Group portrait of Australians, Americans and Japanese on Christmas Day 1949, outside Z31, the ...

Group portrait of Australians, Americans and Japanese on Christmas Day 1949, outside Z31, the McMullan family house in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) dependant housing area. Identified in the group are: Captain (Capt) John Patrick McMullan (standing, rear, left); Celilia McMullan (blue dress, standing directly in front of Capt McMullan); Rita (surname unknown) (grey suit, on Cecilia McMullan’s left); Brian John McMullan (kneeling, front left); Michael Evans, of Seattle, USA (kneeling, front right). The Japanese women are probably friends, house servants or work associates of the McMullans. A sign on a post near the entry to the house reads ‘CAPT J P McMULLAN’. 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.