The Evacuation of British Women and Children from Hong Kong to Australia in 1940 Tony Banham A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Humanities and Social Sciences UNSW@ADFA November 2014 Table of Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... v Abbreviations and Acronyms......................................................................................vii Preliminaries...................................................................................................................... x Introduction.....................................................................................................................xiv Chapter 1. Planning ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Fear and Legislation............................................................................................................ 2 1.2 Hong Kong’s Evacuation Scheme Plan in Context .................................................. 13 1.3 The Colony Before Evacuation...................................................................................... 28 1.4 The Order to Evacuate..................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 2. Evacuation .................................................................................................44 2.1 Avoiding and Evading Evacuation ............................................................................... 46 2.2 Evacuation Begins............................................................................................................. 53 2.3 Reception in the Philippines ......................................................................................... 72 2.4 Not Continuing to Australia ........................................................................................... 81 2.5 Plans For Australia ........................................................................................................... 85 Chapter 3. Arrival in Australia................................................................................94 3.1 White Australia.................................................................................................................. 95 3.2 Departure From Manila ................................................................................................102 3.3 The Evacuees Arrive.......................................................................................................107 3.4 Early Days in Australia..................................................................................................129 ii 3.5 Developments in Hong Kong.......................................................................................134 Chapter 4. 1941: Pre-Pacific War Australia......................................................159 4.1 Settling In & Separation ................................................................................................161 4.2 Visits from Hong Kong to Australia...........................................................................165 4.3 Freedom of Movement ..................................................................................................169 4.4 From Blasé to Panic........................................................................................................178 Chapter 5. War: Australia 1942-44......................................................................192 5.1 Outside Australia.............................................................................................................203 5.2 Hong Kong Battle Deaths..............................................................................................208 5.3 Prisoners of War..............................................................................................................212 5.4 Wartime Returns to the United Kingdom ...............................................................228 5.5 Australianisation.............................................................................................................232 Chapter 6. 1945: War and Peace: Britain, Hong Kong, or Stay?.................254 6.1 Broken Marriages, Broken Homes............................................................................259 6.2 Leaving Australia ............................................................................................................265 6.3 Australia as a Permanent Home.................................................................................280 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................297 Appendices .....................................................................................................................308 Appendix One – Evacuee wives of Osaka POW Fatalities .............................................308 Appendix Two – Mrs Rosemary Margaret Holmes .........................................................311 Appendix Three – Costs of Hiring/Crewing Zealandia..................................................318 Appendix Four – The List of Evacuees.................................................................................323 iii Appendix Five – Herbert Leslie Langley Possessions lost to Japanese ....................326 Bibliography & Sources..............................................................................................335 Primary .........................................................................................................................................335 Published......................................................................................................................................347 iv Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank a very large number of people who kindly contributed their time, memories, assistance, and documentation to this work. Firstly, the official and private evacuees who assisted. They were: Susan Van Andel, Barbara Anslow, Reg Banham, Ray Barman, Derek Bird, Andrin Blaauw, the late John Black, Paul Bonney, Wendy Borthwick, Maurice (Max) Braga, Stuart Braga, the late Brian Bromley, Georgina Brooks, Ron Brooks, Tony Bushell, Isabelle Clough, Kathleen Crawford, Elizabeth Doery, Tony Dudman, Hugh Dulley, Robin Fabel, Michael Ferrier, Murray Forsyth, Vicki Gibson, Colin Gordon, Gavin Gordon, Dorothy Hardwick, John Hearn, William Hirst, Gloria Hitchcock, Janis Hollis, Timothy Holmes, Desmond Inglis, Rosemary Inglis, Joan Izard, Neil Johnston, Maunie Kwok, Doug Langley-Bates, Annmarie Leslie, Mary-June Littleton, Cyril Martin, Ian McNay, Richard Neve, Robin Patey, Sue Penn, Robin Poulter, Roger Proulx, Charlotte Quinn, Jone Radda, Roger Rawlings, Elizabeth Ride, Sheila Roberts, Mike Salter, Margaret Simpson, Michael Stewart, Thelma Stewart, James Templer, Patricia Tring, June Williams, Leilah Wood, and Rosemary Wood. Secondly, relatives of evacuees. These were: Hugh Balean, Cathy Biondich, James Brooks, Mike Chapman, John Cooper, Rick Coxhill, Helen D’All, Sue Gibson, Lorraine Hadris, Richard Harloe, Marilyn Hartney, Andrew Hill, Catherine Hill, James Hobson, Rebecca Hudson, Janet Jones, Sarah Jordon, Henry Langley, Duncan Lapsley, Sue Leagas, Michael Longyear, Michael Martin, Shane Miller, Peter Moss, Kristeen Nagle, Jonathan Nigel, Patricia Patey, Suzanne Pincevic, Jane Prophet, Emma Pruen, Ann Pumphrey, Vic Rayward-Smith, Stewart Sloan, David Stanford, v Marjorie Stintzi, Bill Stoker, Janet Sykes, Gweneth Thirlwell, Kim Tomlinson, Aileen Trinder, Mary Vaughan, Nikki Veriga, Semi Vine, Mark Weedon, Briony Widdis, and Betty Wilson. Thirdly, other individuals who were kind enough to help with various classes of expertise or as representatives of their institutions: Brian Allen, Sue Barclay, the late H. W. ‘Bunny’ Browne, Jeanette Bruce, Henry Ching, Colin Day, Helen Dodd, Brian Edgar, Alix Furey, Richard Goldsborough, Simon Jones, Jacky Kingsley, Gerry Lander, Angus Lorenzen, Rita MacDonald, Mary Monro, Robert Moss, Christopher Munn, John Penn, and the late Roderick Suddaby of the Imperial War Museum. Finally many thanks are due to my supervisor at ADFA, Dr Jeffrey Grey, who (among many other things) on seeing the first draft of this thesis taught me to use signposts and scissors: the former to guide the reader along the core of the arguments, and the latter to reduce my natural verbosity. vi Abbreviations and Acronyms ACW Aircraft Woman AFDA Australian Funeral Directors Association AIF Australian Infantry Force ANS Auxiliary Nursing Service ARP Air Raid Precautions BAAG British Army Aid Group BEF British Expeditionary Force BMH British Military Hospital BQMS Battery Quarter Master Sergeant CBS Central British School CO Commanding Officer CORB Children's Overseas Reception Board CS Colonial Secretary DEI Dutch East Indies FA Financial Adviser HE His Excellency (the Governor of Hong Kong) HKDDC Hong Kong Dockyard Defence Corps HKFB Hong Kong Fire Brigade HKPF Hong Kong Police Force1 1 Which became the Royal Hong Kong Police Force only after the 1967 riots, and reverted to Hong Kong Police Force in 1997. vii HKRNVR Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve HKSRA Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery HKU Hong Kong University HKVDC Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps HMG Her Majesty’s Government HSBC Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank KCR Kowloon Canton Railway MC Military Cross NCO Non-Commissioned