We Join the RAAF (continued)

The RAAF Mess also had ladies' nights which Audrey attended, wearing the long evening dresses fashionable at that time and looking very young and glamorous. Other wives at these functions were those of the CO, one or two of the Qantas pilots and some of the other RAAF officers.

Although there was less regard for rank and protocol than in the regular peacetime RAAF, a relic of that stuffiness emerged when someone gave Audrey a booklet on RAAF etiquette describing the procedure which should be observed in leaving visiting cards with the wives of other officers and how, when invited to afternoon tea by the CO's wife, one should politely decline when offered a second cup of tea and should take one's leave five minutes thereafter.

RAAF parades were held on a parade ground near Konedobu on the southeastern shore of the harbour at Port Moresby. Keith Hannay was keen that we should participate and arranged for a Flight Sergeant to give us a verbal description of how we should behave during parades. Down in Melbourne members of the RAAF Meteorological Service were given a short course to instruct them in such matters. Having received considerable instruction in parade ground drill as a member of the Sydney University Regiment in the 1930s, I did not feel the need to become involved and managed to quietly avoid attending parades.

Bureau of Meteorology