RAAF pilots enjoy an afternoon nap at the Boomerang Club, Australia House, London, March 1944. When the club opened, accounts referred to the rich wine coloured carpets and leather upholstered armchairs and settees, where men could recover from ‘the strenuous business of sightseeing in London'. Mrs Duncan, of the club's Hospitality Office, stated that their aim was to make the club 'mother, father, and a home from home for all the boys'. It was a place staffed largely by Australians for Australians, because on leave men loved to talk to someone of home and family. Don Charlwood was less sure of the attractions of the Boomerang Club. Passing through London on his way to join an operational squadron, he felt the place was inhabited by ;squadron lads' with tales of death and that all this made him depressed by comparison with the gaiety of general London life all around. ['The Boomerang Club: Centre for Australians in London', The West Australian, 1 April 1942; Don Charlwood, quoted in Nelson, Chased by the sun, p. 68; AWM UK1253]
Copyright expired - public domain