War’s end provides demobilised service personnel, displaced persons and ‘war brides’ with a chance to re-establish an existing relationship, or forge ahead with a new one.
The transition is seldom easy.
Adapting to war’s destructive aftermath tests even the most committed couples.
![](https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-02/Slim%20and%20xan%20-%20thin%20copy.jpg)
An address scrawled on a slip of paper led to love...
Studio portrait of Herbert ‘Slim’ Wrigley 1950
![](https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-09/Love%20and%20War-083%20copy.jpg)
‘Here to Wed Man She Hid from Enemy’ 23 January 1951
![](https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-09/Love%20and%20War-067%20copy.jpg)
Back home January 1946
by Herman Sali (1898–1993)
![](https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-09/25%20Back%20home%20-ART22893.jpg)
War’s end can signal new beginnings for a couple – or a relationship’s end.
Divorce rates in Australia rose dramatically in the years immediately following both world wars and some 38% of Vietnam veterans’ marriages failed within 6 months of their repatriation.
Veterans of modern wars continue to struggle. Without support, some individuals – restless, traumatised or alienated – may neglect, abuse or desert their significant others.
Long periods of self-sufficiency, meanwhile, may give their spouses confidence to contemplate life alone.
Now don’t forget—you’re only a mascot! 1943
by Joan Morrison (1911–69)
![](https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-09/21.jpg)
Joan Morrison was one of Australia’s most successful pin-up artists and often trod a fine line between parody and pandering to her audience’s prejudices. The gormless Second World War digger in this pin-up symbolises an entitled and triumphalist mindset of a nation that has reasserted itself as a colonial master and a victor in war. His Papuan ‘mascot’ can be seen as a metaphor—representing, among other things, the sexual experience amassed by Australian servicemen during their military service.
![](https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-02/IAN%20AND%20Motoe%20-%20thin%20copy.jpg)
One of hundreds of unsanctioned loves between Australian soldiers and their Japanese fiancées...
Traditional kimono
Brought to Australia by Motoe Robertson in 1954
![](https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-11/IMG_0634%20copy_2.jpg)
Portrait of Motoe Robertson
Photographer Ian Robertson
![](https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-11/11.%20Glamour%20portrait%20of%20Motoe%20in%20her%20Kimono.jpg)
This portrait of Motoe Robertson was taken by Ian Robertson for his camera club soon after his and Motoe’s arrival in Australia.
Kokeshi dolls c 1940
Brought to Australia by Motoe Higashida
Ian and Motoe Robertson with their friends 1956
Photographer Ian Robertson (with timer).
![](https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-11/10.%20Portrait%20of%20Ian%2C%20Motoe%20and%20their%20friends.jpg)
Ian and Motoe's courting years
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