Coles Smith family papers
Collection
This collection consists of artworks, correspondence, photographs and ephemera primarily relating to Clifford Coles Smith who served with the 2/10th Field Regiment during the Second World War. The artworks are watercolours painted by Coles Smith while a prisoner of war of the Japanese, and include designs, floorplans and scenes relating to bandstands and cabarets. Coles Smith participated in musical and theatre performances staged in the prison camps, designed to maintain moral and ease the boredom of captivity. Other items of interest include two musical compositions and a playscript, as well as correspondence relating to the 2/10th Field Regiment Welfare Fund.
Clifford 'Cliff' Coles Smith was born in 1918 to William Coles Smith (1886-1945) and Cecilia 'Mona' Molly Coles Smith nee Huddleston, (1899-1986). Cliff attended Kelvin Grove & Sandgate State Schools & Brisbane Boys Grammar, and prior to enlisting in July 1940 was employed by the 'Telegraph' in Brisbane. Cliff trained as a signaller with the 2/10th Field Regiment, at Redbank and Lytton Military Camps and was deployed to Malaysia in February 1941, taking part in military actions against the Japanese. The regiment was garrisoned in Singapore a year later, when many were taken prisoner and initially held at Changi Prison.
Copyright undetermined.