results of football matches played by the battalion on Woodside Oval are recorded. Larger camp matches are also reported, with a game played between AIF Woodside and AIF Wayville at Adelaide Oval on 14 September 1940 ending with Wayville having a “comfortable win”. More than 1,500 troops watched a semi-finals boxing championship held by the battalion in the new open air stadium at Woodside Camp.

The 2/43rd Battalion was not short of social events while stationed at Woodside. A newspaper clipping chronicles the September 2/43rd Battalion AIF Regimental Ball, held at Palais Royal, with details of the “beautiful array of flowers”, “a shower of blossom.” Prominent people in attendance included the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress. An invitation to a John Martin & Co ball is also included in the diaries.

The Pulteney Old Scholars association held a smoke social, “primarily arranged for the benefit of old scholars who have joined the AIF”, on 24 August 1940. An Old Boys dinner was hosted by Adelaide High School on 7 September at Hotel Adelaide. Roseworthy Agricultural College hosted a farewell social at Hotel Richmond, Rundle Street, on 19 October. The Prince Alfred Old Collegians Association held a social at the college on 21 November.

A ceremonial parade through Adelaide city is recorded, with newspaper clippings confirming that more than 1,500 troops participated in the march. The 2/43rd Battalion caught trains into Adelaide to participate, and an “excellent lunch was provided by the Cheer Up Society at Torrens Hall before the march”, which started at the parade ground, following along King William Road to King William Street, finishing at South Terrace.  More than 20,000 spectators viewed the march, which was reported as being “carried with great spirit”.

A concert at Woodside Camp on 9 December featured performances from the Australian Broadcasting Commission Orchestra, but the star attraction was English playwright, composer and singer Noel Coward. An audience of about 1,200 men “packed into the Y.M.C.A hut like sardines”, with the crowd refusing to “let Mr. Coward go until he had sung nearly a dozen songs”. The concert ended with the National Anthem.

Nineteen days later, on 28 December 1940, the battalion left Woodside Camp destined for Palestine.

The 2/43rd Australian Infantry Battalion diaries have been digitised as part of the Second World War Unit Diaries Digitisation Project. View the digitised diaries.