When does copyright expire

[salnel]

Hoping someone can help me here. I wanted to take a photo for my challenge and decided to use part of an old photo as a prop. Then I started to wonder about copyright as I did not take the image nor do I know who did.
It is a photo of my grandfather and a few other servicemen . I think it was taken in Singapore some time in 1942. .
I checked on Google but got a little confused ..I am now under the impression that copy right ceases on photos that were taken prior to 1955 . But then I found another statement which said copy right ceased 70 years after the death of the person who took the photo.
Can anyone tell me if I can use part of a photo that was taken that long ago
Thanks for looking :)

[ricktas]

Any Australian photo, published or unpublished, anonymous or attributed, taken before 1 January 1955 is out of copyright and in the public domain. Photos taken after the 1 January 1955 had 50 years copyright.

New rules came into force in 2005. For photographs which were still in copyright on 1 January 2005, or which were created on or after that date, copyright now lasts until 70 years from the end of the year the photographer died.

Thus photos taken after 1 January 1955 were still in copyright as at 1 January 2005 and the new rule applies to all those photographs.

[salnel]

Thanks, rick. I will double check with my mother but I am positive the bit of the photo I want to use was taken in about 1945. I just didn't want to do the wrong thing :)