Backyard Battlefields

In 1944 a special Japanese unit, the 'Matsu Kikan' ('Matsu' meaning Pine Tree) was tasked with gathering intelligence on bases and allied air activity in Northern Australia. Sailing from Timor in a disguised fishing vessel the 'Hiyoshi Maru', the team, all experienced in unconventional warfare, successfully made landfall in Western Australia and conducted a reconnaissance in the remote Kimberley region before returning to Koepang.

The 'Koolama' was a ship of Western Australian State Shipping Service. It was built in 1936 by Harland and Wolff, ominously the same firm that built 'Titanic', for the servicing of the remote ports of the North West and Northern Territory. In 1942, bound for Darwin with a cargo of 180 passengers and war material it was attacked by Japanese bombers 35km off the Western Australian coast. Severely damaged, 'Koolama' limped into a remote bay in the Kimberley. What followed was a murky tale of bravery, malice and possible mutiny. This episode of Backyard Battlefields tells the story of 'Koolama', from it's halcyon days as the pride of the WA state ships to it's final resting place at the bottom of Wyndham harbour.

The 'Z Special Unit' was one of the most audacious and little known clandestine forces of WW2. It comprised Australian, British, New Zealand, Dutch, Timorese and other Allied personel. One of their most famous missions was 'Operation Jaywick'. This saw a disguised fishing vessel the 'MV Krait' sail from Exmouth Gulf to Singapore where the operatives, after paddling more than 50km, attacked Japanese ships at anchor before making their escape back to Australia. This extraordinary operation was followed by 81 other covert missions including the ill-fated Operation Rimau and Operation Semut. I had the privilege of speaking with Gavin Mortimer author of the Osprey Publication 'Z Special Unit' about the history and events surrounding this incredible force. Gavin is also the author of some other seminal books on the history of Special Forces including David Stirling: The Phony Major, The SBS in World War II and Merril's Marauders. 

'Galup' is a Whadjuk Noongar word meaning 'Place of Fires' and refers to what is called  'Lake Monger' a remnant of the series of wetlands once known as the 'Perth Great Lakes'. In 1830 it was the site of a colonial era massacre when Redcoats of the British 63rd 'West Suffolk' Regiment and armed settlers pursued a party of Noongar from Mount Eliza to the shores of the lake. Subequently called 'Mongers Lake' after migrant John Henry Monger, who was given a land grant between the present day suburbs of Wembley and Subiaco, the Lake area underwent continual reclamation works and from the 1920s was dedicated for the purpose of 'public recreation, health and enjoyment'. 

Leeuwin means 'Lioness'. A Dutch Galleon of the Dutch East India Company it charted the South coast of Western Australia in 1622. Leeuwin left Holland bound for the capital of the Dutch East Indies, Batavia (modern day Jakarta, Indonesia) blown off course, the Captain Jan Fransz would encounter Western Australia, and thereafter it would be known as T Landt Van de Leeuwin, 'The Land of the Leeuwin'.

Albany's Princess Royal Harbour was named by British Explorer George Vancouver in 1791. He chose to honour Princess Charlotte, Queen of Wurttemberg and eldest daughter of King George III. The local Minang - Noongar people call it 'Mammang Koort' meaning 'The Heart of the Wild Whale'. Recognising the strategic importance of Albany and it's magnificent harbours, construction began in 1891 on the Princess Royal Fortress 'The Forts', paid for by the British Imperial government and the various Australian colonies.

During World War II, the Western Australian port of Fremantle was host to over 170 US, British and Dutch submarines. Braced for invasion and taking the war to the Japanese in South East Asia, these submarines made 416 war patrols between March 1942 and  August 1945. Many never returned. This episode of Backyard Battlefields is an interview with Lynne Cairns, author of 'Secret Fleets: Fremantle's World War II Submarine Base'

Campbell Barracks is a defence establishment in Swanbourne, Western Australia. It was named for Lt. Colonel J.A Campbell, the former Commandant of Commonwealth military forces in WA. Located in the heart of what is colloquially known by locals as the 'Golden Triangle' it has played a role in almost every major international event affecting Australia for more than 60 years from the Vietnam War to the Bali Bombings. This episode of Backyard Battlefields is a brief history of Campbell Barracks.

Corunna Downs was a top secret WW2 airbase in Western Australia. Called the 'Invisible Airfield', it was located in desert and spinifex country in the Pilbara region. Its strategic location allowed Australian and American bombers to launch surprise attacks on Japanese targets in the Dutch East Indies. 

An Australian plan was established in 1939 for the domestic production of armaments in the event war cut off the continent from the oceanic supply lines which sustained it. As a result a number of factories were built thoughout the country. One of these was established in Welshpool, Western Australia. Factory No. 6 as it was known produced one of the most import calibres of the war, the venerable .303, used by Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft, Vickers and Bren machine-guns and the iconic Lee Enfield Rifle. 

Axford Park is a small reserve in the suburb of Mount Hawthorn, Western Australia. It is named for soldier and local resident, Thomas Leslie 'Jack' Axford, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions during the Battle of Hamel in 1918. This operation was directed by Australian General John Monash and was considered a 'text-book' victory which included the use of massed tanks, a technique pioneered at Hamel. The 'VC' is the highest award in the British honours system and is granted for extraordinary valour 'in the presence of the enemy'. 

Nestled in the quiet suburb of Mount Lawley there is a Masonic Hall built in the 1928. It was designed by George Herbert Parry, a prolific Western Australian architect in an interwar 'Beaux Arts' style. During WW2 it found a new purpose, used by the Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF) as the 6th Fighter Sector Headquarters responsible for the air defence of Western Australia. 

On the 3rd of March 1942, Japanese Zero fighters operating from Kopang, Indonesia attacked the Western Australian Pearling port of Broome. It was a target rich environment with the harbour  packed with military and civilian aircraft filled with refugees from the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies. One of the victims was a Dutch Dakota carrying a fortune in diamonds bound for the Commonwealth Bank in Australia. Often described as 'Western Australia's Pearl Harbour' it was the most dramatic of several attacks on Broome during the dutation of the war. 

The Brig 'Amity' was the ship which carried Major Edmund Lockyer and a contingent of troops to form the first European settlement in King George Sound, Western Australia. It was initally called 'Frederick Town' after Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (King George IIIs favourite son) and was later renamed 'Albany'. The local Menang people call it 'Kinjarling' said to mean 'Place of Rain'. Today there is a replica of  'Amity' which forms part of the Museum of the Great Southern.

Cape Naturaliste was named for a ship of the French Baudin Expedition of 1800. It's a prominent location, overlooking Geographe Bay on one side and the vastness of the Indian Ocean on the other. The high ground made it the perfect location for a lighthouse, guiding ships through the sometimes treacherous waters surrounding the Cape. During WW2 it was the operational position for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) 33rd Radar station, a link in the air defence chain protecting the South West Sector of Western Australia. 

In March 1942 terrified refugees are fleeing the Dutch East Indies as Japanese forces march South. One of the last planes out, destined for Broome, Western Australia is a Dakota DC-3 piloted by Russian WW1 Ace Captain Ivan 'Turc' Smirnoff. Unbeknownst to those on board it's carrying a mysterious package filled with a fortune in Diamonds. Attacked by Japanese aircraft, the Dakota crashes on a remote beach and the diamonds disappear. This episode is an interview with Juliet Wills, author of 'The Diamond Dakota Mystery' an incredible tale of the 1942 Broome attack and the missing Dutch diamonds.

In 1941 sailors from a German merchant raider HSK Kormoran came ashore at Red Bluff, Western Australia following a battle with the Australian Cruiser HMAS Sydney. Before they reached the beach they disposed of any items which could complicate their capture. This episode recounts a unique 2007 discovery at Red Bluff and the key events of the engagement between Sydney and Kormoran.

Garden Island is a thin limestone sliver, 5km off the coast of Western Australia. It was an idyllic holiday destination until it became an important part of the defence of Fremantle during World War 2, protecting the Cockburn Sound and Southern approaches to the port. It was also the training ground of the famous 'Z' Special Unit, who paddled their kayaks into Singapore harbour to attack Japanese shipping. Today it is home to HMAS Stirling and the Royal Australian Navy's Fleet Base West.

William Dampier was a Pirate, Author and Explorer. He published numerous books including 'A New Voyage Around the World (1697) which was a unique blend of adventure and natural history which made him a popular sensation. He was the first English person to explore the coast of Western Australia in the ship HMS Roebuck which was the first Royal Navy expedition solely dedicated to science and exploration. 

In 1925 during a charity ball at Perth's Government House, in front of hundreded of witnesses, Cyril Gidley was shot in the chest at point blank range and killed. The assailant was his 20 year old former fiance Audrey Jacob. It was one of the more dramatic trials which took place at Perth's Old Courthouse. What appeared to be an open and shut case became a legal and media sensation.

The Old Perth Courthouse is the city's oldest surviving building. It was built in 1836 to assert the supremacy of British law in the Swan River Colony and soon became integral to legal and civic life. It was designed in a classical 19th century Greek revival style and is one of two remaining examples of the work of Colonial Engineer Henry Revelly. It was also the scene of the infamous 1925 'Murder on the Dancefloor' trial of Audrey Jacob.

In 2016 two Russian MI-24 attack helicopters were buried at the Darwin tip. The story of how they came to be there is  a tale involving spies, diplomats, mutineers and mercenaries in a scandal that came to be known as 'The Sandline Affair'.

Built in 1870 in a Victorian Gothic and French Second Empire Architectural style the Perth Town Hall was designed by Architect Richard Roach Jewell and James Manning. It is the only Town Hall in Australia built primarily by convict labour.

On the 10th of June 1940 Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini declared war on Great Britain and France. That day the Italian Motorship 'Remo' was in the Western Australian port of Fremantle. It was loaded with cargo and carrying 229 passengers. It was siezed by Australian authorities as a 'Prize of War' and drafted into service.    

In 1932 the Australian Army was deployed with machine guns to 'fight' thousands of Emus (large flightless birds indigenous to Australia) destroying crops in the Western Australian wheatbelt town of Campion. The operation became known as 'The Emu War'.     

St Albans Church in the Perth suburb of Highgate was named for the first British Christian Martyr, Saint Alban. Built in 1889 in a Romanesque style, it was an early design of soldier Architect Lt. General Joseph John Talbot Hobbs. 

On the 17th of August 1832 a duel was fought on the shores of the Swan River in the newly established colony of Western Australia. The combatants were two prominent citizens, 28 year old Solicitor William Naire Clark and former Naval officer and merchant George French Johnson.

The Baudin Expedition 1800 - 1803 was a French Scientific journey to chart the coast of 'New Holland' (Australia) It was approved by Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul of France and began with two warships Le Geographe and Le Naturaliste. The expedition charted large parts of the Australian continent and 'discovered' more than 2000 animal and plant species unknown to European science.

Perth's 'Barracks Arch' is all that remains of the 'Pensioner Barracks'. It was a Tudor style bulding designed by colonial architect Richard Roach Jewell in 1863. It is located at the Western end of St Georges Terrace, Perth and once housed the members and families of the 'Pensioner Guards'. These were ex-soldiers who served as guards on convict ships en-route to Australia and were given employment and land on arrival to continue in this militia role. The building was demolished in the 1960s to make way for Perths Mitchell Freeway.     

In 1942 a Japanese submarine I-21, operating off the East coast of Australia shelled the port of Newcastle in New South Wales. This attack was in the context of the bombardment of Sydney's Eastern suburbs and the audacious midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour.

The Chinook (or 'Chook') is a twin-rotor heavy lift helicopter manufactured by Boeing and used by the Australian Army. A detatchment was deployed to Afghanistan in support of the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG)

In September 1943, Japanese Navy Kawanashi 'Emily' Flying Boats operating out of Surabaya, Indonesia bombed the Western Australian town of Onslow, Western Australia.

The Pinjarra Mounted Volunteers were raised in 1862 by prominent citizen Captain Theodore Fawcett, formerly of the British 6th Dragoon Guards. It was the first mounted unit raised for policing and defence in the Western Australian Perth (Boorloo) area, known then as The Swan River Colony. 

Born in the town of Northam, Western Australia, Hugo Throssell won the Victoria Cross (VC) at Gallipoli in 1915 and later became a Socialist and outspoken advocate on the futility of war. 

The Monte Bello Islands have a unique place in Western Australian history. They form an archipelago lying approximately 130KM off the Pilbara coast and in the 1950s they were the site of 3 British nuclear weapons tests called 'Operation Hurricane' and 'Mosaic.'  

Kojanup Barracks is an important piece of Western Australian history. Built by British Redcoats of the 51st Regiment it was a staging post on the road to the strategically important town of Albany. Kojanup is located 256km South East of Perth, Western Australia. 

The Fremantle Artillery Barracks was built to service the forts defending the Western Australian port of Fremantle. Sitting atop Cantonment Hill on the corner of Burt and Tuckfield Streets, it is now home to the Army Museum of Western Australia.

The IJN Ibuki was a Japanese battlecruiser which in 1914 escorted the Gallipoli bound Australian and New Zealand troops from Albany at the Southern tip of Western Australia to the Middle East.

Now a backpackers hostel, the Old Swan Barracks on Francis Street in Northbridge, former headquarters and home to Perths Central Drill Hall, was an important feature of the pre-Federation military forces in Western Australia. 

Dilhorn is a Federation Queen Anne style house located in the Perth suburb of Highgate. It was designed by Soldier Architect Joseph John Talbot Hobbs in 1897.

Following the audacious Japanese midget submarine raid on Sydney Harbour in 1942 the remains of 4 Japanese submariners were recovered. The officer commanding Sydney Harbour Rear Admiral Muirhead-Gould ordered that the men be cremated with full military honours. This was done both out of respect for their bravery and in the hope that the conditions of the many Australians held in Japanese Prisoner of War camps might be improved. Nevertheless it was an extraordinary gesture at a time of heightened fear and anger and his decision was criticised in many quarters. This is episode is an audio recording of the funeral most likely recorded by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

In March 1944 a powerful Imperial Japanese Navy flotilla entered the Indian Ocean with the purpose (it is believed) of attacking the Western Australian port of Fremantle, then the largest submarine base in the Southern hemisphere. Artillery expert Phil Rowson gives a brief account of the details of the incursion.

This episode is an interview with Peter Grose, author of 'A Very Rude Awakening' an excellent account of the May 1942 Japanese raid on Sydney Harbour.

On the 19th of February 1942 Japanese carrier and land based aircraft attacked the Australian port of Darwin. The 1st Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy was fresh from it's attack on the US Naval base at Pearl Harbour just 10 weeks prior and focused its attention on Darwin to prevent the allies using it as a base to interfere with the Japanese conquest of Timor and Java. This is an interview with Peter Grose, author of 'An Awkward Truth' an excellent account of the Darwin raid.

Melon Hill is located at Allen Park in a beach side suburb of Western Australia. It was the site of an observation post which would have acted in support of nearby coastal defence batteries during the Second World War.

K-Heavy Battery was a 155mm gun position located at Point Peron, Western Australia. During WW2 it protected the Southern approach to the strategically important port of Fremantle during WW2. Featured is part of an interview with artillery expert Phil Rowson on the history of K-Battery.

A long way from the deadly battles of the North Atlantic, the German Kriegsmarine sent a number of U-Boats to operate out of Japanese bases in British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. Their role was stalk the strategic shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean and disrupt commerce in the coastal waters off Australia.

Melbourne's Victoria Barracks was named after Queen Victoria and was built between 1856 and 1872. It was once the home of British redcoats before becoming the headquarters for Victorian and then Australian military forces. It is a beautiful building, which is framed by 4 guns captured during conflicts with the Britain's various enemies over the past 150 years. Located on St Kilda Road, it is has great historical and architectural significance and is one of the most striking 19th century government buildings in Victoria, Australia.    

Anzac Cottage is a house on Kalgoolie Street in the Perth suburb of Mount Hawthorn. It was built in 1916, in a single day by local and enthusiastic volunteers and given as a gift to a wounded veteran of Gallipoli. It was intended to be a 'practical' war memorial and a tribute to all those that served in the first world war. It is a wonderful and unique contribution to the story of ANZAC and is an important part of Australia's military history.    

During WW2 the Western Australian island of Rottnest hosted a key link in the Fremantle Coastal Defence Fortress. It was there to protect Fremantle, a strategic port and submarine base from enemy attack.

How many thousands of people have walked past a lonely ships cannon in Macquarie Place and not known that it belonged to the flagship of the First Fleet? This podcast tells the story of HMS Sirius, it's connection to Australia's military history and how a Royal Navy cannon came to be sitting amongst the bars and cafes of Macquarie Place.