ST. JOHN'S WOOD EMBASSY
ST. JOHN'S WOOD, BRISBANE, QLD
COMMANDEERED BY THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY FOR
2/1 AUSTRALIAN CHEMICAL WARFARE LABORATORY
DURING WWII

The St John's Wood Embassy Dance Hall was a cabaret and dance hall beside Waterworks Road in the locality of St John's Wood in the suburb of Ashgrove that opened in 1927. It was arranged in country club style with a large ballroom and verandah and had well lit tennis courts. Cars or buses would take patrons from the Ashgrove Tram terminus to the St. John's Wood Embassy or Embassy Hall as it was also known as. Weekly Friday night dances were held at The Embassy.

The Embassy was commandeered by the Army during WWII in August 1943 and the 2/1 Australian Chemical Warfare Laboratory was operational there by October 1943. This mobile laboratory examined Japanese chemical weapons, ammunition, and protective clothing and respirators. On 8 February 1944, 72 boxes of 25-pounder B4 shells were sent to the laboratory where quantities of Bromobenzylcyanide (BBC) were stored for training purposes.

St John's Wood Embassy Dance Hall later became the Ambassador picture theatre. Before the building was eventually demolished it was turned into Squash Courts. The site was occupied in about 2008 by The Woods Early Education Centre.

REFERENCES

Chemical Warfare in Australia
By Geoff Plunkett

Queensland WWII Historic Places

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Ra Pacey on Facebook for their assistance with this web page.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 1 November 2014

This page last updated 30 September 2022