Camp Cable Army Base Relics Detected On Display @ Logan Village Museum
1945 – THE WAR IS OVER
It was in late 1942 that the US Army set up what was to become a major staging camp called Camp Cable between Logan Village and Tamborine. A rough road linking Tamborine with Beaudesert Road was upgraded and surfaced with bitumen and became the main supply route to the camp from the Brisbane port.
The road, called Quinn Boulevard by the American troops and now known as Tamborine Road was purposely kept to its original winding route to afford truck convoys cover from the bush through which it wound. The Americans wanted to avoid having long straight convoys of vehicles that would be easy bomb or strafing targets for expected Japanese aircraft. A spur line was later built to the camp from Logan Village to give direct rail access from Brisbane.
Camp Cable was the Queensland home of the US Army’s 32nd Division, whose men were staged though it before sent to fight the Japanese in the islands to Australia’s north. They returned to it after campaigns in the islands to rest and restrain and at times there were 20,000 soldiers there. Camp Cable is now known as Yarrabilba.
So, if 20,000 soldiers were based here during the war, imagine what they left behind when they had to quickly close the base and move on after the war?
A lot of history was buried at Camp Cable. Everything ranging from weapons, personal items, kitchen utensils, bottles, helmets, bullets, medals, clothing, tents, dog tags – the list is endless.
I went to the Logan Village Museum this morning to gather some information on Logan Village for my Facebook Page: Logan Village Qld and its history by Noeleen Bobermien, and bumped into Brad setting up a very interesting and important display of the historical items he has recently found.
I had the pleasure of meeting Brad and had a long discussion with him about this new display at the Logan Village Museum. Brad has been rather busy the last 1.5 years and has spent a lot of him time searching for World War II items with a metal detector at the Camp Cable Army Base. Brad has set up an amazing display but he is only a quarter of the way through setting it up. Brad will be at the museum on Sundays unveiling his historical finds and it is definitely worth a visit to hear his story and to explain the origin of every item in the glass display cabinet. The display should be finished in a few weeks, so make sure you pop into the museum and step back in time to imagine what it was like for these soldiers who spent their time at Camp Cable.
Written by Noeleen De Lange