The Beaufort was a twin-engined torpedo bomber, built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. In 1939 the Australian government decided to have them built under licence by the Department of Aircraft Production (DAP) at Fishermans Bend in Melbourne and Mascot, New South Wales. Over 700 were built between 1…
Backyard Battlefields
by James De Leo
Backyard Battlefields is a military history program which explores historical sites throughout Australia and beyond. Backyard Battlefields gives Australia's military history a context by explaining its significance within the grander narrative of world events. Presented by James De Leo. For more information visit backyardbattlefields.com
Latest Episodes
The Wunaamin-Miliwundi ranges are an elevated feature running through Western Australia's Kimberley region. Between 1879 and 2020 they were called the King Leopold Ranges after King Leopold II of Belgium. Through his private army the Force Publique he oversaw the death, torture and dismemberment of …
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Station Cunderdin was established in 1940 near the Western Australian wheatbelt town of Cunderdin. It was home to the No.9 Elementary Training School teaching ab initio (entry-level) pilots for the 'Empire Air Training Scheme' (EATS) an initiative to produce Austral…
Northam is a small town approximately 100KM East of Perth. During WW2 it supported the US Navy's 7th Fleet operating out of Fremantle. The nearby locality of Springhill housed the bunkers of the '7 Naval Ammunition Depot' (7 NAD) storing ordnance the US, British and Dutch submarines needed to take t…
The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol is a Danish Naval Special Forces unit.
Named for the brightest star in the night sky, it's tasked with long range reconnaisance, patrolling and maintining Denmark's sovereignty over the vast, Arctic wilderness of North-Eastern Greenland. It was born during the Second Wor…
Bill Simmonds was from Bunbury, Western Australia. A pilot with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) 77 Squadron, during the Korean War he flew P-51 Mustangs before converting to the Gloster Meteor jet fighter. On the 8th of May 1952 he became one of the few Australian 'Mig Killers' of the conflict…
On October 3, 1952 Britain detonated an atomic bomb on the MonteBello Islands, 50 miles off Western Australia's Pilbara coast. The success of the top secret test made Britain the third atomic power after the United States and Soviet Union. Author Paul Grace, has written a dramatic account of the tes…
'Eendracht' means 'Concord' or 'Unity' and is taken from the motto of the Dutch republic 'Eendracht maakt macht' - 'Unity makes strength'. It was the name of a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) captained by Dirk Hartog which made contact with Western Australia in 1616. The crew of the 'Eend…
Today 'Emily Taylor' is a bar in the fashionable port City of Fremantle, but first it was the name of a ship built in Bombay for the British East India Company and subsequently sold to a private concern. It was chartered by the Western Australian goverment to transport settler families to establish …
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, succ…
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…
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 …
'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 set…
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 West…
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 th…
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…
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 …
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 Indie…
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 Australi…
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…