Guide to the Papers of Jock Hector
MS 7997
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Hector, Jock (John Kirwan), 1914-1991
- Title
- Papers of Jock Hector
- Date Range
- 1943-1991
- Collection Number
- MS 7997
- Extent
- 0.56 metres (4 ms boxes + 2 sound/av carriers)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Special Collections (Manuscripts)
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Correspondence between Jock Hector and his wife Kathleen written while Hector was stationed at Milne Bay, Buna and Port Moresby in New Guinea with the 5th Division Postal Unit and the Army Education Service of the 29th Australian Infantry Brigade. The letters relate to his work lecturing for the AES and writing articles for the troops on current affairs, and contain descriptions of the local inhabitants and their customs, jungle training in Milne Bay and living conditions. The papers also include issues of 'The week' and 'Jungle news', produced for the 29th Brigade in 1943 as well as research material, correspondence and articles written in 1985 and 1986 relating to Brigadier Michael Monaghan and the capture of the port of Salamaua in New Guinea by the 29th Brigade on 11 September 1943. There is a small amount of material relating to the bombing of Darwin and cuttings and articles relating to the artist Albert Tucker.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is available for reference.
Conditions Governing Use
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. Photocopying for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material. In order to publish such material, however, written permission to publish must first be obtained from the copyright holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Jock Hector, National Library of Australia, MS 7997, [series/file number]'.
Provenance
The collection was donated to the Library by Kathleen Hector in December 1991.
Related Materials
Issues of The Australasian Hardware and Houseware Retailer (1954-1960), received with the Jock Hector Papers, are held in the Library's general collection.
Biographical Note
John (Jock) Kirwan Hector was born in Hong Kong in 1914. He was educated at Scotch College, Western Australia and completed two years of Arts and Journalism subjects before joining the Perth Daily News as a copy boy and later as a cadet. In 1935 Hector left the newspaper to work on the Straits Times in Singapore. In 1936 he was chief reporter and sports editor of Penang Gazette, later moving to Shanghai and Hong Kong where he did freelance work before returning to Australia. In 1937 he rejoined the Perth Daily News where he was chief sports sub-editor and news editor.
In 1940 Hector resigned and moved to the eastern states with the idea of becoming a war correspondent. In 1941 he completed a period of military training and took a job as Darwin correspondent of a number of press agencies and newspapers, as well as editor of the Northern Standard, a twice-weekly Darwin paper. Hector witnessed the first Japanese attack of Darwin on 19 February 1942 and was the only correspondent in Darwin in the week that followed. Hector enlisted in the AIF in 1942 and was posted first to the 5th Division HQ Postal Unit outside Townsville and then to Milne Bay in New Guinea in January 1943. In New Guinea he worked as a sergeant in the Army Education Service (AES) of the 29th Brigade, producing a daily newsheet Jungle News for brigade members.
In January 1944 Hector was posted to the AES journal Salt in Melbourne, where he worked as feature writer, sub-editor and later assistant editor. In June 1946 he obtained his discharge and during 1946-50 was employed by the Defence Department as Australian correspondent for Bcon, the daily newspaper published in Japan for the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. From the 1950s until 1975 he worked in trade publications in Melbourne. Hector died in Sydney in 1991.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Correspondence, 1943-1950
Correspondence between Hector and his wife Kathleen ("Beech") written while Hector was stationed in New Guinea as a private in the 5th Division Postal Unit and as sergeant with the Army Education Service of the 29th Australian Infantry Brigade. Hector wrote about 342 letters to his wife from January 1943 until January 1944. The letters are numbered and some contain annotations in red pen added by Hector in the 1980s while writing articles on the New Guinea campaign. Some letters in the sequence are missing. The letters were written from Milne Bay, Buna and Port Moresby and related to his work lecturing for the AES, articles written for Guinea Gold and articles he wrote informing troops of current affairs from newspapers and magazines sent by his wife. There are also descriptions of the local inhabitants and their customs, comments on the improved living conditions in Port Moresby, reminiscences on the anniversary of the bombing of Darwin, and a description of jungle training in Milne Bay.
Interspersed with Hector's letters are letters by Kathleen Hector, numbered up to 235. The letters were written from Townsville and Sydney and relate to her typing job, friends, day to day activities and the difficulties of separation from her husband.
The series also includes a letter of application for a position at The Argus, January 1950, including a curriculum vitae.
Arrangement
The letters are arranged in chronological order.
Series 2. Bcon, 1948-1951
Between 1946 and 1950, Hector was employed by the Defence Department as an Australian correspondent for Bcon, a daily newspaper published in Japan for the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces.
The series contains financial correspondence and records, 1949-1951 and issues of Bcon, 1950.
Folder 1
Series 3. War articles, 1943-1991
War articles written by Jock Hector. The series includes issues of 'The week' and 'Jungle news', produced for the 29th Brigade in 1943. There is also research material, correspondence and articles written in 1985 and 1986 relating to Brigadier Michael Monaghan and the capture of the port of Salamaua in New Guinea by the 29th Brigade on September 11 1943. The series also includes a small amount of material on the bombing of Darwin. Hector was working on a revision of these articles for publication on the 50th anniversary of the Darwin bombing at the time of his death.
Series 4. Art papers, 1982-1990
Kathleen and Jock Hector were collectors of Australian art and loaned artworks for exhibitions. The papers mainly relate to Albert Tucker and include articles by Hector on Tucker's work 'Victory girls', together with newspaper cuttings, correspondence, two cassette tapes and other papers. There is also a small quantity of correspondence on loans of artworks.
Container List
| Series | File | Box |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-6 | 1 |
| 1 | 7-13 | 2 |
| 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | 1-3 | 3 |
| 4 | 1-3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4-6 | 4 |