Official Commando News Magazine edition 14 Mar 2023

Townsville Z Force Memorial
A plaque commemorating Operation SCORPION,
although not named as such was presented to the
Maritime Museum, Townsville, by local Salvador Raoul
Guides and was dedicated on 22 April 1992. To
commemorate the successful raid on shipping in
Townsville Harbour and the open roadstead and as a
tribute to the courage and audacity of these members
of Z Special Unit in June 1943.
The emblem at the top of the plaque is the post war
Z Special Unit Association badge as the operation was
conducted under the operational command of Special
Operations Australia (SOA) which had no unit or
organisational emblem. SOA, being a predominantly
Australian organisation also had members from Allies
including New Zealand, the Netherlands, Britain,
Canada, and others.
The plaque is listed in the Queensland War memo -
rials website and incorrectly referred to as the Z Force
Memorial and the Editor will seek to have this
corrected as soon as practicable. The date of the raid
is also listed as 16 June 1943 and there has been the
controversy over the date by number of authors.
However, Corporal Gilbert Mackenzie an operative on
the exercise clearly states in his records that the
exercise was conducted in the late evening of 14 June
1943.
The Memorial within the grounds of the Townsville Maritime
Museum
Source. Queensland War Memorials website
Memorial plate
Source. Queensland War Memorials website
22 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian Commando Association ~ Edition 14 I 2023