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

THE SURVEILLANCE OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIA :which the enemy held towards the Australianforces in the SWPA, or of the measures, eachof complementary importance, which must bedirected against him.With this background of soldiering in theNorthern Territory in 1942-43 in mind, it isparticularly refreshing to find records of theunusually high morale and pride in the Unitwhich existed in the NAOU. Indeed Stannernoted in his diary on 6 September 1942, whenhe, was in Alice Springs, discussing withBrigadier Loutit, the various possibilities opento the enemy in their approach to the NT,that the Brigadier said, "Your unit has themost interesting job in the AIF". And later,in 1943, when General Blarney inspected theNAOU unit headquarters at Katherine andlooked over the widely-spread signals chartand the details of the patrols and OPs, he saidexactly the same, "Stanner, you have the bestjob in the AIF".There were certain things which had muchto do with this hi«h morale in the NAOU.(Australian War Memorial Neg. 58458/1)Detachment crossing a river.As a basis was the fact that all the membersof the NAOU were volunteers for an unknown,adventurous and dangerous job in conditionsof extreme isolation. Many of the men wereexperienced bushmen, and there were stationhands, farmers and graziers, former membersof Light Horse Regiments steeped in the prideof old traditions now carried on into the largestof the mounted units raised in the AustralianArmy, and others—men from the cities, wholearned quickly the secrets of the bush andcould hold their own with anybody. Many ofthe men became expert marksmen, and Stannerencouraged expertise in rapid and formidablesmall arms fire capability. The men weremounted—and this really did make an enormouspsychological difference—and they knewthey could go anywhere in the bush, wherewheels would never go; they were kept activeby the constant patrols in the deep Australianbush, a land which may be benign when itwill, but which at other times or seasons maybe as malign as any wild country can be.In many cases the patrols lived off the land,as already detailed, and this in itself breedsquite a sense of inward superiority and confidenceas nothing else does. The men developedlots of self-reliance and good companionshipwhich filled in their lonely hours.They were very proud loo, of their selfchosennick-name — the 'Nackeroos' — whichhad its genesis in a humorous description ofthe unit by Lieutenant Travers, of 4 B' Company(who later went on to win the Military Crosson Tarakan). They were very proud of theircolour patch and fought for it too, when theywent south on leave eighteen months or solater.At the end of 1943 the unit was dismountedand in early 1944 most of the men went southon leave and for re-posting. The unit headquarterswas moved to Manton Dam; the fieldcompanies were disbanded; the horses weresold; the men were heartbroken. Stanner triedto interest the higher command into preservingthe disbanded segment of the NAOU and intoforming it into a long-range penetration groupfor a Chindit-type job in Java or Borneo orthe Philippines, but nothing came of it. TheAustralian Army was no longer interested inprivate armies and 'cloak and dagger' outfits.The men were posted, after leave, to variousdepots for re-training and then posting asreinforcements, to the AIF divisions. Thecommand of the remaining NAOU passed toMajor White and Stanner left for other duties.Stanner remained however in the memories ofhis men, with considerable affection; "There'sBill Stanner", some rough-rider would rememberhaving said when Stanner appeared at anoutlying detachment after a trip in Eddie Connellan'saeroplane, "it's him all right, I knowhim by his hat." (Stanner usually wore his hatstraight all round.)