Rowan Waddy WWII photographs of Japan, Borneo and Burma, with Japanese occupation money, paper currency and newspaper clipping on Z Special Unit

PXA 7513

fonds

1940-1947, 1995

Graphic Materials, Photographs, Paper money, Clippings

9661526

35 photographic prints
7 items of paper money
1 clipping

Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Rowan Waddy (d. 2000) was recruited in 1944 for the Z Special Unit, a joint Allied special forces unit formed during WWII to operate behind Japanese lines in South East Asia. Waddy carried out missions in the South China Sea including in Borneo and Malaya.

At the end of WWII, all Service Reconnaissance Department and Z Special Unit personnel in Borneo were ordered to cease hostilities and return to base camps from their locations behind enemy lines. On 11 October 1945, Waddy was withdrawn from Bintulu, Sarawak to Labuan Island - volunteering later in the month for the 66th Australian Infantry Batallion, British Commonwealth Occupation Force. In March 1946, Waddy embarked from Sydney on the Pachaug Victory for Kure, Japan. Initially stationed in Kaitaichi, five kilometres from Hiroshima, he witnessed the devastation first-hand. Later postings included Ita Jima Island in the Inland Sea, Hiro, and Tokyo. Waddy left Japan in February 1947 and was discharged from the army the following month.

References:
British Commonwealth Occupation Force - Japan : the surrender and occupation - WWII, 1945-1947 / Rowan E. Waddy. Collaroy, N.S.W. : Rowan E. Waddy, 1996.
On operations with Z Special Unit - WWII / Rowan E. Waddy. Collaroy, N.S.W. : Rowan E. Waddy, 1995.

From Billie Waddy, Rowan Waddy’s wife, to donor.

Comprises photographs of USS Hawkbill, USS Pargo, HMAS Tiger Snake, Tomoyuki Yamashita on board USS Missouri, together with photographs taken in Borneo, Burma, and Japan, 1945-1947 ; and newspaper clipping from The Courier Mail, 25 April 1995, on Z Special Unit, with photograph of surviving members.

Currency
1. 1 dollar Malayan banknote (1942)
2. 5 dollars Malayan banknote (1942)
3. 10 dollars Malayan banknote
4. Sarawak, The Government of Sarawak, 1 dollar, 1st January 1940
5. Bank of Japan 5 yen (1946)
6. 1 yen (with portrait of Takeuchi no Sukune, and reverse Ube shrine in Tottori)
7. Nippon Ginko Dakan Ken, 10 yen (1946)

Copyright restrictions may apply

Photographs titled or inscribed verso.