Rose, Mr and Mrs Tom

Letters (approximately 240 items) received by Mr and Mrs Tom Rose and appointment diaries with name indexes (8 items) kept by Tom Rose relating to their entertainment of RAN and overseas Navy personnel visiting Melbourne between 1940 and 1948. The letters, which are arranged in alphabetical order, are thank-you messages sent by sailors and their families, especially in response to photographs sent to them by the Roses. The photographs were taken generally in the Dandenong area near Melbourne and comprised informal portraits of three, or sometimes two, sailors at a sight seeing location. Captioned prints of these photographs are included in the AWM Photograph collection. Mr and Mrs Rose also entertained the visiting sailors at hotels in the city, at the theatre, at horse races and in their own home, especially to play billiards. The diaries were kept by Mr Rose as a record of the name, rank, ship and postal address of each sailor entertained by he and his wife with a note on the activities on particular days. He also compiled a name index to each of the diaries.