EARLY EPISODE: The Battle of Brisbane
Joe and Nate talk about the time a bunch of drunken American soldiers caused a pitched battle between themselves and their allies while stationed in Australia during WWII
Correction: Indigenous Australians were given Australian citizenship at the same time other Australians (1949) however, the quality of that citizenship was not equal to that of non-indigenous Australians. This continued for decades and as many indigenous Australian activists have pointed out, continues in various forms to this day.
This included discrimination on enlistment. Some areas of Australia legally allowed indigenous people to enlist, but in practice, turned them away based on how they looked. Others were enlisted but not paid. Others were paid, but not equally and kept in segregated units and virtually none received benefits.
sources:
https://www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/bob.htm
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84830
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/culture-clash-americans-in-world-war-ii-south-pacific/
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/battle-of-brisbane.html
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/homefront/us_forces
Comments (30)
Moral of the story: fuck the police and racism.
All the things that lead to tensions between Americans and Australians are the strangest unique consequences of imperialism and colonialism, and all these different types it bigotries contradict each other, which just proves that there is no rational consistency to any of it.
Wow, anti-podcaster discrimination is real.
"It's kind of sad to be hard on a beach" lol
DUDE, I was in Australia in 2013 on a MEU and the comments on US-AUS money value is spot on. As we were all dumb kids, we were drinking nothing but $13 jack and cokes ($20 for a double shot) and wasting our meager paychecks at casinos.
Odessa, TX mentioned! I hate it here
Point of Order because this has come up three times now in the podcast, which isn't 'a lot' but it's weird that's it come up so many times. The Third Amendment only prevents the government from forcing you to quarter soldiers on private property in times of peace. When war were declared they can, "but in a manner to be prescribed by law."
Remember the stories from my brother. We had a huge American base here in Germany. At the end of the 60's they exchanged German beer for liquors that the soldiers got from the commissary. Win-win for both. The soldiers want real beer, because they only got some horse piss called Budweiser. And liquor was too expensive for my brother and this friends.
Oof. Can't believe Nate would associate with someone like Hasan Piker...
I've been dying for someone to tell this story about my hometown. We remember it WELL here.
Nate loves cycling? Maybe he should move to Singapore 😅
A word for Nate Codknocker I have no idea what it means but my WW2 vintage timber getter grandfather used it as an unflattering description.
Having known people who were in that battle CUNT is low on the offensive words I have heard from them.
Cockatoos launched at vital infrastructure is a good strategy.
As an Australian you don't want to enlist Emu's, they're goofy idiots, it's the Cassowaries you want, they'll gut a motherfucker. The swooping birds would also be a good addition as well as the galahs, corellas and cockatoos. They're destructive little buggers and are very good at screaming at ungodly hours in the morning. Could be deployed to disrupt enemy sleep and destroy their equipment. Also as someone with indigenous heritage who looks white I appreciate the fact you talked about the racism against the native peoples. I've heard way too many people say casually racist shit around me because 'I don't look like one of them' and also have to listen to people (sometimes the same) tell me how Australia is not a racist country. Have also seen (and cut friendships over) racism against immigrants, though less so than against the indigenous.
Hahaha hearing "not here to fuck spiders" being referenced has made my morning.
Kinkodile merch when?
The expression that's often used to derisively refer to the yanks that were stationed here was that they were "Overpayed, oversexed, and over here"
Maybe if y'all weren't under-armed, under-whelming, and under-Japanese attack, you wouldn't have been under American command!
As an Aussie, can confirm Queenslanders are generally more racist.
I listen to this podcast as soon as it comes out. Great stuff!
“Oh no we invented the kinkodile!” I love this podcast.
Good thing Joe didn’t smuggle cigarettes in North Carolina, people get arrested for that there - doesn’t matter if you’re Armenian or Hezbollah. https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/news/2006/02/16/cigarette-smuggling-suspected/30257294007/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Smokescreen
i love that the standards for this show are at a point where an episode about race riots is a palate cleanser
"Operator focused tactical walking" aka backpacking. Commuting by bike is the only reason I'm in any kind of shape and also enabled me to get off anti-depressants. I love mountain biking, but that's hard to fit in regularly and kind of beats you up in a way that might actually be bad for overall fitness.
Ok did I hear this wrong or did Joe say "it's kind of sad to be hard on a beach" because that was amazing
The sand gets everywhere...
Talking about Australia and WW2, I've got to recommend this documentary series on the Papua and New Guinea campaign (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBV-kb1YR88cqlokuYOfaArzhezLvFpyb).
As always, great episode Joe and Nate.
Nate is a weeb for Australia and Joe is a lover of tanks they should do a palate cleanser on the mephisto the tank that was stolen and the atomic tank the tank that got nuked