SS Taiping sailing from either Kobe or Kure harbour. The ship is carrying British Commonwealth ...

SS Taiping sailing from either Kobe or Kure harbour. The ship is carrying British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) servicemen and dependants (wives and children), who are returning to Australia after several years stay in Japan. On board ship, Brian John McMullan and his good friend Michael Tisdall are returning to Australia with a chaperone, and will be attending school in Australia in the new year. Their parents, and Michael’s sisters and brother, are extending their stay in Japan. This image is part of a collection of photographs taken in Japan between 1947 and 1952, relating to the service of VX150779 Captain (Capt) John Patrick (Jack) McMullan, of the BCOF Labour Unit in Japan. Capt McMullan’s wife Cecilia (also known as Celia and Celie), and son Brian John, lived with him in Japan as BCOF dependants. Cecilia and Brian were the photographers for most of the photographs in the collection. Brian was nine years old when he arrived in Japan in 1947. The presence of families of servicemen of all ranks was a distinctive aspect of BCOF.