Coles Smith family papers

Cabaret stage. Water colour sketch showing an elevation of a stage, accommodating a band and singer/s in the 1930's cabaret style.
On reverse: Letter to Coles-Smith dated 5 May 1943, from his mother Mona, who has just received word that her son is a prisoner of war in Thailand.

Design for cabaret. Featuring illustrations of a stage and sound shell, sunken dance floor, seating and back stage rooms.

On reverse: 'Report of personal property by prisoners of war' with notes regarding the effects of prisoner #2576 George Delphin.

[George Augustus Delphin 2/4th Casualty Clearance Station, AIF 1901-1974]

Sugar Bowl. Larger scale water colour of a performance venue,  showing elevations of an orchestra shell, foyer, bar area and back stage rooms.

Performance venue. An overhead plan of seating, stage and terrace areas, designed to be 80 x 80 ft square, the scale shown is 1/5cm = 1 ft.

Performance venue. Plan of dance floor in relation to stage and sound shell, ground floor and gallery seating.

Performance venue. Sectional elevations, showing seating in relation to the stage.

Sketch of performance venues in pencil and watercolour, three elevations. There are no further annotations.

Alternate cabaret design for a performance venue, showing dance floor in relation to the stage and back-stage rooms. Scale shown is 1/16.

Proposed design for an Art deco style band stand, detailed with a black bird, entitled 'The Nighthawks', specifying materials of convex blue mirror and 1/2 inch chrome tubing.

On reverse: Partial letter to Coles-Smith while a prisoner of war in Thailand.

Pleasure Boat. Sketch and elevations for a pleasure boat that features a dance floor to accommodate 150 couples, seating and below-decks rooms for food preparation and other amenities.

Pleasure Boat. Side elevation pencil sketch for proposed performance venue.

The Sugar Bowl. Watercolour plan for performance venue, showing alcoves, storage, seats, dance floors and staff areas. Scale 1" to 20ft.

Plan and cross section of performance venue, possibly related to 'The Sugar Bowl' showing dance floor, ticket office and cigarette kiosks.

On reverse: Chart to record - name, number and weight of prisoners of war.

Dance Palais. Plan for proposed performance venue 'Dance Palais Brisbane' showing a dance floor, restaurant and seating plans. Intended size is 60 x 90 ft.

On reverse:
Typed list for 'No 4. Group Hospital No.3 Ward' detailing prisoners of war - disease, name, number, rank and nationality. Information is recorded for two Australian prisoners of war: T.M. Donnellan [Flight Sergeant Thomas Matthew Donnellan] and G.W. Jay [George William Jay RAAF], and 23 Dutch prisoners.

Statement of Trusts, Objects and Purposes as determined at the first general meeting of the 2/10th Field Regiment Welfare Fund.

Timetable for Signallers activities, 21 October - 10 November 1940. It has been used on the reverse to write a note [chiefly illegible] by Clifford Coles Smith.

Draft report with many annotations by the Acting President, presumably Mona Coles Smith highlighting some of the Welfare Fund's activities for the past year.

Receipt in the name of CWJ Coles Smith, 2/10th Field Regiment, detailing items of military clothing that have been returned.

Statement and covering letter showing monies received, and donor list for the Mile of Pennies Appeal, presented by A.M. Cameron, convenor.

Statement of receipts and payments from July 1940 to 30 August 1941, for the 2/10 Field Regiment Welfare Fund.

Copy of letter written by Lieutenant Colonel G H Kirwood to the Queensland Lines of Communication on behalf of the 2/10 Field Regiment Welfare Fund, regarding funds held by the Regiment in Malaya.

Acknowledgement of letter dated 17 June sent by Lieutenant Colonel G H Kirwood, which has been forwarded to the Chief Paymaster for attention.

Statement of receipts and payments for twelve months period ended 30 June 1942, for the 2/10 Field Regiment Welfare Fund.

Copy of response to letter dated 17 June sent by Lieutenant Colonel G H Kirwood, from the Staff Paymaster, AIF Malaya, regarding the loss of financial records in Malaya at the time of capitulation.

Copy of letter written by Flora Schulte, on behalf of the 2/10 Field Regiment Welfare Fund to Lieutenant Colonel G H Kirwood, referring to the funds raised to date, and his enquiries on their behalf.

Copy of letter written by Lieutenant Colonel G H Kirwood to the Queensland Lines of Communication on behalf of the 2/10 Field Regiment Welfare Fund, regarding transfer of funds.

Note regarding interview with Lieutenant McLeod of Queensland Lines of Communication Office and the credit relating to the 2/10th Field Regiment.

Letter written by L Walsh to her grandson Clifford Coles Smith, while he was a prisoner of the Japanese, hoping that he is well.

The family was notified in May 1943 that Coles Smith, previously reported missing, was now a POW in Siam [Thailand].

Draft copies of the President's Report given by Mona Coles Smith highlighting some of the Welfare Fund's activities for the past year, given at the 5th annual meeting of the 2/10th Field Regiment Welfare Fund.

Statement of expenses and monies raised from August 1944 to 1945, for the 2/10 Field Regiment Welfare Fund.

Speech notes, for an occasion held at the Brisbane Town Hall, to welcome home men of the 2/10th Field Regiment.

QER Form 148 with notes on the calculation of service as indicated on a Discharge Certificate.

Instructions to facilitate Discharge Procedures for personnel returning from duty with the Australian Armed Forces.

Typescript letter "information from the rescued men who had been in P.O.W. camps" detailing the conditions and locations of the camps, relating principally to the 2/10th Field Regiment.

Unused envelopes from the 2/10 Field Regiment Welfare Fund, Brisbane, featuring the colour patch of the Regiment.

Copy of letter to The Editor, Courier Mail, Brisbane from Mona Coles Smith, President of the 2/10 Field Regiment Welfare Fund regarding the delay in publication of "the lists of names of men who have been released from P.O.W. camps in Japanese held territory". Included is a copy of a telegram the Welfare Fund had sent to the Prime Minister Ben Chifely, Frank Forde - Minister for the Army, and Arthur Fadden.

Draft letters to the Editor of the Courier Mail, Brisbane by Mona Coles Smith suggesting the planting of a commemorative avenue of flowering trees from the North Coast to the South Coast border, in honour of those who died in the Second World War.

Christmas card sent by Thomas Gray, Ireland to his friend Clifford Coles Smith. The card includes a poem he composed in remembrance of their time as prisoners in Thailand during the Second World War.

Typescript copy of letter written by Clifford Coles Smith in response to a card received from Thomas Gray, County Antrim, Ireland. Gray had been a prisoner of war in Thailand with Coles Smith.

Typed note giving the address to write for copies of photos taken in Bangkok of Clifford Coles Smith performing in the 'dance band'.

Coles Smith took part in the combined Australian-Dutch/Indonesian concert party organised by Lieutenant Rae Nixon, held in Bangkok for men who were waiting for transport home. It was comprised of former members of the 'Tamarkan Players' and Joop Postma's 'Het Hollandsche' cabaret from Chungkai.

Reference: Eldredge, Sears, "Chapter 11. "Out of the blue came freedom": Victory shows and aftermath" (2014). 

[Captive audiences/captive performers - https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/10/]

Studio portrait of Mona and William Coles Smith with baby Clifford, taken at Maryborough while staying at the Grand Western Hotel. The photograph has annotated biographical information written by Mona in 1919, and later added to in 1972 and 1979.

On reverse: [taken] at Maryborough when we were on the Great Western Hotel, Clifford couldn't sit up. Dada [William] doesn't look a bad sort those days. I didn't have money to get Joans photo taken while a baby.(I was on £4/5/- weekly & paid £1/10- [...] on our house].
1972. Cliff grew to 6'2" went to the 2nd W War. Dada (Wm Coles Smith died in April (9th) 1945). The dress cost 19/11 the shoes £1/10-, I made & embroidered Cliffs dress. Bill was very white haired, & as twice as fat as this photo. Me? I', 72 now & 3 times as fat, & crippled in spine from car smash. Bill died of 'Hypertension & heart", it was all helped by being bad tempered which I probably stired up, tho I didn't think so & still don't. Cliff married Ingalene Gallus, & had one son & is divorced. I'd have liked to see him married again, & with more children. The necklace is still with me, aquamarines & pearls.
1979. I'm 80, & neither Cliff or Joan give a 'darn' about me, its a shame that we don't seem to care one for the other, tho C & J have always been good friends, but for me they couldn't care less - not even friendship between us - in all his life, the same applies to Joan, tho she has no car, but we've never seen a show or ever had a day out together, & she has never ever helped me although I have been laid up with leg trouble, & I couldn't even get up to make my bed, I've lived & I hope she has better luck with her children than she & I had with both Joan & Cliff. I gave them good schooling B.G. School on £4/5- a week for 4 yrs.

Passing out parade, at Redbank Military Camp, Brisbane showing soldiers from 2/10th Field Regiment, 19th Battery.

Group family portrait taken in Rochdale, England.

Men of the 2/10th Field Regiment, 19th Battery, marching through camp at Redbank, Brisbane.

2/10th Field Regiment, 19th Battery at attention during a parade, Redbank Military Camp, Brisbane.

Men of the 2/10th Field Regiment, 19th Battery, marching during parade at Redbank Military Camp, Brisbane.

There are two copies.

Nine negatives relating to photographs taken at Redbank Military Camp, Brisbane of the 2/10th Field Regiment. It includes an annotated envelope, in Mona Coles Smith's hand.

Snapshot of group taken at Grovelly, in August 1940 [caption states 1941 but this is known to be incorrect].

Captioned on reverse by Joan Cole Smith: Out at Grovely Aug 1941. Mrs Johnson & Barnett, Mum, Myself [Joan], [Clifford], Mrs Gooma, Goldsworthy & Heritage with some of the 41st. Don't Mum & I look alike.

Members of the 2/10th Field Regiment Women's Auxilliary, with a flag they have sewn. Captioned on reverse by Mona Coles Smith: "We were sewing for the 2/10th [our] reinforcements & others at Grovely when this was taken in 1942. Our col [colour] patch in corner. I sent a 2/10th Pennant over with Francis Lilly [?]." Identified are: Walsh, Jillet, Denise Cameron, Goldsworthy, Coles Smith, Wallace-Bennett, Ethel Russell, Alice Russell from 188 Vulture St, Sth Brisbane.

Amberley Amblings: the news around the station. Newsletter from the RAAF base in Amberley, Queensland. 

Amberley Amblings: the news around the station. Newsletter from the RAAF base in Amberley, Queensland. Editorial staff are recorded for no. 5 as L.A.C. Don Scriven, Sergeant F. Atkinson & A.C.1 Jack Clark.

Newspaper clipping titled "Donations appreciated" published in the Courier Mail, Brisbane, regarding money being sent by the 2/10th Field Regiment Welfare Fund. 

It is annotated on the reverse:
"The 2/10 Welfare Fund have sent to Colonel Kirwood £500, for the men of the Regiment also 36 pairs of football boots, with extra studs & laces. We try to supply the men with the things essential for their welfare, that the Government doesnt."

Pocket guide to Australia, issued to familiarise American servicemen and women, with Australia, and Australians. It includes a short time-line, a potted history and guide to currency etc.

Handwritten notes recording the medical treatment of Coles Smith while a prisoner of the Japanese, in Burma and Thailand, during the Second World War.

Souvenir program for a horse carnival or rodeo held by the North Brisbane Show Society at the Exhibition Grounds, in aid of the 2/10th Field Regiment Welfare Fund.

Leaflet entitled 'Who are the 2nd Tenth?' authored by Mona Coles Smith, President of the 2/10th Field Regiment Welfare Fund, Clifford Coles Smith's mother.

Cardboard name badges for Cliff Cole Smith [sic], Anderson Force. Likely to have been worn during a Regimental reunion.

Coles Smith was one of the 219 men of 2/10th Field Regiment, allocated to 'A Force, No 2 Battalion' later known 'Anderson Force' under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Anderson. They left Singapore packed into the Toyohashi Maru [ship] and sailed north with a small convoy of British and Dutch prisoners. No. 2 Battalion eventually arrived in Tavoy, south-eastern Burma 12 days later. From here they started on a 40 km march to a partially complete aerodrome where they worked for the next three months, before being despatched to start work on the Burma-Thailand Railway.

Concise pocket book of first aid in air raids and accidents by C.L. Barraclough, published by Blue Start Publishers, Sydney. 5th ed.

Cover title: 'What shall I do?' 

Licence for Motor Spirit [fuel] issued to Clifford Coles Smith for the month of October, 1945.

Handwritten music score, in pencil entitled 'Tamuang blues', composed by Jimmy Van Lingen, also a prisoner of war, who was housed in the same hut as Clifford Coles Smith. 

The Tamuang prisoner of war (POW) camp, was located 39 km north of Nong Pladuk (aka Non Pladuk), or 11 kilometres south of Kanchanaburi, 375 kilometres south of Thanbyuzayat. Originally built as a hospital camp to accommodate 10,000 allied prisoners of war, from British, Dutch Indonesian, American and Australia forces who were housed there after the completion of the Thailand-Burma Railway.

Clifford Coles Smith shared the same hut as Jimmy Van Lingen, at Nakom Paton [also Nakhon Pathom] which was a hospital camp for prisoners of war, 50km from Bangkok, Thailand.

Composition dedicated to Clifford Coles Smith "in appreciation of a very valued friendship during our P.O.W. exile 19/8/45". The title and composer's name is indistinct, but appears to be 'G Division Jive' by Jack Altman.

Prisoners in Thailand were informed of the Japanese surrender sometime after 15 August 1945. Victory shows or performances were held in many of the camps in celebration, prior to their liberation, and while the men waited to be processed and sent home, providing welcome activity and diversions.

A Victory Concert was held at Nakhon Pathom on 19 August, one of the largest POW camps, where Clifford Coles Smith was held.

After being taken to Bangkok for initial processing, ex-POWs waited for their transport home. Further concert parties were arranged including a combined Australian-Dutch/Indonesian troupe which included Clifford Coles Smith. 

Reference: Eldredge, Sears, "Chapter 11. "Out of the blue came freedom": Victory shows and aftermath" (2014).

[Captive audiences/captive performers - https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/10/]

Poem of 6 stanzas, for the men who went to war and those who awaited their return. There are two copies, each in a different hand.

Partial play script, likely to have been composed for performance at Nakom Phatom [Patom] Camp, where Clifford Coles Smith was a prisoner of war from 1944 to September 1945.

The play is set on the 17th floor of the Avalon building off Broadway, Manhattan, New York. As the curtain rises it reveals the stage divided into three rooms, a Swing Quartet occupies the left room, a poet in the centre, and a Brass outfit on the right hand side.

The typed script is torn and incomplete.