NORTH QUEENSLAND AT WAR

DIARY OF WORLD WAR II

NORTH QUEENSLAND

(UPDATE)

Data CD–Book

Researched and Compiled by

Peter Nielsen

International Standard Book Number  (ISBN)  978 0 9752127 4 5  (Computer Disc)

© All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

 First published in 2014

 Publisher:  Nielsen Publishing
                   PO Box 459 Gordonvale, Queensland, Australia  4865
ABN:           69 296 832 799

Copyright:  ©  Peter A Nielsen  2014

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication

Nielsen, Peter, 1937-

Diary of World War ll North Queensland (Update)

CD-ROM Book (computer disc)

Formatted: PDF

Second Edition

Previous works by same author: -

Printed book – “Diary of World War ii   North Queensland” – (ISBN 0 646 13679 8) (Superseded)

                       Published 1993 by Nielsen Publishing - (Out of print.)

Printed book – “North Queensland at War (Day by Day)“  Volume.1

                       “Naval and Merchant Shipping Movements 1939-1942):  (ISBN 0 9752127 0 2)

                       Published 2004 by Nielsen Publishing

Printed book – “North Queensland at War (Day by Day)“  Volume.2

                       “Naval and Merchant Shipping Movements 1943): (ISBN 978 0 9752127 1 4)

                       Published 2007 by Nielsen Publishing

Introduction

DIARY OF WWII NORTH QUEENSLAND  (UPDATE)

2nd Edition

Fig.002

CD-Book Case Cover (2nd Edition) © Nielsen Publishing - 2014

Australia War Memorial Images

DIARY OF WWII NORTH QUEENSLAND  (UPDATE)  CD-ROM – Book, (PDF), is a Mega-Update of a small printed book DIARY OF WWII NORTH QUEENSLAND  by the same author, published in 1993.
It is a compilation of every aspect of military presence in North Queensland from 1939 to 1946, (Land, Sea and Air), in an area from Mackay to Horn Island and west to Mount Isa; a collation of events and happenings in chronological order.

This includes locations of camp sites; airfields; training areas; military hospitals; special training or research experimental facilities; Anti‑Aircraft batteries; fortifications; gun emplacements; airstrips; air crashes; RDF/Radar stations; HF/DF stations; buildings that were requisitioned for Military use; those structures etc., that were built for the military by the AWC/CCC; and any remnants that remain today of any of the above.  Also mentioned are memorials that have since been dedicated to any of the above.

Commonwealth War Graves in the North Queensland region are included.
The location of the grave of each and every one of the 619 Australian Servicemen and Women, who died, (on land), in the NQ area and were buried in either War and Civil Cemeteries in North Queensland, is recorded. Those lost offshore, (with no known grave), are mentioned throughout, and their names appear on War Memorials at Rookwood (Necropolis), Sydney or at Plymouth, (England).

It records precisely units, troops, squadrons, ships etc, which berthed/encamped/stationed/trained within North Queensland during those war years; The “who, what, when and where” of units of: -

This document has been converted to PDF, which has a “Search” function and to make this huge document more ‘user friendly’ a colour scheme has been introduced at follows: -

RESEARCH
Research began in 1985 in the North Queensland region, and continued in the Far North Queensland region since 1990.
Any omissions are regretted, and I welcome any new data per www.northqueenslandatwar.com.  

90% of data in this document has been derived from Primary Sources of information:-

Additionally, there are many instances throughout the document, where researchers are advised of recommended specialised further reading on the subject, e.g.: -
NOTE:       Further reading (NQ Airfields) -  “Queensland Airfields WW2 - 50 Years on”  by Roger Marks.

INDEXES
The following Index lists appear at the rear of this document: -

Researchers should be able to navigate their way through this document with the PDF “search” facility, using, (as keywords), all entries, (in part or in full), throughout all these Indexes.
These Indexes can also be found on www.northqueenslandatwar.com

AIR CRASHES and MISHAPS

All accidents which render an aircraft unairworthy appear throughout the text under the heading  Aircraft Mishap.   For a complete list of 340 Aircraft mishaps in North Queensland during WW2, please see Index.1 at rear of document.

IMAGES

Figures/Photos/Images/Maps/Plans etc. are identified throughout from Fig.001 thru Fig.578 
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of all material and images quoted in this document, and due recognition is furnished where known.
Australian War Memorial images contained in this document are available for purchase from the Australian War Memorial.
The publisher will be happy to deal retrospectively with this matter if any copyright has inadvertently been breached.
There are numerous instances throughout the document where a researcher is directed to an image existing in a published works, e.g.: -

 NOTE:    Photograph: SS TAMBUA – See “CSR Shipping 1880-2003” – H J Hansen (Page.156).

MAP REFERENCES

Numerous Map References are used throughout the document, but are only of use to researchers with access to appropriate WW2 military maps, mainly AWM – 1:63360, (1 inch to 1 mile), Series of maps.

 SHIPS and SMALL CRAFT

Ships and boats include Allied Warships, Merchant Ships, Australian Army Small Ships, US Army Small Ships, RAAF Marine Section and Naval Auxiliary Patrol.
With the first mentioning of a ‘new’ vessel throughout this document, a “NOTE:” follows, annotating basic vessel details, (including “International Call Sign”, where known).
To further assist the researcher, many Merchant vessels, after first mention, are prefixed by “class” rather than “propulsion”. e.g.: - Liberty Ship and Tanker.

Australian Navy small craft – NAP, CPB, EV, GPV’s etc, e.g. NAP launch EMELIA
US Army Small Ships are identified by name and designation, e.g. MONGANA (S-27)
Australian Army Small Craft are identified by name and designation, e.g. JOYCE OAKES (AS.128)
RAAF Marine Section vessels are identified by designation and name, e.g. (015/12) LORRAINE

Beware that, of the 1,600 odd vessels mentioned throughout the text, there are numerous bearing the same, (or similar), name to another vessel. To name a few: -

TSMV BANTAM and SS BANTAM

Tanker ENA, RAAF ENA (015/56) and ENA (AV.2076)

MV JAVA and HNMS JAVA

TrSS KATOOMBA  and HMAS KATOOMBA

SD PLATYPUS and HMAS PLATYPUS

RAAF (015/16) WYALLA and HMAS WHYALLA

For a full listing of all vessels, please see Index.7 at rear of this document.

IMPERIAL MEASUREMENTS
All measurements in this document are British Imperial units.
For conversion to Metric, suggest www.metric-conversion.org

SHIPPING CONVOYS

There are over 600 ‘numbered’ Convoys mentioned in this document.

Additionally, there were numerous passages of Merchant Ships through dangerous waters, which were provided with naval and/or air escort, but for which there appears not to have been a designated Convoy Identification.
It would be magnificent if a ship's manifest was available for each of the ships in these Convoys.

Designation of Shipping Convoys mentioned in this document: -

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance given to him over the past twenty nine years by staff at: -

Australian War Memorial Research Centre

National Archives of Australia, ACT, VIC, NSW and QLD

Queensland State Archives (NQ Branch in the earlier years)

National Library of Australia

Queensland State Library

Australian National Maritime Museum “Vaughan Evans” Library.

Locally, thanks go to: -

The Maritime Museum of Townsville

The Historical Society of Cairns

Cairns City Library

A Special thank you goes to the Naval Historical Section, Sea Power Centre, Canberra, in particular Senior Naval Historical Officer John Perryman and his predecessor Joe Straczek, and their erstwhile assistant Brett Mitchell.
The backbone of this document is the recording of ALL Merchant Shipping in North Queensland waters during the Second World War, (1939 to 1946). - Yes, 1946, someone had to bring our troops back home. 

A very special ‘thank you’ goes to long time friend, renowned Australian Military Historian, Graham McKenzie-Smith who devoted much of his valuable time in ‘proof reading’ the Australian Army aspect of this document. His knowledge of WW2 Australian Army is exhaustive and he has freely imparted sound advice.  

An extra special ‘thank you’ to ‘meolemate’, Tony Polling, a disambiguation expert, who for decades has been my eagle eye ‘proof reader’, has instilled in me the importance of ‘consistency’ in putting a document such as this together.

SECOND WORLD WAR - WAR DIARIES – AWM52 Series.

While on active service, Australian Army headquarters, formations, and units are required to keep a unit war diary recording their daily activities. Archival series AWM52 comprises the diaries of the 2nd Australian Imperial Force (AIF), Citizen Military Forces (CMF),

The infantry is the main fighting arm of the Army. The basic infantry formation is the battalion (comprising between 700-800 personnel).
The next highest command is the brigade which plans the operations of three battalions. Units comprising the infantry in the Australian Army in the Second World War included machine gun battalions, pioneer units (that performed engineering functions), and garrison units guarding POW camps.  Infantry battalions of the Australian Army in the Second World War comprised units from both the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and the Militia units. The former can be distinguished by the prefix ‘2/-‘ to their battalion number.
In addition, units at this level include those under the direct command of larger other Headquarter units.  These can be relatively small units, as well as units that may undertake a special function, or been formed for a defined duration. Other such units do not necessarily fit into other arms or formations of the Army

“NORTH QUEENSLAND AT WAR”  Series was intended as a seven book set of Volumes:

Naval & Merchant Shipping (3 Volumes) – Shipping Specific,

Army (2 Volumes) – Ground Troops Specific

Air Forces (1 Volume) – Aviation Specific

Combined Index (1 Volume) - (with Photographs)

Time permitting, this will eventuate, but what this current document does, is that it ties all of the above together to give the overall picture of event in North Queensland on any given day.

For an overview of the “big picture”, this work is punctuated throughout with activities elsewhere in the South West Pacific Area during WW2. e.g.: -

“DIARY OF WWII NORTH QUEENSLAND (UPDATE)” – Second Edition, though not yet entirely complete, is the nearest one will get to an official holistic record of wartime activities in North Queensland during the Second World War.
To give an idea of the enormity of this document, Townsville is mentioned 13,138 times, with Cairns a close second at 12,707 mentions.

Feedback is much welcomed.
With ongoing research, there has to be a Third Edition.

Peter Nielsen

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