Military and civilian worlds have an uneasy relationship. They inform and intersect with one another in complex and competing ways. Sex, Soldiers and the South Pacific, 1939-45 explores how life in and out of uniform shaped Australia's queer identities in the 1940s. Queensland - with its massive throngs of local and foreign servicemen - provides an unusually detailed tapestry that weaves together the complexities of homoerotic inclination and self-expression in Australia and the South Pacific. Gender would prove to be the central thread colouring dominant forms of identity for men, youths,...

Sex, Soldiers and the South Pacific, 1939-45 explores the queer dynamics of war across Australia and forward bases in the south seas. It examines relationships involving Allied servicemen, civilians and between the legal and medical fraternities that sought to regulate and contain expressions of homosex in and out of the forces.