WESTERN AUSTRALIA:
The War Years 1939 and 1945Researched by Captain Sid Jenkins (now sadly deceased - 1997)
Proudly produced and written by Alan J Gibbs, VK6PG. RSARS 0843.Much as been written about the Second World War. However, Western Australia has never had its own story told so that the younger generation would know of the events from those dramatic years that now just a part of Australian history. To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the ending of hostilities, a public museum has been commissioned at the Fremantle Barracks . The following pages are now on permanent public exhibition on videotape and also as an audio-visual display with coloured projection slides, and a detailed three-dimensional map depicting Western Australia as it was during the war.
MENU: |1939 |1940 |1941 |1942 |1943 |1944 |1945 |The end| :MENU
The story begins…
On the 3rd September 1939, the Prime Minister of Australia announced the Proclamation of War.
Local Militia Forces were immediately called to perform full-time and guard duties at vulnerable key points in Western Australia, and the first of the Army camps were established at Bunbury, Narrogin, and other country centres throughout the State. Garrison Battalions were formed from men who had previously served during the Great War between 1914 and 1918, and these battalions gradually replaced the Militia Units assigned to guard duties.
Recruiting for a fully volunteer force for service overseas commenced, and the 6th Australian Division, Second Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) was one of the first units to be established. The defense of the Perth Metropolitan Area, and the strategic port of Fremantle, was high on the list of defense priorities and immediate steps were taken to increase the heavy defenses at Rottnest Island, Garden Island and the coastal area of Cockburn Sound and Gage Roads. Heavy guns were installed at Buckland Hill located to the north side of the Fremantle Port and other key strategic points. The guns on Buckland Hill were greeted with delight by the children of the North Fremantle State School, just down the road, who were given a holiday on every occasion that the Gun Battery fired a practice shoot. The Australian cruisers HMAS Perth and HMAS Hobart, and five other destroyers, were placed at the disposal of Great Britain, but control of other Australian ships was reserved for Australian home duties. A large number of civilian yachts and small craft were also taken over by the Royal Australian Naval reserve for wartime purposes. The Empire Air Training Scheme was instituted between Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Great Britain, and became responsible for training thousands of men as aircrew. Within three years, Australia recruited 57,473 men for the scheme serving with the British Royal Air Force in Europe. Australian air crew wore Australian uniforms and were grouped together into Australian squadrons. No. 9 Elementary Flying Training School was established at Cunderdin together with the No. 17 Repair and Salvage Unit. No. 4 Service Flying Training School, with a radar station, operational base unit and a care and maintenance unit were established at Geraldton. Additional airbases were established at Albany, Bunbury and Busselton south of Perth, and aircraft from these airbases regularly patrolled the southern and western sea lanes of Australia. The newly raised units to train troops assigned to overseas active service soon occupied the partially built army camp at Northam. Rapid progress was made in the building program, and the camp, together with a camp hospital, was soon ready to house some 400 – 500 troops. Based upon the Sydney Lord Mayor’s Patriotic Fund, The Australian Comforts Fund was formed in all Australian States with the purpose of raising funds for hampers for distribution amongst the troops for Christmas 1939. The Fund continued throughout the war with field representatives being found where ever Australians were serving.
An Australian contingent (known as the 2nd A.I.F.), plus a New Zealand unit, first sailed in convoy from Fremantle on the 20th January 1940. Units included the 16th Brigade of the 6th Australian Division, and the 4th New Zealand Brigade, with supporting artillery and medical personnel. The convoy also carried men of the 3rd Squadron RAAF who were to be equipped with aircraft on arrival in the Middle East. The second convoy destined for he Middle East departed from Fremantle in April 1940, and carried 1343 Western Australians, mostly men of the 2nd/11th Battalion but also men from 16 other units. Nurses from the Army Nursing Service also traveled with the convoy. It is interesting to note that the population of Western Australia at the time was approximately 470,000 people from a State more than seven times the landmass of the United Kingdom. It was known that German Raiders were operating in the Southern and Indian Oceans and on one occasion a German Raider, the Orion, actually placed dummy mines in the approaches to the southern port of Albany. The Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC), sponsored by the Returned Service League (RSL), was raised in 1940 and later expanded to some 43,720 men in Australia with 11 battalions based in Western Australia.
Air Raid Precaution Groups were organized, and air raid shelters constructed in the cities of Perth and Fremantle, the suburbs, and also in some private homes. Students and parents alike dug slit trenches in schoolyards and children practiced air raid drills. After school hours they took part in organized activities collecting scrap metal and other materials to help the war effort. Approval was given to raise the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAAF), the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) and the Women’s Royal Australian Navy Service (WRANS). Under National Security Regulations (Aliens Control), a number of German, Italian and later Japanese residents throughout Australia were confined to Internment Camps, and government authority was given to employ the detainees on non-military tasks as directed by the Minister for Labour. One of these camps was located in the country at Harvey south of Perth. The Volunteer Defense Corps came under direct control of the Army and was organized into Guerilla Warfare Units. The Corps was also responsible for patrolling the Western Australian coastline in co-operation with the Citizen Force Units with detachments being posted to Broome, Derby and Wyndham in the north west of the state. Food, clothing, and petrol rationing was introduced, and gas generators were adapted to fit motor vehicles to ease the acute shortage of petrol. It is interesting to note that the only soft drinks that were available for children were the "water-mixed cordial drink". All soft drinks had been reserved for the Defense Services and those engaged in the war manufacturing industries. Many women became members of the Red Cross and other volunteer organisations, and helped to raise funds for the Australian Comforts Fund. Many women knitted socks and woolies, baked cakes, biscuits and lollies (sweets) for the servicemen and women serving overseas in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. There was fear that Japan would soon enter the war, and with the operation of German submarines and surface raiders making coastal shipping hazardous, it was decided that the little used Eyre Highway connecting the Eastern States with Western Australia was to be upgraded. The Civil Construction Corps, Italian prisoners of War, and the Western Australian Main Roads Department carried out construction work. Maintenance work on the East-West railway line was also given high priority. An interesting point about the interstate railway line was that during the war years it was very common for troops travelling on this route to be carried in normal cattle trucks, and making regular stops along the way for regular meal breaks and personal comforts! Hundreds of children from the bombed cities of England were brought to Australia under the Children’s Evacuation Plan. Many of these children were billeted with families in private homes for the duration of the war. The Home Comforts Fund was extended to include the collection of surplus clothing, with significant consignments destined for the children of wartime Great Britain. Munitions factories were established at Welshpool, Kalgoorlie and other sites. In addition, an RAAF aircraft assembly depot was built at the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie to the east of Perth. In November 1941, HMAS Sydney was destroyed after a fierce sea battle with German Raider Kormoran 600 miles west of Carnarvon. There were no survivors from the Sydney and some 42 Officers and 603 ratings were presumed lost at sea. 315 German Navy personnel survived the great battle and were taken as prisoners of war. On the 7thDecember 1941, Japan first struck against the United States of America at Pearl Harbour in the Pacific Ocean. The war in the Pacific was about to commence. From early December, a "brown out" was declared for all towns in areas with a seaward aspect, and air raid shelters were constructed in all public parks and gardens. Barbed wire appeared on the beaches, and closed areas were declared with military guards posted at key strategic points. A Volunteer Air Observer Corps (VAOC) was quicly organized and posts were manned to keep a 24 hour watch, and to report all aircraft movements in each of the visual areas. In Western Australia, the Corp organisation stretched from the most northern parts of the state, to as far south to the town of Albany. People from all walks of life, including farmers, housewives, school children and many young people that were too young for war service, staffed these posts. The previously imposed petrol-rationing scheme was cut by a further 20% causing many non-essential vehicles to be removed from the roads for the remainder of the war. The flow of refugees from Hong Kong, Malaya, and other Asiatic colonies of Great Britain rapidly increased during the war years between 1040-1941. By December of 1941, a large number of people arrived from the Netherlands-Indies and in particular Malaya, with many refugees eventually settling to a new life in Western Australia.
On the 15th February 1942, Singapore surrendered to the Japanese with a total number of 18,490 Australian casualties for the Malaya campaign alone. Most of these became prisoners of war. Later, on the 19th of February 1942, about 150 Japanese planes attacked Darwin in the far north resulting in 240 Australians dead and 150 wounded. The M.V. Koolama, en route from Darwin to Fremantle, with women and children evacuees onboard was bombed on the 20th January by a four-engine Japanese flying boat in Joseph Bonaparte Gulf – west of Darwin. The M.V. Koolama was beached on the shores of the Gulf, and the passengers put ashore near Kalumburu Mission. Later, on the 1st March, the M.V. Kooama was refloated and reached Wyndham on the following day. Sadly, on the very next day she was sunk near the jetty during another Japanese air raid. Wyndham was also bombed on 23rd of March, the town petrol dump was set ablaze, and the local airstrip badly damaged by bombs, no casualties were reported. During February, and to protect its naval units, the United States Navy decided to move to safer waters at the port of Fremantle. The US submarine tender USS Holland and the remainder of the Netherlands Navy from the East Indies were also now stationed in the harbour of Fremantle. A very large Base Ordnance Depot was constructed at Nungarin on the rail line north of the major wheat belt town of Merredin. Many of the smaller surrounding towns and localities became the sites for Supply Stores. At 09:30 in the morning, on Tuesday the 3rd of March 1942, Japanese "Zero" aircraft approaching from the sea, bombed and strafed some 16 Allied flying boats lying at anchor in Broome Harbour and seven planes actually landed at the town airport. The flying boats were mainly from the Dutch held areas of Java and other islands to the north of mainland Australia. They were carrying Dutch civilian refugees, Australian Aircrew, and military personnel who were escaping from the advancing Japanese troops. At the time of the raid most of the passengers were still aboard the anchored craft, having slept on board all night after a late arrival at Broome. The Japanese raid was sudden, without warning. However, all the flying boats in the harbour were destroyed and it is believed that 70 to 100 people were killed or missing in the action. This figure can only be assumed as not all of the bodies were recovered from the mangrove swamps where they had been washed on the rising tide. One of the destroyed aircraft was carrying diamonds and other valuables from the Dutch Bank in Bandoeng, Java. Today, the wreckage of the flying boats can still be seen at low tide. Broome had no defenses except for a small group of volunteers armed only with rifles. There were unconfirmed reports that Japanese submarines were using islands off the Kinberley coastline for re-supply, and that Japanese commandos had been seen on the northern mainland. Long-range reconnaissance patrols by the 3rd Australian Guerilla Warfare Group were mounted, but no official evidence was found on the Japanese landings. Derby was attacked by Japanese aircraft early on the morning of 20th March, although the attack came without warning, no damage or casualties was ever recorded. However, there were fears that Japanese forces would probably land at Derby, Port Hedland and Broome. By June, a 30-man platoon of No. 19 Garrison Battalion was stationed in the town of Broome with smaller detachments based in other key northern centres. In march, the Headquarters of the United States naval Commander-in Chief, South-West Pacific was established in Fremantle. An American submarine flotilla, Task Force 71 (Submarines) which included a submarine tender ship was based at Fremantle, and 19 American submarines were commissioned to operate near and around the East Indies and into the South China Sea causing the loss of many Japanese ships. During March 1942, a new and secret organisation was raised in Australia. Its title – The Services Reconnaissance department due course, a training base for the group was established in Careening Bay on Garden Island just off the coast of Fremantle. The unit that trained at Garden Island was "Z" Special Unit, an administrative unit for men who performed secret and unusual military tasks. In April 1942, as part of the military build-up in the Merredin area, the 2/1st Australian General Hospital was established near the town. The unit had recently returned from the Middle East being originally part of the famous 6th Division and one of the first Australian units to embark for overseas at the start of the war. An inland air base was established at Corruna Downs, the site of a pastrol station some 35 kilometers south of Marble Bar in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. America also used the base, which was basically manned by the Royal Australian Airforce, and Australian bomber squadrons, flying Liberator bombers, and used for air raid into the Dutch East Indies region. The Japanese never detected this base. An American Catalina Flying Boat Base was established at Matilda Bay, Crawley and most of the land used as a campsite now occupied by the University of Western Australia. In October, the RAAF began the establishment of No. 10 Stores Depot, a large installation in the wheatbelt town of Merredin on the Great Eastern Highway. By October 1042, the 1st Australian Armoured Division, in a defensive position, was located at Geraldton. In due course a very large number of Army and Signals units were stationed in the towns between Geraldton, Mellewa in the north and down to the northern edge of the Perth metropolitan area. Small centres such as Dandaragan, Gingin, Mingenew, Moora and others became hosts to many thousands of Army personnel. Many Italian prisoners of war were moved to Western Australia from Victoria in the East, and were used on the farms and the timber industries. The interstate Eyre Highway much improved as part of the strategic East-West connection line of communications. Flax was produced at Boyup Brook and south west areas to help the war effort. Because of a continuing threat that the Japanese may land on the west coast of Australia, plans were made to evacuate all women and children from the Perth Metropolitan Area and other seaside towns and relocated to inland settlements of the State should the threat from the Japanese eventuate.
On the 11th June, the Corvette, HMAS Wallaroo was accidentally rammed by a merchant ship and sank approximately 100Km west of Fremantle. Three crew members of the corvette were lost. The Marrinup Prisoner of War Camp, located in the Jarrah forest west of Dwellingup, was known as No’ 16 POW Camp. The camp was built by Italian prisoners and swelled to a population of 1,200 Italians and 300 Germans captured in the North African Campaign of 1941-42. In all, there were 28 prisoner of war control points in Western Australia and after the war, a significant number of prisoners and their families settled to a new life in Western Australia. A large POW transit depot was established at Parkeston near Kalgoorlie. This camp was to be later used by allied troops moving through on the East-West train.
On 2nd of September 1943, Operation Jaywick was activated from the Exmouth base in the north. The aim was to sail close to Singapore Harbour and launch two-man canoes and paddle to the Japanese shipping and attach time-delayed magnetic mines. The vessel Krait, and men of "Z Force" achieved fame for their endeavors. The Krait returned to the Exmouth area on the 19th of October after their mission. The airstrip at Exmouth was severely damaged by Japanese aircraft during a September raid but was quickly put back into operation. On Monday, 27th of September 1943, at 9:30am, 25 Japanese aircraft approaching from the direction of Pago attacked the Kalumburu Mission area, dropping some 70 bombs. Eighty percent of the Mission buildings were destroyed and five people were killed. After the raid, 86 bomb craters were found in and around the Mission with a further 100 at the nearby airstrip. Survivors from the Mission were evacuated to Tingun Station.
On the 4th of March 1944, an enemy aircraft was reported flying over Cape Leveque towards Derby, but there is no official record of any attack taken place. During the period between March 9th and 14th, The metropolitan areas of Perth and Fremantle were both considered to be under immediate threat from attack by a Japanese Task Force which was known to have sailed south from Java. During this period, the American submarine tenders based at Fremantle were withdrawn to safer waters at the southern port of Albany, and 140 Allied Spitfire fighter aircraft were dispersed at Perth and Exmouth as part of the defensive plan. Perth was subject to a "yellow" air raid warning followed by a "red" warning. These alerts were based upon radar reports of approaching enemy aircraft, but the reports were later assumed to be false alarms caused by weather disturbances. On 11th September 1944, the British mine-laying submarine Porpoise sailed from Careening Bay, Garden Island with another group of "Z Special" operatives who were to enter Singapore Harbour using two-man canoes know as "Sleeping Beauties". Armed with magnetic mines, they were to attempt the destruction of Japanese shipping, as had the men of Operation Jaywick some twelve months before. Operation Rimau, although successful, cost the lives of all participants who perished at the hands of the Japanese. Towards the end of the year, the British Pacific Fleet arrived in Fremantle from their former base in Ceylon. The task force operated into the Indian Ocean, which was still the area of operation by German submarines and raiders. The fleet also operated into the East Indies and supported the Australians and Americans during operations in the South West Pacific Theatre.
During the year, the defense activity in Western Australia began to diminish. The end of the war in Europe on the 9th of May 1945 was received with a belief that it would not be long before the war with the Japanese would end.
And so it did - on the 15th day of August 1945. Australians will remember this day for many years to come. In Western Australia, this day is known as VJ Day and in most states – VP Day.
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HTML Author: Alan J. Gibbs, VK6PG (RSARS 0843).
Updated: 19 September 2006