Kakuta Haruo---Decoding Japan---

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Location: Sakai, Osaka, Japan

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

World War II in Brisbane

The MacArthur Museum opens at ten o'clock. I am to see Mr. White at the hotel at 11 o'clock, who is taking care of international exchange at Department of Education and the Arts in the Queensland Government. I might be in time if I enter the museum when it opens at ten o'clock and go out after about 30 minutes. Visiting the museum in the morning has another advantage: It isn't too hot yet to walk around.
The MacArthur Central Building was established in 1849 on the corner of Queen Street and Edward Street, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. From 1942 to 1944, during World War II, the building housed the South West Pacific Area Headquarters under General Douglas MacArthur. The building was later renamed in his honor.
The MacArthur Museum was set up within the MacArthur Central Building to commemorate the building having been General MacArthur's headquarters in Brisbane. There is a statue, above the portico entrance of the Queen Street facade of the building, represents: "Strength, Plenty, Production and Growth". The Latin motto, which is carved beneath the statue, reads: "AMICUS CERTUS IN RE INCERTA" -- which is translated into English as: "A SURE FRIEND IN UNCERTAIN TIMES". Although the motto sounds appropriate for what were the Pacific Allied Headquarters in Brisbane, or Douglas MacArthur himself, during World War II, the motto is actually connected to the AMP Insurance Company, whose building it was.
The building being a thriving commercial shopping complex, which includes restaurants, a medical centre, pharmacy, newsagency, book shop, supermarkets and large number of shops, finding the right entrance to the museum itself is a tough job. I actually have been wandering around many shops there, especially inside its bookshop, in the vague and vain hope that being a book shop might have something to do with having an entrance to a museum.
The entrance to the museum is on Edward Street. There is also the MacArthur Chambers Hotel, which shares its entrance with the Museum.
The entrance to the hotel hall, it means, the entrance to the museum, has an automatic security system. I cannot come in as I don’t have a security card. It seems I should wait for someone to come and open it.
No one comes at 10 o’clock. I remember that the MacArthur Museum web page said that it is opened by its volunteers only on Tuesday, Thursday, and some other days of a week. It is Sunday today. It is so hot outside the building. I'd rather take advantage of a resident of the hotel coming out, and steal into the building. Now I am in the hall, but I find a security card is needed again even to get into the elevator which goes up to the eighth floor in which the museum exists. I have no way but wait for some ... volunteers?
After a while, four elderly persons have come. One of them puts up a sign in front of the entrance. However, the elderly person apparently seems to be just helping the other three. The other three people must be the volunteers.
One old lady appeared at the front desk, and found me to scream in her excitement: “We already have a guest so early in the morning! Where are you from?” “I'm from Japan.” She seems lost her words.
I wonder if many Australians still keep their interest in the museum, or Douglas MacArthur. I even doubt if there are a few Japanese tourists who trouble themselves to visit it. I can understand what she feels.
“I am to see my friend at 11. Do you think I can make it within 30 minutes?” “I will teach you the points to see. You can look around in 30 minutes,” said an old gentleman. He not only passes me a laminated card which shows the route but also showed me around.
A big lengthy table is at the center of a meeting room. The desk used for conferences. "MacArthur made this scratch." Really? We went on to MacArthur’s office at that time. It has George Washington's portrait hanged at the back of his desk.
At the end of a corridor, posters during the war are displayed. Their slogans remind me of those of Japan during the war of Japan to: a kind of, “Hoshigari masen, katsu made-ha.” (Literally: we don't want it until we win.)
The museum has a display room. At one corner, we can read newspapers at the time. I find those dated August the 7th, 1945 and the 8th. I am looking for the articles on the atomic bomb. The articles are more restrained than I expected. It seems the editors were more shocked with the effect of the bomb than being delighted with its military achievements.
The room has a corner of "MacArthur the Man." He seems to have been popular in Brisbane. People in Brisbane were worried during World War II that once Japan would invade Australia, the federal government might put its defense line for Sydney and Melbourne. That means Queensland could be deserted. MacArthur's opening command headquarter in Brisbane meant a lot to them.
Japan's striking power, however, seemed to be overvalued. 200 or more air-raid shelters were made around Brisbane. Though Darwin was actually hit, Brisbane was too far for the Japanese Air Force. You can find a record that a bombshell was dropped on Townsville in the northern part of Queensland once, and a couple of coconut trees were knocked down.
I have checked the whereabouts of the air-raid shelters, but ask the old gentleman for confirmation: "Isn't it something like a terrace?" "Yes, it is." "It is in King Edward Park just under Jakob's Ladder, isn't it?" “Yes, it sure is.” Where I visited yesterday was, with no mistake, what I had been looking for. Quite a good guess, wasn't it? I found it with only vague information.
"I must go now. I have no time left." "You can come back for free." "It is free if I come back today, you mean?" "You could come back for free anytime. "
I meet Mr. White, a middle aged man, at the hotel. “I visited the MacArthur Museum this morning. I had visited the ANZAC Square and the air-raid shelter the day before yesterday.” "Is it your hobby?" "No. I thought I should see them." He looks impressed, too. Japanese people might rarely go to such places, I guess.
By the way, ANZAC Square has an "Eternal Flame" to commemorate the people who sacrificed themselves to defend the country. The sacrifice is not limited to those who were killed during World War II, but also in other wars like the Second Boer War (1899-1902), the Vietnam War, and several other campaigns in Korea, Borneo and New Guinea. The square even has a place called the "Shrine of Remembrance." It surely enshrines the spirits of the war dead.
Mr. White was so impressed that he offers: "Will you go to the Queensland University by car? The university was requisitioned by MacArthur." I make up my mind to go at once. It might be my hobby after all.
It is almost a destiny for those who visit Brisbane to climb Mt Coot-tha first to command the city view. After that, we drive along the banks of the Brisbane River. We can tell that we are going up, only by the fact that the width of the river is getting somewhat narrower. The flow of the river is too gentle to tell.
Mr. White tells me that we have arrived at the university. So I guess we have arrived at the university, but actually we are still running in the woods. The buildings lie so scattered here and there in the forest. He says; "That is XXX College," and "This is YYY College." Signboards read; "XXX College in the Queensland University." A college here is something like a dormitory. They have rooms, bathrooms, and, of course a boarding master, and offer meals and etc. Parents feel safer than to have their children live in an apartment room. Children feel easier than to completely become independent. Colleges are built along sex lines, and those of the sects of Christianity.
As we drive through the villa-like colleges in the forest, we get into the center of the university. The main building looks newer than I have expected. Stone walls don't look so old. Is it because the air is so dry and clear?
A bronze plate at the entrance hall of the building reads: "From 1st Aug. 1942 to 31st Dec. 1944, General Sir Thomas Blaney, Commander Allied Land Forces in S.W. Pacific Area & Commander-in-chief Australian Military Forces occupied these precincts as his advanced headquarters. This was the first use to which these buildings were devoted." It was not MacArthur who used it after all.