A Mouse at Moresby 

A first-hand account of a World War II RAAF photographer in New Guinea.

By Toby Green, Irvine Green 

Published by Big Sky Publishing
RRP $34.99 in hard back | ISBN: 9781923300941

Tony Green, Irvine Green’s son, has spent years curating and researching his father’s splendid wartime archive, consisting of diaries, 450 pages of letters, 250 black and white prints, 65 pages of official war record and his original pay books, covering his four years of service in the RAAF.

It has indeed proved to be a fascinating time-capsule, containing many previously unseen images that offer a firsthand view of the war in New Guinea in the pivotal years 1941-1943.

Irvine Green was stationed in Port Moresby as part of the RAAF photo section. His task, as an official photographer, saw him record many aspects of the war, most crucially he was involved in taking, using and preparing photos from aerial reconnaissance.

But this archive is much more than simply an archive of military images.

His diaries and his letters offer an insight into the realities of life in Port Moresby during this period. He photographed the native population, the men he worked with, and scenes of daily life in general.

In July 1942, he records how ‘things are looking serious’ and that they had been told ‘everyone must stay and fight to the last man.’

In February 1943 he returned to Australia to various postings until his discharge in November 1945.

His career as a photographer would continue in peace time but the archive he bequeathed to his family, which has been painstakingly collected in this book, stands as a testament to his professional contribution as well as a unique insight into war through the eyes of a photographer.

Written at the time, his diaries and letters are not degraded by errant memory. He wrote what he saw, what he experienced. And he photographed it. In doing so he offers us a unique insight into the war, as he experienced it.

VERDICT: A fascinating book. This is one for the bookshelves. Or the coffee table.

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“My dad, Irvine, shares authorship of this book — most of the text and photos come from him. I like to believe this is the book he always intended to write, and now we have written it together.”

Irvine Green

Irvine Green (1913–1997), OAM, born in Melbourne, was a renowned professional photographer whose career spanned decades. He contributed images to numerous publications, including National Trust volumes, and authored and illustrated around 17 books on the local history of Melbourne’s Eastern Suburbs. During the 1940s, he was a key contributor to the avant-garde magazine A Comment, and his work is preserved in exhibitions at the Doncaster Templestowe Historical Society, which he co-founded.

Tony Green

Tony Green, PhD, Irvine’s son, has spent years curating and researching his father’s extensive collection of wartime diaries, letters, and photographs. A member of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia and a passionate family historian, Tony also travelled to New Guinea during his career as an Exploration Geologist, where he visited sites and relics tied to the war.