Enemy aliens in Queensland during World War I

[3] As a precautionary measure, suspicious enemy alien military reservists were incarcerated in the Enoggera Internment Camp from September 1914, while non-reservists were registered and released on parole.

[6] The steadily growing number of internees ultimately led to the closure of Enoggera in April 1916 and the transfer of 325 enemy aliens south to Holsworthy on the outskirts of Sydney.

Their activities were reinforced from February 1916 by Commonwealth legislation which classified even the Australian-born as "aliens" if they had fathers or grandfathers born in a hostile country.

Iwers was provided with a good character reference by local police only to become the object of suspicion when a horse was shot dead near his property.

In December 1915 Banfield informed the Under Secretary for Home Affairs that a German named Henschel was preparing to purchase 300 acres of land on adjacent Clump Point, the frontage offering commanding views of the coast.

Although conceding that Henschel appeared to be "a decent sort", Banfield reminded the Under Secretary of the "perfidy of the race and its duplicity", suggesting that the sale should be blocked.

[15][16] In the Boonah district of South-East Queensland police investigated claims that German farmers were stockpiling gold and silver to aid their homeland, an allegation soon found to be patently false.

[19] Under the provisions of the War Precautions Act authorities seized company shares held by enemy aliens, including those of 85-year-old C Reese of Fortitude Valley, who had been resident in Australia since 1852.

At the Leyburn Cheese Factory Australian-born William George Greisheimen innocently remarked to a fellow milk supplier in December 1914 that with hostilities underway "I am afraid England will have a rough time of it".

[22][23] Demands to purge the Queensland Public Service of all enemy aliens were unsuccessful, largely owing to the sheer number of the people involved.

[36] In January 1919 Freeman was arrested at his lonely prospecting camp near Cloncurry and taken under armed guard to Sydney, from where he was deported to the United States.