Lola, Daphne and the lost and found diaries of 1940s Brisbane
By Janine Lucas and Naomi Taylor | 22 July 2025
Lola Mead-Hughes and Jack Taylor on their wedding day in August 1946 with Daphne Baetz as bridesmaid and Les Hooper as best man. Ranald Simmonds Studios photo, supplied by Taylor family.
In her diary of wartime Brisbane, Daphne Baetz wrote of a whirlwind social life with her friend Lola.
When Daphne’s pocket diaries found their way to State Library via a Woolloongabba flea market, the identity of the author was unknown. Media coverage ahead of Anzac Day 2025 led to her identification as Daphne Hage (nee Baetz).
Lola’s wedding, referenced in the diary, was one of the keys to solving the mystery.
This glamorous 1946 wedding portrait captures Lola Maude Mead-Hughes’ wedding to Royal Australian Navy Chief Petty Officer Jack Taylor, with childhood friend Daphne by her side as bridesmaid.
Lola, who died in 2020 at age 93, was a Red Cross volunteer and worked for the US military postal service in Brisbane during World War II.
She wrote the titular chapter in Jitterbugging at City Hall, a collection of stories of being young during the war. Lola featured on the cover (below).
Her essay tells of a fascination with Hollywood films, and mentions eagerly showing the newly opened Story Bridge to an American visitor in 1939 with Daphne at age 13. ‘We took him to see what we thought would knock his eyes out: our great new bridge,’ Lola writes.
For Lola’s granddaughter Naomi Taylor, making the connections between Daphne and Lola through these historical documents has been both fascinating and poignant.
Like Daphne, she says, Lola cherished the memories of this pivotal time in her life – a sentiment that was reflected in her inscription in Naomi's copy of Jitterbugging:
‘Memories keep us young …’
Naomi remembers Lola as a gregarious and creative personality who told her, 'Knowledge should not be sacred. Knowledge is there to be shared.’ Discovering Daphne’s diaries at State Library brought many of Lola’s precious recounts back to life for Naomi.
Here, Naomi shares some of her memories of her grandmother.
Lola and her granddaughter Naomi at Naomi’s graduation from The University of Queensland in 1997.
Photo supplied by Taylor family.
Lola on the cover of Jitterbugging at City Hall, her inscription on granddaughter Naomi’s copy of the book, and Lola’s Red Cross volunteer badge.
Remembering Lola
Lola was born in 1926 and raised in Brisbane. Lola's father died when she was 2. There was no Widow's Pension at the time, so her widowed mother (‘Mrs Hughes’, as referenced in Daphne's diaries) moved to Sydney to work for Truth newspapers.
Lola was placed in Queen Alexander Home in Coorparoo, spending weekends and holidays with her aunts and cousins. Lola then moved to Fortitude Valley with her mother when she was 8. They lived near the RNA Showgrounds. I remember Lola telling me all about the showbags back in the era, with the tiny jars of food samples, and tiny glass bottles of perfume samples. She loved those showbags!
From an early age, Lola loved theatre – especially attending vaudeville at the Cremorne with her mother. Thus began a lifelong love for all things ‘arts’. She began acting lessons with the famous Miss Trundle and enjoyed the flamboyance and flair of the arts – stage, dancing, theatre, acting, you name it. Her delight is documented in her chapter in Jitterbugging at City Hall. (Lola later went on to teach drama and became a much-loved patron and supporter of Queensland Theatre Company. Often in the front row, or best seat in the theatres, she was always generous with her standing ovations and jubilant applause!)
Lola as a young performer at the Cremorne Theatre.
Lola, an unidentified friend and Daphne in front of the Old Museum Building in Fortitude Valley.
Photos supplied by Taylor family.
Childhood friends in the Valley
Historical records show Lola and Daphne attended Fortitude Valley State School and the Brisbane Business College (now part of QUT campus), gaining secretarial skills. By the sound of Daphne's diary, neither of them found the training college to be particularly interesting. They preferred socialising around Brisbane city, day trips to Sandgate, and dancing to live music.
Lola often described all the lively places around the traps: Cloudland, The Troubadour, The Trocadero, The Tivoli, The Ritz, and – of course – City Hall. She knew of all the hot places around the town and which tram to take her there. This is reflected in both Lola's memoirs, and Daphne's diaries. What an exciting, lively place Brisbane was in that era!
Apart from dancing and socialising, Lola had a passion for Hollywood films and enjoyed attending The Regent cinema, even during the war era. Indeed, Daphne’s diary also shares how much she enjoyed the flicks!
Being a Valley girl, Lola was delighted when the Story Bridge opened. Her memoirs document the thrill of crossing the bridge on opening day with Daphne and an American visitor. It was a very exciting event back in the day. I suppose it was the first big piece of infrastructure that the girls had seen created in Brisbane and it was worth celebrating. Perhaps they wanted to be part of history?
Lola modelling leisurewear for Players store, where she also worked as a sales assistant and window dresser.
Lola at work for the US Army.
Photos supplied by Taylor family.
Hollywood accents and semaphore signals
These two close friends adored the Americans. I think it must have been the uniform, the accent, the manners, the charm, and the presents. Lola grew up on Hollywood movies, so I suppose meeting real-life, handsome Americans who showered women in compliments and presents was quite appealing. By the sound of the diaries, many women in Brisbane were besotted by the novelty of these charismatic visitors with their ‘Hollywood’ accents. I remember back in 1996, I told Lola about how some American Marines had visited my shop on the Queen Street Mall with their shiny shoes, buzz cuts, crisp white uniforms, and ‘Yes Ma'am’ manners. I said the polished charm almost took my breath away. She replied, ‘Oh, my word,’ and made an analogy to her era in Brisbane, at the same age.
Lola trained with the Girl Mariners, so she knew morse code and semaphore. She told me she would stand on the South Brisbane Dry Dock with Daphne and signal the American sailors on the docked ships. The Americans would watch through binoculars, wolf whistle, and respond – all in semaphore, of course.
Lola once demonstrated some of her semaphore for me, sitting in a large lounge chair and waving her arms about.
I asked, ‘What were you telling them?’
Her response was, ‘We'd set up dates with them!’
I said, ‘But you couldn't even see them from the bank! What if they were UGLY?’
Her laughing response: ‘Oh, we didn't care!’
Lola also worked as a sales assistant, model, and window dresser for Players store in Brisbane. Apparently, this was located on Queen Street, in Centaur House, just down from the Commercial Banking Co. of Sydney. She described this to me as ‘a store that sold sportswear, but not sportswear as we know it today’. It must have sold fashionable leisurewear and casual attire. Her job was to dress the mannequins in the front windows in all the latest fashions.
She was working at Players on the day Brisbane experienced its only air raid, 20 August 1942. Her memoirs described her running for cover, holding one arm of a mannequin. At some stage during this era, the front windows of Players were covered by bamboo blinds, then blacked out completely, to reduce reflections during the high-risk period of World War II. So, with shopfront windows blacked out, I'm guessing the need for window-dressers and window displays was no longer.
Lola was soon offered a job by the Americans.
Lola (back row, third from right) with colleagues in the US military’s V-Mail (Victory Mail) service in Brisbane.
Photo supplied by Taylor family.
V-Mail and volunteering
During the World War II American occupation in Brisbane, Lola worked in the V-Mail section for the US Army. This was a special postal system used to deliver mail between soldiers overseas and their families back home. Lola's job involved redacting soldiers’ letters from the front, which were on Kodak microfilm. The film was then transferred to the US, processed, and mailed on to the soldiers’ families. She loved that job! She spoke of it a lot.
Lola also joined the Red Cross as a volunteer. (We still have her sweet little pin that she wore at City Hall events. It's in pristine condition). Of an evening, Lola and other volunteers danced with American officers. She recalls that drinking Coca-Cola and eating donuts was a real treat during rationing, and that the swing bands were sensational – like nothing she'd seen before. Indeed, she credits the Americans for bringing excellent jazz bands and music to Brisbane during World War II.
Lola and Daphne went on lots of adventures around town, enjoying the company of Americans. Lola was an incredibly attractive, glamorous young woman with stunning movie-star looks. She had stylish hairdos and ensured her teeth were always ‘Hollywood white’ by brushing them with bicarb soda (baking soda)! Her love of dancing and socialising brought plenty of attention from charming Americans. Lola and her mother appreciated the American gifts, too ... stockings, chocolate, even sacks of potatoes and butter. Lola said they found the Americans they met to be pleasant company, good conversationalists, and very generous.
From what I can tell in the diaries, Lola was a kind and supportive friend to Daphne – visiting her when she was sick, dropping off food and also inviting her out to day trips to Sandgate, morning tea at home with Mrs Hughes, and enjoyable evenings at City Hall. It seems like Lola and Daphne had a caring, close and fun relationship.
Even though she was only 15 or 16, Lola was close to Daphne's brother Henry. We think Lola was very in love with him, as she mentioned Henry regularly, even into her 90s. She was impacted every Anzac Day by the sad memory of him never returning from war. (Lola later discovered, through war archives, that Henry's plane went down in the English Channel in the first year of World War II. The grief was immense for Lola, even till her final days). Interestingly, I didn't realise ‘Henry’ was Daphne's brother until my sister-in-law conducted genealogy research recently and I made the connection.
Lola on her wedding day, 1946. Ranald Simmonds Studio photo, supplied by Taylor family.
A Christmas card from Lola was tucked in the back of Daphne’s diaries, which are preserved in State Library Queensland’s collection.
The Ritz and rationing
Daphne's diaries document the night my grandparents met at The Ritz. My grandfather, Jack Taylor, had completed his service in the Royal Australian Navy as Chief Petty Officer and was enjoying a night of dancing with his friend Les on the night they all met. They certainly sound like they had a great time! Jack and Lola were very soon married in August 1946. Daphne was the bridesmaid and Les was the groomsman. It's an absolutely stunning photo of the group! One can see why Daphne had a bit of a crush on Les. He was quite handsome, with a crooked, wry smile and lovely hair. Her diary indicates that she fancied Les at the wedding.
Weddings in the 1940s were a very different affair than in later decades. I recall Lola telling me that many people could not afford a wedding cake, due to rationing and cost. It was common practice to have a ‘model cake’ (display cake only) with a tiny drawer hidden at the back, about the size of a matchbox. The drawer slid open and there was a sliver of wedding cake in there for the bride and groom to share.
My father was born early April the following year (1947). However, the diary does not mention this. According to the sequence of the diaries, it seems Daphne was in Melbourne with her mother at the time. It is hard to ascertain if Lola and Daphne were still in touch by then.
However, there is a small clue in Daphne's diary that indicates that they may have remained in touch after Lola and Jack married: A tiny Christmas card, inserted into the back of the diary, written from Lola to Daphne. It appears Daphne had also written Lola's newly married name and new address into her 1946 diary. However, the diary mentions nothing of their friendship after the wedding. We are unsure why. (There is a cryptic entry in the diary on the day after the wedding, but nothing more).
I remember Lola telling me the financial impacts of the war were still evident to her and Jack as newlyweds. She said they had milk crates for furniture in the early days of married life. Lola and Jack had 7 children in total, moving from Camp Hill in 1956 to acreage at Wondall Road, Tingalpa. Mrs Hughes (Nanna) lived with Lola, Jack and the children. Interestingly, it would appear this is the same region where Daphne and Clint settled and started their family.
Lola passed away in early 2020. She had 10 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren. Her memories of Brisbane during World War II are documented in her published memoirs, which now marry with Daphne's diaries.
We are unsure what became of the friendship after the diaries. However, we have come a full circle to link 2 separate accounts of social history, independently written by 2 friends who shared the same experiences ... and that's quite something. Not only that, we have the photo that links all of these people together!
Catch up on the story of Daphne's diaries
Mystery World War II diaries of a young Brisbane woman
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