I often think about my poor mother-in-law at that time. She’d already had several miscarriages (Elliot was her only child) and her husband was away with the Air Force, flying bombing raids against the Japanese over PNG and Indonesia. And on top of that, people in Queensland were absolutely terrified of this new threat on their very shores.
In fact, there was a strong belief at the time that the government had a policy called the Brisbane Line. All the north of Australia beyond Brisbane would be abandoned to the invading armies.
My mother-in-law was above this line, living in Bundaberg on the Queensland coast, and in the last weeks before she gave birth, she was evacuated inland to Murgon. So much stress on top of the normal stress of giving birth for the first time.
It’s easy to forget how brave every day Australians had to be – even those who were far away from the warfront.
