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American Red Cross Services Club
Central Hotel/Parkview Tavern
Before the Pacific war Gordonvale had been a small quiet country town south of Cairns surrounded by sugar cane farms. Most of the men worked at the Mulgrave Central Mill and community life revolved around the mill, the railway and the pubs. By the end of 1942 the townspeople had experienced troops coming and going, but nothing prepared them for the arrival of about 3,500 US Army paratroopers of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, more than doubling the local population.
On 28 November 1942, a week before the paratroopers reached Gordonvale, a detachment of the US Army 2 Station Hospital from Mareeba arrived and set up a 150 bed hospital, taking over the Gordonvale, Commercial and Central Hotels in the town’s business centre. The Central Hotel was allocated for use as an American Red Cross Service Club.
Place information
Location
Place type
Recreation/community
History
Formerly known as Thomas’s Central Hotel, the pub is thought to have been built about 1910 and named after the nearby Mulgrave Central Sugar Mill. It was commonly referred to by the troops of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, as the USO Club (United Services Organisation). The club was managed by two American women and American Filipinos were employed as cooks. Local women volunteered to help run the club, serving hamburgers, apple pie and ice cream, strong coffee, iced tea and Coke.
Local ladies helped keep up the morale of the 503rd by organising dances and sending out trucks to collect...
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