At this time of remembrance, on Anzac Day, it is always special to reflect on loved ones who have contributed to the freedoms we enjoy today. I would like to share a story written by my mother about her parent's contribution to WW2 efforts and how that helped at a very scary time in our history that includes events right on our doorstep - here in the Northern Rivers.

Not many would be aware that boats were torpedoed in Ballina and Evans Head nor that the Japanese had plans to invade Coffs Harbour.

My mother, Carmel Small, has spent countless hours pulling together family anecdotes and historical facts. I hope you find meaning and merit as Mum recounts a personal perspective in the larger theatre of war on this Anzac Day, 2024.

***

Dad did not discuss his war years with his daughters. However, he did have discussions with Mum, his sons and some of his grandsons about some of his war experiences. He also kept notes in a Little Beige Notebook. To compile this story, I have relied on Dad’s brief notes, Dad’s Army Service Records, and memories of various family members. I have also read various books on the war and gathered information from the Australian War Memorial website. It is not intended to be comprehensive but to provide an outline of dad’s war years.

An introduction to the History of the Citizen Militia in the Australian Army – The CMF

The Australian Army Dad served in during WW2 had a complicated structure of servicemen.   

At the beginning of WW2 the Australian Army was composed of forces made up of two types.  

• The military soldiers, of the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF), which consisted of men whose full-time occupation was serving in the armed service (including overseas service), and,  
• The Citizen Military Force (CMF), a citizen militia, comprised of men whose military service was on a part-time basis to defend Australia from within. 

Early in WW2, Australia committed the AIF to assist Britain from invasion by German forces. So by early 1941, three Australian Infantry Divisions and substantial Air and Naval resources had been sent to Europe. Thus, in December 1941, when Japan entered the war in the Pacific and began its rapid spread south, much of Australia’s Armed Forces were in the Middle East and Europe. At that time, we sent what we were able to - the 8th Division, several squadrons of the air force and some warships. These were sent to defend Malaya and Papua.  

A sense of urgency was beginning to emerge and the Government started discussions about how Australia could better defend itself from invasion. Conscription had started at the beginning of the war, in 1939, when all unmarried men aged 21 were called up for 3 months of military training. Australia felt it needed to initiate training programs that would better prepare men for combat, so they could ably defend Australian shores from invasion.

In July 1940, the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) had been established by the RSL. Initially, this was a part-time battalion consisting of 13,000 older WW1 veterans, modelled on the British Home Guard. The task of these volunteers was to protect the vulnerable coastal defences against sabotage or invasion. The highly distinguished WW1 veteran, Lieutenant-General Harry Chauvel, was appointed Inspector-General of the Corps, a position he held until his death in 1945.

As the sense of urgency about the war grew in 1941, the Government began making changes to improve Australia’s defences. In May 1941, the government took control of the VDC and gave the organisation the following roles; 

• training men in guerrilla warfare, 
• reconnaissance and collecting local intelligence, and 
• providing defence for each unit’s local area. By August 1941 the VDC had grown to 44,000 enlisted men.  

Women take on Extra Roles in WW2

At this time, women started taking on active roles in Australia’s defences as the government approved the formation of Women’s Auxiliary Forces.

This started in March 1941, when women took on roles in the Air Force and then in August, in the Army and lastly, in the Navy. The women’s roles increased over the years as more men were needed at the front. Women were given training in and carried out such duties as; gunnery officers, communications, wireless telegraphy (transmitting text messages over radio waves), morse coding messages, driving transport vehicles, manning mobile canteens, hospital aid workers and campcraft training (learning skills to be able to feed and house large numbers of people in case of invasion and bombings). Their involvement released men from certain military duties, enabling them to join fighting units. Women also worked in factories and manufactured vital military equipment and essential parts (e.g. electrical).  

Married women who couldn’t join up, joined organisations, such as the Country Women’s Association, YWCA, and the Red Cross, where they toiled to provide needed services and raise money for the war effort by organising card tournaments, dances and raffles. Many made up food parcels for overseas servicemen, (a generous and challenging deed with the relatively meagre food rations,) knitting socks for them and providing other ‘comfort’ items. 

Women in cities assisted in soldier canteens, supported hospital staff treating wounded servicemen, while some entertained and billeted servicemen while they were on leave. The rations available to an adult during the war in Australia were not as strict as in Europe, however, they were felt by housewives, and included; 57 gm of tea, 454 gms sugar, and 227 gms butter. The meat allowance was generous but strictly weighed, meat supplies were sometimes scarce, and the better cuts were often unavailable.  

Mum’s activities during war years

Mum remained at Greenridge raising her 6 children and, like many other country women, took part in the fund raising activities of the Red Cross and CWA. I recall she talked about baking fruit cakes for raffles and helped organise events such as balls and dances. She also knitted socks for soldiers. All this while, mum single-handedly ran the Greenridge Post Office, wrote to Dad at least three times a week and was an enemy aircraft spotter. A busy life mum had.  

Dad’s service in the VDC

Dad joined the CMF around the time the Government introduced compulsory conscription for all Australian married men aged 18-35, in mid-1942. At that time Dad was a married man, just a few months short of being 36, so he just fitted into the compulsory conscription criteria. 

Dad’s ‘Military Mobilization Attestation Form’, (or in laymen’s terms, his enlistment form), has the year of his birth as one year after his actual birth year. I expect this error was made by the army’s enlistment officer completing Dad’s forms. Dad served for 16 months in the 16th Battalion of the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC).

(Image - part of C.J. Smalls enlistment or Mobilization Attestation form)

Dad’s Army Service Records show that in mid-May, 1942, he had a Medical Examination in Casino. On his enlistment form, dad specified he could drive both a motor car and a motor lorry, and do running repairs, however, he acknowledged no other skills on the form. That same day, Dad also signed the Oath of Enlistment.  

Dad must have caught the train to Sydney that night as his Army Service Records show he was ‘Taken on Strength’ (the official term for enlistment), in Sydney the following day.  It’s likely Dad would have been sent to an army training camp after he enlisted. The Australian Army Memorial website has numerous pictures of VDC men in training camps carrying out a range of exercises, including practising using rifles and bayonets, training on climbing equipment, marching, erecting defences on beaches, etc., suggesting all VDC men had the training to prepare them for invasion.

Dad may have been returned to the North Coast and sent to the large army training camp set up during the war at Sandy Hill. This was located just off the Bruxner Highway, about 15 kms west of Drake. There are no relics left there today to indicate the training camp ever existed, however, it is still called an historical war site.  

Family recollections about Dad’s time in the VDC are scant and focus on his time as a coast-watcher based at Coffs Harbour, collecting intelligence at the then-busy port, which came under very close Japanese scrutiny and presence in 1943.

Coast-watching Activities during WW2

The Coastwatcher’s mission was to observe enemy movements and losses and to report any items of intelligence. They were not to fight and draw attention to themselves but to remain unobtrusive. However, they could fight if attacked, and they were expected to defend Australian shores in the case of invasion. They were also expected to help rescue servicemen in difficulty. Coast-watchers communicated their observations to HQ by radio. The dilapidated bunkers they used are still standing along the Coffs foreshores.

Note: During WW2, more than 600 Australian coast watchers served in Australia, Papua N.G. and on the Pacific Islands. Coast-watchers based in the Pacific Islands were often planters or patrol officers who opted to remain and do what they could to help the Allies and were under the command of the US Military. The US praised the coast-watchers as having been responsible for the success of the Allied forces in the Pacific due to the vital enemy intelligence they gathered and passed on. From hidden positions on enemy-occupied islands, they observed enemy aircraft and vessels heading south and radioed precise information ahead. This included the numbers and type of sea and air traffic passing by. This gave the Allies a couple of hours to prepare for the coming battles, such as dispersing ships from known naval bases to out-of-the-way locations. It also gave Air Force pilots and naval officers time to load ammunition and ready their vessels and fighter planes. Coast-watchers worked heroically in isolation, usually close to the enemy, at great risk to themselves. The Japanese often figured out where they were and many were killed before the war ended.

The Enemies Activities on Australia’s East Coast

In the early 1940’s the waters along the East Coast of Australia had become highly dangerous. In the early days of WW2, the numbers of Allied and merchant ships had been blown up by German mines placed in shipping lanes around busy Australian ports. Then there was a round of Japanese submarine raids in 1942, including at Sydney Harbour by midget submarines, on 31.5.1942, and subsequent Japanese torpedoing along the east coast. These activities ceased temporarily after the Allies started pushing Japan into a defensive position at the Battle of Guadalcanal, which lasted from August 1942 till February 1943.  

(Image - Japanese Occupation Currency brought back from the war)

Despite losing ground in the Pacific in 1942, by 1943, the Japanese again focused on Australia, and they renewed their submarine campaign in Australian waters. They carried out regular patrols along Australia’s East coast, torpedoing whatever vessels they came across. At least thirty merchant vessels were hit by enemy torpedoes, gunfire or mines. Some were only damaged and able to limp into port. (In all, during WW2 at least 654 merchant seamen lost their lives around Australia. As well, there were many Allied navy personnel killed when their ships were torpedoed.)  Japanese attacks in 1943 brought the war close to Australia’s home shores and kept our coast watchers on their toes, monitoring and reporting enemy activities. 

Coast-watching at Coffs Harbour (during Dad’s time there)

From January to June 1943, between Cairns and the Victorian border, five Japanese submarines operated along Australia’s East Coast. They attacked twenty-one ships, sinking eleven. As well as this, over a 6-week period, between late April and mid-June of 1943, patrolling submarines carried out a blitz near Coffs Harbour and torpedoed seven merchant ships in that vicinity.  

These are the story of the seven ships:

• On a moonlit night on 26.4.1943, the MV ‘Limerick’ was torpedoed near Ballina. Two crewmen died while seventy were later rescued. 
• Four days later, on 29.4.1943, while on a mission to find ‘Limerick’ survivors, the ‘Wollongbar’ was torpedoed, 6 miles north, off Crescent Head. Thirty-two crew members were killed. 
• The ‘Fingal,’ was torpedoed directly off Coffs Harbour, on 5.5.1943. She sank within a minute with the loss of twelve seamen. 
• On 12.5.1943, a freighter, ‘SS Ormiston’ and an American vessel were torpedoed and crippled by a submarine attack, about 12 miles off Coffs Harbour. Both ships were able to limp to the Coffs jetty, with injured crew but no fatalities. After this last attack, Naval escorts HMAS ‘Ballarat’, HMAS ‘Kybra’ & USS ‘Henley’ surrounded the sub responsible and eventually drove her off with depth chargers and gunfire. Meanwhile, residents lined the shore to watch. However, this did not stop the subs. 
• Later the same day, 12.5.1943, the ‘Caradale’ was torpedoed off Evans Head, killing two crew members, though the torpedo failed to explode. 
• Also torpedoed off Coffs Harbour was the ‘Potmar’ on the 16.6.1943 with the loss of two seamen.

Earlier, on 14.5.1943, Australians had been outraged when the AHS ‘Centaur’, a Red Cross hospital ship, was torpedoed and sunk south of Morton Island, near Brisbane. The majority of the 332 on board died, however, 64 survived and were discovered 36 hours later. The ship had been well marked as a hospital vessel, making the attack a war crime. However, it wasn’t until the 1970s that the probable identity of the attacking submarine became public. It was 1-777. 

The Japanese subs usually kept to shipping lanes well clear of the coast where it was difficult to detect them. However, they sometimes came close to the coast and gave away their presence by thoughtlessly discarding their rubbish. My sister remembers Mum telling her the coast-watchers knew the Japanese submarines and ships were off the Coffs Coast because they found food tins and other rubbish with Japanese characters strewn on beaches. An interesting tidbit came from a Coffs Harbour RSL staff member I spoke with. She said that on dark nights, the Japanese subs used to come right up to the shore around Coffs and raid the banana plantations. The residents would see fires in the plantations, and the next day, all the bananas would have disappeared. She said as a local growing up in Coffs this was a common war story.

Meanwhile the Australian Government, under the Official Secrecy Act, went to great lengths to suppress news of the enemies’ activities in local waters. By doing this they hoped to prevent a lowering of citizen morale and avoid panic in the Australian population. 

A Japanese map that mysteriously came to light in the Coffs Harbour museum in May 2012 indicates that in 1943, the Japanese were contemplating an invasion of Coffs Harbour at a time when there was much submarine activity in the area. The map shows Woolgoolga, Coffs Harbour and the Solitary Islands. A museum worker gave details saying, ‘It has all the sea depths, all the beaches and all the landmarks that you would be looking for from the ocean.’   

She added, ‘While the Japanese subs were off the Coffs coast sinking ships, the Coffs lighthouse was turned off for 2 days’. 

The museum worker went on to report, ‘The army cadets at the Coffs Jetty High School were given live ammunition, the only cadet core in Australia to receive such issues. Some residents in the area had also been issued with equipment and instructions to blow up every beach and the railway line going south to halt the Japanese advance if they invaded. Coffs was a particular target because it had a landing strip which was vital in protecting the Allied ships going up and down the coast.’ (Having read about the VDC duties in the event of invasion, I wonder if the ‘residents’ told to blow up beaches and railways were, in fact, the coast-watchers.) These preparations indicate that Coffs Harbour authorities sensed a real threat of invasion. However, the vigilance of servicemen at sea, on land and in the air held the coastline firm.

The officer-in-charge of the Port of Coffs Harbour during the war, Mr W.A. Brodie, wrote an address for the Coffs Harbour Historical Society several years ago. He pointed out, ‘During the war years Coffs was used as a base for the Australian Navy, the Army and American ships. Commercial submarine-chasers, capable of steaming at 20 knots, were stationed there and were reported to have sunk a couple of enemy submarines along the shipping routes off Coffs Harbour. A couple of our vessels were torpedoed while under naval escort, close to the port. Their crews were picked up and brought to Coffs. Small ships and trawlers taken over from south coast fishermen (and converted to war vessels) were also based there.’ 

The submarine attacks came to an end after the Allies pushed Japan into a defensive position after the battles of Midway and the Coral Sea.

It was in early 1943, when the imminent threat of invasion seemed to have lessened, but fighting in the Pacific was still frantic, and the Australian Government requested more men sign up to serve overseas. Dad was close to turning 38 with a wife and 6 children when he enlisted for overseas service with the Australian Military Forces in September of 1943 the day after he was discharged from his time as a Coast Watcher in NSW. But that is another story.

(Image: Cyril Joseph Small)

Dad’s ‘Certificate of Discharge’ from the VDC states ‘Cyril Joseph Small enlisted as a volunteer with the Citizen Military Forces on 12.5.1942. His service with the Volunteers ended on 14.9.1943, having served as a volunteer militia for 490 days.

Written by Carmel Small about Anzac, Cyril Joseph Small BEM

Edited by Lara Leahy