ISSUE 14 : Jan/Feb - 1979 - Australian Defence Force Journal

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20 DEFENCE FORCE JOURNAL No. 14, JAN/FEB 79During the Wyndham raid the Kodama sankand turned turtle alongside the jetty, its launchalso being s::nk. Later when elements of theNAOU reached Wyndham, they refloated thelaunch and one of the platoons made gooduse of it for river work.Into the HeldMeanwhile the development of the NAOUhad been proceeding at the camp at Ingleburnin NSW. In early July a march-past of thewhole unit took place and within a day or sothe Advance Party left for North Australia.In the beginning of August the Main Partywas able to follow, travelling by railway fromSydney to Townsville and across to Mt Isa,thence by the trucks of an American TransportBattalion on through Camooweal into theNorthern Territory and up to Katherinc.What an ideal place Katherine was for theHQ of a unit like the NAOU, based as it wasin the roots of the giant salient which theNorthern Territory made. The IndependentCompanies stayed there; the 2/2 IndependentCompany was there for a few weeks beforeleaving for Timor in December 1941. The2/4 Independent Company, commanded byMajor Walker, had already arrived there inMarch and was now deployed at Herring'swish, watching and patrolling the lines ofpossible Japanese approach along the Roper,Victoria and Daly Rivers until they were relievedby NAOU in August. The next monththe Company departed to reinforce the 2/2Independent Company in Timor. Shortly, the2/8 Independent Company in its turn, madeits way also into the Northern Territory.Katherine had the advantage that wirelesstelegraphy worked well from there right acrossthe whole of the continent, allowing for suchproblems as skip-distance and so on. In addition,Katherine was central and communicationsby road and air easier. Further, it wasdeployed away from Darwin itself, which wasHerring's wish. The actual site of the HQ wason the southern bank of the river there, abouthalf a mile from the rail crossing and almostexactly on the present site of the CSIROexperimental station. It was a beautiful site,with fair cover from air observation, withsplendid water, and with heavy grass (whichwas not burned, but trampled under foot tokeep the dust from rising, a iesson many unitswere very slow to learn).From here, the grand deployment was aboutto begin. Its scope is even at this day, thirtyfiveyears later, difficult to appreciate withouta thrill: "your task", the men would say. eventhough but to themselves, for they were Australians,"your task lies from the Gulf Countryto the Kimberleys". To survey, in one's mind'seye the hundreds and the hundreds of horses,soldiers' horses, was to give back to these mena generation far past from their own present,from the trucks and tanks of modern war, asit was even then, to give them a glimpse ofthat epitome of the Australian Army, theMounted Soldier.Stanner noted in his diary, "28 August, Friday.Intense preparation all day. Loading ofgear in platoon and company lots to facilitatemovement and discharge. Officers' conferencelast night. Put Operation Instruction No. I intoverbal terms—as little writing as possible, as aprinciple—-discussed tactical disposition, use ofreserves and mobility and essentials of roleand method. All quiet and attentive."Stanner held his unit CO's parade at duskthat evening, under the trees at Katherine, themoon shining, all his men seated quietly onthe grass. A scene not easily forgotten. Stannerwrote, "All men seated in ihe grass near theOrderly Room, all very interested and responsive.Spoke strongly and told them they couldnot now turn back from a task so well begun."There was a general air of tension and ofexcitement in the atmosphere. The unit stayedup late and then slept restlessly and lightly.The next morning the 'A" Company and 'B'Company convoys moved out in good order,enormously long convoys piled high with themen and their equipment, off to the east and,longer still to the west, carrying thousands ofgallons of petrol for the journey out and backin. The work of NAOU had begun.On reaching their destinations the companieshad to implement at their level the implicationsof the operational role. This implied the patrolling,the exploring, the watching and the'backing-up' of the immense coast, with theadditional tasks of accumulating and collatingall topographical information likely to be ofoperational value and the constant observanceof the movements of enemy aircraft.
THE SURVEILLANCE OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIA 21DIAGRAM OF NAOU SIGNALS NETWORKSHQ NT FORCERAAF DARWINDirect links with Advanced HQof NT Force from each ofthe Coastwatch Posts.AHQ Darwin Coastwatchplatoon at WinellieRAAF TOWNSVILLEHQ Y0RKF0RCE,QLD.Vessels of NAOU fleetDarwin areacoastwatch postsHQ ' A' Coy, Roper Rivereastern NTPlatoon HQs ineastern NTrHQ'B' Coy,Ivanhoe W.A.Halls Creek J Alice Springs•AsPlatoon HQs inwestern NT and innorthern Kimberleys, W.A.IMounted patrols and observation posts.HQ'C Coy,Gulf area, QldICloncurry^ftPlatoon HQs inarea from Borroloola, NTto Normanton, Qld.NAOU Signals NetworkThe function of the NAOU depended uponthe reporting of information from observerpersonnel by a rapid and reliable wirelesstelegraphy network which was to be laid withspeed across the north of Australia.The chosen method of communication was,in the main, the transmission of messages inMorse Code using pre-arranged calendar codeblocks. Special consideration was given to theproblems of long distance communication. Thediagram of the unit structure and geographicaldistribution indicates this need. Equipmentneeded to be capable of both local net usageand infra-continental communication. Thesignallers had been trained in special schoolsbefore movement north and were strengthenedby the transfer in of members of Signals,1st Australian Corps.Older and unsophisticated methods of reportingwere used when wireless equipmentwas insufficient in quantity for a particulartask. Small groups of men, in twos or threes,might investigate an area of many miles ofcoast, without wireless equipment (because thesets were already being used by the other
Page 1 and 2: JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1979No. 14HBDEFENC
Page 3 and 4: DEFENCEFORCEJOUR NALNo. 14ISSN 0314
Page 5 and 6: ^^\Editors Commentf DEFENCE]FORCE J
Page 7 and 8: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 5applies to A
Page 9 and 10: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 7armoured cru
Page 11 and 12: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 9with the pri
Page 13 and 14: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 11BASIC DEFEN
Page 15 and 16: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 13that to arg
Page 17 and 18: The Surveillance ofnorthern-its his
Page 19 and 20: THE SURVEILLANCE OF NORTHERN AUSTRA
Page 21: THE SURVEILLANCE OF NORTHERN AUSTRA
Page 33 and 34: THE CHALLENGE^MANAGEMENTColonel Joh
Page 35 and 36: THE CHALLENGE TO MANAGEMENT 33quant
Page 37 and 38: A PROGRAMME IN PROBLEM SOLVING 35be
Page 39 and 40: A PROGRAMME IN PROBLEM SOLVING 3713
Page 41 and 42: A PROGRAMME IN PROBLEM SOLVING 39Pe
Page 43 and 44: cA PROGRAMME IN PROBLEM SOLVING 41s
Page 45 and 46: 1^Some thoughts on AD FA •*H5F «
Page 47 and 48: SOME THOUGHTS ON ADFA4^in the commu
Page 49 and 50: NAPOLEON AND SPAIN 47proved intrans
Page 51 and 52: NAPOLEON AND SPAIN 49the occupation
Page 53 and 54: I fIfA THIRD DIMENSION TO TRAININGM
Page 55 and 56: TRAINING WAR GAMES — A THIRD DIME
Page 57 and 58: PARACHUTE FAMILIARISATION COURSES A
Page 59 and 60: BOOK REVIEWS 57No Indian Army forma
Page 61 and 62: BOOK REVIEWS 59is based on solid ac
Page 63 and 64: BOOK REVIEWS 61cant than others, no
Page 65 and 66: BOOK REVIEWS 63There is nothing new
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ISSUE 14 : Jan/Feb - 1979 - Australian Defence Force Journal

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