Nurse Violet Johnson
Anne Violet Mary Johnson (known as Violet) served at 4 NZ General Hospital in New Caledonia as part of ‘Kiwi Force’ from 1941 to 1944. The ‘tent hospital’ catered for patients wounded in battles fought further afield in the Pacific. Her scrapbooks, held by the Museum Library, give glimpses of the daily life in New Caledonia and what it was like to live and nurse in the rudimentary structures that served as the hospital.
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Ann Johnson, by Ainslie G Manson (?), 1943
Source: Auckland Museum Library. MS 93/156. Volume F [p16]
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Postcard. Greetings from NZEF in the Pacific
Source: Auckland Museum Library. MS 93/156. Volume F [p16]
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Nurses, Dumbea Valley, New Caledonia
Source: Auckland Museum Library. MS 93/156. Volume F [p5]
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Parlez-vous Francais?
Source: Kiwi 12 April 1943 p4
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4th General Hospital, Dumbea Valley, New Caledonia. These buildings were constructed in New Zealand and shipped to New Caledonia in small sections.
Source: Auckland Museum Library. MS 93/156.
Volume F [p12]
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Backblocks Nursing
Source: Kiwi 19 April 1943, p3
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4 NZ General Hospital, Dumbea, New Caledonia
Source: Johnson, Ann Violet Mary. Materials relating to nursing service in World War II. Auckland Museum Library. MS 93/156. Volume E p15]
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Serviceman William Townsend
Lance Corporal William John Richard Townsend left his job at Farmers' Trading Company in Auckland and enlisted in the army aged 35. He sailed to New Caledonia in 1942 aboard the Dutch ship M.V. Brastagi. Townsend spent a year and a half in the Pacific, based in New Caledonia from where he saw action in the Solomon Islands. His notebooks detail days and nights spent unloading ships, working in camp and the passing of quiet Christmas and New Year celebrations as well as observations about the people and flora of New Caledonia.
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New Zealand Services. Writing Compendium' (15 cm) containing daily entries by Townsend from 21 November 1942 to 31 December 1942 while stationed in New Caledonia.
Source: Auckland Museum Library. MS 2004/78
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New Zealand Services. Writing Compendium' (15 cm) containing daily entries by Townsend from 21 November 1942 to 31 December 1942 while stationed in New Caledonia.
Source: Auckland Museum Library. MS 2004/78
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Trees - a description of the niaouli
Source: Auckland Museum Library. MS 2004/78
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Temporary hospital built among the niaouli trees
Source: Auckland Museum Library. MS 93/156. Volume F [p8]
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Telegramme. N E Edmonds, Auckland to W J Townsend, 20 Fld Coy, Nouvelle Caledonie, December 1942
Source: Auckland Museum Library. MS 2004/78
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American Canteen Prices
Source: Auckland Museum Library. MS 2004/78
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Official Kiwi Canteen Prices
Source: Kiwi 15 March 1943 p1
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