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

THE SURVEILLANCE OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIA 2>one, especially as to re-supply, if action didoccur.Stanner has said that he used to be hauntedby thoughts that elements of the NAOU wouldget involved in needless, close-contact fightswith the enemy, resulting in NAOU personnelbeing wounded and with absolutely no meansof casualty evacuation, and as well, by doingso, just for the satisfaction of the fight, leavingthe true role of shadowing, watching andreporting upon the enemy.A NAOU Bush Scout's DiaryIt is worth quoting here an entry from adiary of comments on scouting and patrollingin the bush by the NAOU, as follows:"We eat what we can shoot, and carry shotgunsfor that; we kill beef and make it intosalt meat the way they did years ago, and thereis damper made the way that drovers do in acamp oven and the coals of our fire, when wesee fit to make one. When we stop at the endof each day's march, we place the pack saddlesin a row, taking our bed-rolls, which have beenstrapped crossways over the pack saddles, offto make each our one night's home beneaththe stars, or if it is raining to seek the off windside of trees."We sleep on the ground after watering thehorses; we each have at least one or two toride and one or two are also ours to see totheir packs; the horses know us all by nowand teach us a lesson in patience as they waitto be unsaddled. We strip them completely;some we rub down, favourites I suppose, butwe look at all their feet and cheek each daytheir shoes and look them all over for sorebacks or for saddlery that really was not aswell balanced as we thought."It is good to watch our horses at the waterhole,they stand in it and blow water with theirnostrils', heavens, how much they drink! Theywill drink it dry we fear. We drink it too,brown, churned up, how strange it was to thinkthat water is always white and crystal clear,no, white is not the word, but brown will do,or else we strain it until it seems clear enoughin a billy full of black tealeaves, which presentlyis on the boil. They stand around us,the horses in their hobbles, they need eachother in their bush friendship, and even us itseems."We seldom wash and our clothes start towear to pieces on our bodies; we do not wearthe woollen breeches we started off with butjust the ordinary long trousers that all soldierswear, but ours are all wrinkled up in curves."We find that we can do without manythings out on patrol, and though we miss them,there comes a sense of pleasure after a whilefrom being the complete master of oneself andall one's possessions."During the night one of us is awake inturns for sentry and to watch the horses andbefore dawn, at what they call 'piccaninnydaylight', the last watch and also our faithfultracker (who is called 'Lightning') get the firestarted anew for breakfast. The horses havebeen grazing and sleeping through the nightand now wait to have their hobbles off and besaddled up.(Australian War Memorial Neg. 58473)Mounted detachment of NAOU."Up you get into the saddle, your waterbottleon one shoulder (you learn not to hangeverything on the saddle), and there is theproblem of one's rifle (no rifle-buckets, please,on this patrol), it is better carried over yourshoulders on its sling, and there is the shotgunto carry, whose turn is it today?"And do not forget your bandolier, please,with its ninety rounds, wear it yourself androuse on those who would dangle its weightaround their horse's neck. And so we go; itsall the same whether you head out for a dayor for a month, it matters not; only where'snext water's our only problem."Above all others, this bush life does developyour faculties, sharpen your senses of hearing