The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Port Moresby, New Guinea. "Who was it gave the carpet And fans? We'll never know! But STEAMSHIPS gave the curtains To brighten up the show!" A view of the stage (with open curtains) that the concert group, the "Moresby Microbes" performed on in a Rec[reation] Hut. A Union Jack is hanging above the stage and there is a piano to the left of the stage. The hut was obtained and furnished by Padre P. Sands, the first RAAF Chaplain in wartime New Guinea. Once the hut was finished, Padre Sands formed the Moresby Microbes with Billy Challoner. The Microbes presented 50 weekly concerts between 8 May 1942 and 28 April 1943 (including the "Jubilee Concert" which was the last). Padre Sands wrote the verse which accompanies each photograph in an album given to LAC Frank Lansdowne, a member of the Moresby Microbes, now held in the Private Records collection at the Australian War Memorial. (Donor J. Treseder)
Port Moresby, New Guinea. "Who was it gave the carpet And fans? We'll never know! But STEAMSHIPS gave the curtains To brighten up the show!" A view of the stage (with closed curtains) that the concert
Port Moresby, New Guinea. "Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Priest, Gather together to our Household feast. Where the week-day's merriment Becomes the Sunday's sacrament." The altar on the stage used by the M
Port Moresby, New Guinea. Members of the concert party called the "Moresby Microbes" performing on stage in the Rec[reation] Hut that they performed in weekly. Note the Union Jack flag hanging above t
Port Moresby, New Guinea. "Meet the Padre, the bloke in the HUT! The doors of which are never shut. Recital or concert or cinema show - He pressed the button, the blokes made 'em go!" Portrait of Padr
Port Moresby, New Guinea. "Here's the MARBLE STAIRCASE Entrance to the show Wipe your feet upon the mat, And give your nose a blow!" The stairs leading to the entrance of the Rec[reation] Hut which wa
Port Moresby, New Guinea. "For billiards and reading And writing, we come - Be blowed to the Black-out! The Rec Hut's our Home." Two members of the RAAF playing billiards in the Rec[reation] Hut that
