DOCSLIB.ORG

Bridging Australia and Japan: Volume 2

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

BRIDGING AUSTRALIA AND JAPAN VOLUME 2 THE WRITINGS OF DAVID SISSONS, HISTORIAN AND POLITICAL SCIENTIST BRIDGING AUSTRALIA AND JAPAN VOLUME 2 THE WRITINGS OF DAVID SISSONS, HISTORIAN AND POLITICAL SCIENTIST EDITED BY KEIKO TAMURA AND ARTHUR STOCKWIN ASIAN STUDIES SERIES MONOGRAPH 15 Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] Available to download for free at press.anu.edu.au ISBN (print): 9781760463755 ISBN (online): 9781760463762 WorldCat (print): 962408104 WorldCat (online): 962408205 DOI: 10.22459/BAJ.2020 This title is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). The full licence terms are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode Cover design and layout by ANU Press This edition © 2020 ANU Press CONTENTS Preface . vii Acknowledgements . ix 1 . David Sissons and the history of Australia’s war crimes trials: A spectral interaction in the archives . 1 Georgina Fitzpatrick David Sissons’ wartime service: Note by Georgina Fitzpatrick . 17 2 . Japanese intentions toward Australia (1939–42) . 21 DCS Sissons 3 . The Cowra breakout . 33 DCS Sissons 4 . The Australian war crimes trials and investigations (1942–51) . 57 DCS Sissons 5 . Observation and correspondence . 129 Duntroon lecture, July 1978, DCS Sissons . 131 ‘The trials: Were they justice or vengeance?’, DCS Sissons, Sydney Morning Herald (16 August 1985) . 147 Some observations on Australian war crimes trials involving cannibalism/mutilation of the dead, DCS Sissons . 155 The fate of the Japanese garrisons at Nauru and Ocean Island, DCS Sissons . 161 Sissons’ correspondence . 163 Major Herbert Francis Dick, Georgina Fitzpatrick . 164 6 . David Sissons, political scientist and writer on postwar Japanese politics: An introduction . 193 Arthur Stockwin Human rights under the Japanese Constitution . 197 Dissolution of the Japanese Lower House . 218 7 . Legacy of David Sissons . 267 Keiko Tamura DCS Sissons select bibliography . 275 PREFACE This is the second volume ofBridging Australia and Japan: The writings of David Sissons, historian and political scientist. This volume is the third and final publication in the series of Sissons’ writings, which started with Breaking Japanese Diplomatic Codes: David Sissons and D Special Section during the Second World War, edited by Desmond Ball and Keiko Tamura in 2013. The first volume of Bridging Australia and Japan, with a focus on Sissons’ writings on Australia–Japan relations, was released in 2016. For this volume, the editors chose his work on the Pacific War, war crimes trials and investigations, and Japanese politics in the 1950s and 1960s. Sissons’ previously unpublished work in this volume was selected from the Papers of DCS Sissons (MS 3092) at the National Library of Australia (NLA) in Canberra.1 An idea of a publication project was discussed soon after David Sissons’ death in 2006. Right from its outset, its main goal has always been to make his writings available to a wider readership. Sissons dedicated his life to research and writing, and his articles are often cited by succeeding researchers due to their high-quality content backed by meticulous research. In recent years, however, some articles became difficult to access. In addition, Sissons left unpublished research papers in the NLA collection. We selected those articles that we consider seminal in the fields of studies in which Sissons was involved. All three books are now available in digital format through ANU Press, and we hope a wide circle of readers and researchers are able to learn from his writings for years to come. This volume starts with Georgina Fitzpatrick’s chapter on her experience of encountering and engaging with Sissons’ manuscript at the NLA while she was carrying out research on Australian war crimes trials. Chapter 2 covers the Japanese intentions towards Australia, particularly on the contentious issue of whether or not Japan had a plan to invade Australia. Sissons’ research clearly demonstrates that Japan did not have any plans to invade Australia many years before the issue 1 To review the finding aid for this collection, go to nla.gov.au/nla.obj-337994618/findingaid. vii BRIDGING AUSTRALIA AND Japan: VOLUME 2 attracted a big controversy.2 Sissons’ thorough research is showcased in Chapter 3 in his detailed account of the Cowra breakout. As a young recruit, he joined a search party at Cowra soon after the breakout. Although his personal experience is not included, his writing is riveting and sheds new light on the incident. Sissons’ essay in Chapter 4 on the Australian war crimes trials and investigations is a significant contribution to the field of war crime research. This paper was uploaded on the internet after Sissons’ death, but did not have a secure hosting website. We are happy to provide a permanent home for this significant work in this publication. The following two chapters include Sissons’ writing and correspondence on his research on war crime trials. Readers will appreciate the depth and rigour of his questioning in his observations and the extent of his efforts to reach out to informants. Contemporary researchers might carry out a similar level of enquiry, but it would be much more difficult to capture their efforts in the digital era. The last two chapters cover Sissons’ writings in political science at the early stage of his academic career. As Stockwin’s introduction indicates, these papers, which were written 50 years ago, still have some relevance in contemporary research. The last chapter by Keiko Tamura discusses Sissons’ legacy and records the project’s history. A selected bibliography of Sissons shows the breadth of the field in which Sissons carried out his research and writing. Many of the writings that were included in these publications were originally produced decades ago. It is obvious that some new research results have appeared, and some of Sissons’ writings might require updating and revision. Yet, the essence of his enquiries and the references that he recorded are still relevant to contemporary scholars to learn from and be inspired by. Were that to happen, our efforts in bringing this project to a conclusion are worthwhile. 2 About public controversy on this issue, see Peter Stanley, Invading Australia: Japan and the battle for Australia, 1942 (Camberwell, Victoria: Viking, 2008), Chapter 11. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This is the second of two volumes of the works of David Sissons, historian and political scientist. In preparing volume two, the last of the ANU Press series on David’s writings, we would like to acknowledge David’s widow, Bronwen Sissons, for her invaluable support for the project. In fact, her continuous enthusiasm for this project sustained us over its 13 years duration. David was lucky to have such a partner as Bronwen, who understood his passion for research and supported him intellectually and emotionally throughout his career. After his death, Bronwen provided necessary financial assistance for the project. Through discussion with Bronwen, we learned more about David’s attitudes not only to his research topics, but also to his life. That insight was valuable in compiling his writings for the publication. We would also like to express our gratitude to their children for their understanding and support for the project. They are Meredith, Miranda, and Hilary who sadly passed away in December 2017. We thank many people who played invaluable roles in the production of this volume. First of all, we would like to thank Dr Georgina Fitzpatrick. Georgina contributed the first chapter of this volume, which reveals interesting insights into working on David’s papers at the National Library of Australia (NLA) for her research on war crimes trials. In addition, she made a significant contribution towards resurrecting David’s lecture that was delivered at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1978. She skilfully transcribed David’s handwritten lecture manuscript as well as providing comprehensively updated references. Georgina also prepared the notes associated with Sissons’ article in the Sydney Morning Herald, which is reproduced in the same chapter. Georgina’s enthusiasm as well as her deep academic insights into the field of war crimes trials helped us significantly in our consideration of this important and complex issue and guided us in the process of compiling this volume. We would like to thank Dr Craig Reynolds, the chair of the Asian Studies Editorial Board of ANU Press and series editor of the Asian Studies Monograph Series, for his continuing support throughout the publication project. We owe greatly to his enthusiasm and measured patience in overseeing this project to its successful ix BRIDGING AUSTRALIA AND Japan: VOLUME 2 completion. We thank Emeritus Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki and Professor Donna Weeks for their useful comments and encouragement. We thank Professor David Cohen, who gave permission to include David’s seminal paper on Australian war crimes trials and investigations as Chapter 4 in this volume. We are grateful to Amy Ng who offered her expertise to assist us in production of the manuscript. We would like to thank the ANU Publication Subsidy Committee for a grant to assist towards the copyediting of this volume as well as the first volume. The copyediting was ably done by Justine Molony as for volume one of this series. We also would like to thank Emily Tinker and her staff at ANU Press for their skilful assistance. Above all, we would like to acknowledge David Sissons’ legacy. He had the foresight to deposit his papers at the NLA for researchers who would follow in his footsteps. We hope that, in a published form, his writings will be available to a wider readership and further research will be undertaken as a result. Keiko Tamura and Arthur Stockwin x 1 DAVID SISSONS AND THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA’S WAR CRIMES TRIALS: A SPECTRAL INTERACTION IN THE ARCHIVES Georgina Fitzpatrick I never met David Sissons; he died a few years before I began to work on a history of the 300 Australian-run war crimes trials of Japanese suspects in the aftermath of the Pacific War.
Recommended publications
  • “Dangerous Vagabonds”: Resistance to Slave

    “Dangerous Vagabonds”: Resistance to Slave

    “DANGEROUS VAGABONDS”: RESISTANCE TO SLAVE EMANCIPATION AND THE COLONY OF SENEGAL by Robin Aspasia Hardy A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana April 2016 ©COPYRIGHT by Robin Aspasia Hardy 2016 All Rights Reserved ii DEDICATION PAGE For my dear parents. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 Historiography and Methodology .............................................................................. 4 Sources ..................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter Overview .................................................................................................... 20 2. SENEGAL ON THE FRINGE OF EMPIRE.......................................................... 23 Senegal, Early French Presence, and Slavery ......................................................... 24 The Role of Slavery in the French Conquest of Senegal’s Interior ......................... 39 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 51 3. RACE, RESISTANCE, AND PUISSANCE ........................................................... 54 Sex, Trade and Race in Senegal ............................................................................... 55 Slave Emancipation and the Perpetuation of a Mixed-Race
  • 273 Colonial Subalterns of Empire: Australians in India During The

    273 Colonial Subalterns of Empire: Australians in India During The

    273 Colonial subalterns of Empire: Australians in India during the movement for Swaraj, 1920 - 1939 Richard Gehrmann, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba1 I do not think it occurred to any of us that we were in India on sufferance, and we should have felt scandalised if it had been suggested that the Army in India was in fact one of occupation. We were still living in a closed an artificial world and we affected to ignore Indian political aspirations ... Major John Morris.2 Introduction In about 1983, I was renting a house in inner-city Red Hill, enjoying the Brisbane share house life described so well in the works of Nick Earls and John Birmingham.3 One of the more eccentric old characters who lived next door was known as Old Jimmy. He was a typical elderly neighbour that young university dropouts (as I then was) would seek to avoid – his conversations were rambling, prone to excessive anecdotes and hard to understand. One evening after work I was caught by Jimmy, who began to make disparaging comments about the propensity of the neighbouring family who managed to somehow keep two goats in their small banana patch. He then recounted a tale of his father who before ‗the War‘ had served in the police in India, where he had met ‗the richest man in the world‘, a miser who had also lived on goat‘s milk and bananas. In the inter-war era here was only one person notorious for both his wealth and for his extreme personal economy who would have matched the epithet of the richest man in the world.
  • Prison Abolition and Grounded Justice

    Prison Abolition and Grounded Justice

    Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2015 Prison Abolition and Grounded Justice Allegra M. McLeod Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/1490 http://ssrn.com/abstract=2625217 62 UCLA L. Rev. 1156-1239 (2015) This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons Prison Abolition and Grounded Justice Allegra M. McLeod EVIEW R ABSTRACT This Article introduces to legal scholarship the first sustained discussion of prison LA LAW LA LAW C abolition and what I will call a “prison abolitionist ethic.” Prisons and punitive policing U produce tremendous brutality, violence, racial stratification, ideological rigidity, despair, and waste. Meanwhile, incarceration and prison-backed policing neither redress nor repair the very sorts of harms they are supposed to address—interpersonal violence, addiction, mental illness, and sexual abuse, among others. Yet despite persistent and increasing recognition of the deep problems that attend U.S. incarceration and prison- backed policing, criminal law scholarship has largely failed to consider how the goals of criminal law—principally deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retributive justice—might be pursued by means entirely apart from criminal law enforcement. Abandoning prison-backed punishment and punitive policing remains generally unfathomable. This Article argues that the general reluctance to engage seriously an abolitionist framework represents a failure of moral, legal, and political imagination.
  • Major General James Harold CANNAN CB, CMG, DSO, VD

    Major General James Harold CANNAN CB, CMG, DSO, VD

    Major General James Harold CANNAN CB, CMG, DSO, VD [1882 – 1976] Major General Cannan is distinguished by his service in the Militia, as a senior officer in World War 1 and as the Australian Army’s Quartermaster General in World War 2. Major General James Harold Cannan, CB, CMG, DSO, VD (29 August 1882 – 23 May 1976) was a Queenslander by birth and a long-term member of the United Service Club. He rose to brigadier general in the Great War and served as the Australian Army’s Quartermaster General during the Second World War after which it was said that his contribution to the defence of Australia was immense; his responsibility for supply, transport and works, a giant-sized burden; his acknowledgement—nil. We thank the History Interest Group and other volunteers who have researched and prepared these Notes. The series will be progressively expanded and developed. They are intended as casual reading for the benefit of Members, who are encouraged to advise of any inaccuracies in the material. Please do not reproduce them or distribute them outside of the Club membership. File: HIG/Biographies/Cannan Page 1 Cannan was appointed Commanding Officer of the 15th Battalion in 1914 and landed with it at ANZAC Cove on the evening of 25 April 1915. The 15th Infantry Battalion later defended Quinn's Post, one of the most exposed parts of the Anzac perimeter, with Cannan as post commander. On the Western Front, Cannan was CO of 15th Battalion at the Battle of Pozières and Battle of Mouquet Farm. He later commanded 11th Brigade at the Battle of Messines and the Battle of Broodseinde in 1917, and the Battle of Hamel and during the Hundred Days Offensive in 1918.
  • Report of the United Nations Conference To

    Report of the United Nations Conference To

    A/CONF.230/14 Report of the United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development United Nations Headquarters 5-9 June 2017 United Nations New York, 2017 Note Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document. [15 June 2017] Contents Chapter Page I. Resolutions adopted by the Conference ............................................. 5 II. Organization of work and other organizational matters ................................ 11 A. Date and venue of the Conference ............................................. 11 B. Attendance ................................................................ 11 C. Opening of the Conference................................................... 12 D. Election of the two Presidents and other officers of the Conference ................. 13 E. Adoption of the rules of procedure ............................................ 13 F. Adoption of the agenda of the Conference ...................................... 13 G. Organization of work, including the establishment of subsidiary bodies, and other organizational matters ....................................................... 14 H. Credentials of representatives to the Conference ................................. 14 I. Documentation ............................................................ 14 III. General debate ................................................................
  • Gladstone Park to Mapesbury

    Gladstone Park to Mapesbury

    Route 2 - Gladstone Park, Mapesbury Dell and surrounds Route Highlights Just off route up Brook Road, you will see the Paddock War Brent Walks Stroll through Gladstone Park and enjoy the views over Room Bunker, codeword for the A series of healthy walks for all the family to enjoy the city of London and the walled gardens. This route alternative Cabinet War Room also includes historic sites including the remains of Dollis Bunker. An underground 1940’s Hill House, a WWII underground bunker and Old Oxgate bunker used during WWII by Farm. The route finishes by walking through Mapesbury Winston Churchill and the Conservation area to the award-winning Mapesbury Dell. Cabinet, it remains in its original Route 2 - Gladstone Park, state next to 107 Brook Road. You can take a full tour of 1 Start at Dollis Hill Tube Station and 2 take the Burnley the underground bunker twice a year. Purpose-built from Mapesbury Dell and surrounds Road exit. Go straight up 3 Hamilton Road. At the end reinforced concrete, this bomb-proof subterranean war of Hamilton Road turn left onto 4 Kendal Road and then citadel 40ft below ground has a map room, cabinet room right onto 5 Gladstone Park. Walk up to the north end and offices and is housed within a sub-basement protected of the park when you are nearing the edge 6 turn right. by a 5ft thick concrete roof. In the north east corner of the park you will see the Holocaust Memorial and the footprint of Dollis Hill House. Old Oxgate Farm is a Grade II Exit the park at 7 and walk up Dollis Hill Lane, and turn listed building thought to be left onto Coles Green Road 8.
  • The Hostage Through the Ages

    The Hostage Through the Ages

    Volume 87 Number 857 March 2005 A haunting figure: The hostage through the ages Irène Herrmann and Daniel Palmieri* Dr Irène Herrmann is Lecturer at the University of Geneva; she is a specialist in Swiss and in Russian history. Daniel Palmieri is Historical Research Officer at the International Committee of the Red Cross; his work deals with ICRC history and history of conflicts. Abstract: Despite the recurrence of hostage-taking through the ages, the subject of hostages themselves has thus far received little analysis. Classically, there are two distinct types of hostages: voluntary hostages, as was common practice during the Ancien Régime of pre-Revolution France, when high-ranking individuals handed themselves over to benevolent jailers as guarantors for the proper execution of treaties; and involuntary hostages, whose seizure is a typical procedure in all-out war where individuals are held indiscriminately and without consideration, like living pawns, to gain a decisive military upper hand. Today the status of “hostage” is a combination of both categories taken to extremes. Though chosen for pecuniary, symbolic or political reasons, hostages are generally mistreated. They are in fact both the reflection and the favoured instrument of a major moral dichotomy: that of the increasing globalization of European and American principles and the resultant opposition to it — an opposition that plays precisely on the western adherence to human and democratic values. In the eyes of his countrymen, the hostage thus becomes the very personification of the innocent victim, a troubling and haunting image. : : : : : : : In the annals of the victims of war, hostages occupy a special place.
  • Uranium 2001: Resources, Production and Demand

    Uranium 2001: Resources, Production and Demand

    A Joint Report by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency Uranium 2001: Resources, Production and Demand NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention signed in Paris on 14th December 1960, and which came into force on 30th September 1961, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shall promote policies designed: − to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and thus to contribute to the development of the world economy; − to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member countries in the process of economic development; and − to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory basis in accordance with international obligations. The original Member countries of the OECD are Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The following countries became Members subsequently through accession at the dates indicated hereafter: Japan (28th April 1964), Finland (28th January 1969), Australia (7th June 1971), New Zealand (29th May 1973), Mexico (18th May 1994), the Czech Republic (21st December 1995), Hungary (7th May 1996), Poland (22nd November 1996), Korea (12th December 1996) and the Slovak Republic (14 December 2000). The Commission of the European Communities takes part in the work of the OECD (Article 13 of the OECD Convention).
  • The Psychogeophysics of Bangka Island: on Tin, Mining, and Materiality

    The Psychogeophysics of Bangka Island: on Tin, Mining, and Materiality

    Transformations issue 33 (2020) The Psychogeophysics of Bangka Island: On www.transformationsjournal.org Tin, Mining, and Materiality ISSN 1444-3775 AUTHOR BIO Riar Rizaldi Riar Rizaldi works as an artist and researcher. Born in Indonesia and ABSTRACT currently based in Hong Kong, his main focus is on the relationship between capital and In 2018, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), technology, extractivism, and commissioned by the mining corporation Rio Tinto, released the list of metals theory-fiction. Through his they expected to be most impacted, in terms of increased demand, by works, he questions the notion of upcoming technologies. Tin ranked highest as the most impacted. Almost one- (a)temporality, image politics, third of global tin supply is extracted from two islands in the western materiality, media archaeology archipelago of Indonesia, Bangka and Belitung. In this paper, I focus on and unanticipated consequences fieldwork undertaken in Bangka Island and re-examine the materiality of tin of technologies. He is also and its complex entanglement with humans through psychogeophysics. This actively composing and involves bringing a creative approach to the practice of the geophysical survey performing sonic-fiction using as a method and solo dérive. The practice of psychogeophysics seeks to the methods of field recording provide an analysis of an island that has been actively mined and geo- and foley through programming language. Riar has also curated transformed for millennia. I begin by exploring the history of tin on Bangka ARKIPEL Jakarta International island, then focus on the construction of tin’s value and the dynamic Documentary & Experimental relationship between humans, nature, and labour as conceived among different Film Festival — Penal Colony groups of people and issues; an entanglement between small-scale (2017) and Internet of unconventional miners, mining company PT.
  • Bangka Belitung Islands: Great Potencies of Massive Environmental Impacts

    Bangka Belitung Islands: Great Potencies of Massive Environmental Impacts

    125 E3S W eb of C onferences , 09008 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/201912509008 ICENIS 2019 Bangka Belitung Islands: Great Potencies of Massive Environmental Impacts Hartuti Purnaweni1,2,*, Kismartini1,2, Bulan Prabawani,3, Ali Roziqin4 1Public Administration Department, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Diponegoro Indonesia 2Master and Doctorate Program of Environmental Science, School of Post Graduate, Undip, Indonesia. 3Business Administration Department, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Undip, Indonesia 4Government Science, Universitas Muhammadiyah, Malang Abstract. Mining is a very crucial activity of human being and is practiced everywhere in the world, including in Bangka Belitung Province which is rich in tin, making tin is the leading commodity in this area. This study aimed at analyzing the Bangka Belitung profile, tin mining activities in this area and its impact on an environmental conditions in Bangka Belitung Islands. The study applied a descriptive-qualitative method, using data from library study and previous researches dealing with the research topic, as well as data from field observation. It concluded that tin mining has been done since the Dutch era in Bangka Belitung, and is more active today. Therefore, it is concluded that massive environmental degradation will occur should the mining practices are not stopped. The study It is recommended that the government has to strengthen its policy in the form of local regulation on the tin mining activities for erecting a better public administration practices. Keywords: tin; mining; environmental degradation; local regulation. bauxite, tin, bronze, gold, silver, asphalt, phosphor, and phosphate. Mining activities in an area has both positive 1 Introduction and negative impacts.
  • Sir John Northcott

    Sir John Northcott

    30 Sir John Northcott (1 August 1946 – 31 July 1957) Chris Cunneen The 30th representative of the Crown in New South Wales, John North- cott, was the first Australian to be State or colonial Governor.1 It was only after extraordinary pressure from the Premier William McKell that King George VI, advised by the British Government, agreed to the selection. Birth and military career John Northcott was born on 24 March 1890 at Creswick, Victoria, eldest son of English-born parents: his father, also named John, owned a general store in the nearby town of Dean, his mother was Elizabeth, née Reynolds. Young John was the eldest of four sons and one daughter. Educated at Dean State School and Grenville College, Ballarat, he was a keen member of the school cadets. He was also an enthusiastic horse rider, so in 1908 he enlisted in the Ninth Light Horse Regiment, a militia unit. Deciding on a full time career in the Army he passed the entry examinations and in 1912 joined the Permanent Military Forces as a Lieu- tenant on the Administrative and Instructional Staff. He was posted to Tasmania. On the outbreak of World War I he transferred to the Aust- ralian Imperial Force and in August 1914 was appointed Adjutant of the 12th Battalion, based at Anglesea Barracks, Hobart.2 Northcott’s service record at this time described the 24 year old as five feet eight and a half inches tall, with a fair complexion and blue eyes. His Battalion left for Egypt in October 1914. On Sunday, 25 April 1915, Northcott was one of the first to land at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli.
  • Your Virtual Visit - 57 to the Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

    Your Virtual Visit - 57 to the Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

    YOUR VIRTUAL VISIT - 57 TO THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY MUSEUM OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA Throughout 2021, the Virtual Visit series will be continuing to present interesting features from the collection and their background stories. The Australian Army Museum of Western Australia is now open four days per week, Wednesday through Friday plus Sunday. Current COVID19 protocols including contact tracing will apply. Amphibious Capabilities and the Army’s Small Boat Fleet Both the Navy and the Army have had a role in providing vessels to support amphibious warfare and littoral operations. The Australian military's first amphibious warfare ships were the three Landing Ships Infantry (LSI): HMAS Kanimbla, HMAS Manoora, and HMAS Westralia. These three ships had been built as civilian motor vessels and were converted to armed merchant cruisers at the outbreak of war in 1939. They were converted again to LSIs in 1943 and took part in United States and Australian amphibious assaults in the South West Pacific Area. The ships had a capacity of about 1,200 troops, which were landed from boats carried by the LSIs. Following the war, the three LSIs remained in service as transports until 1949 when they were returned to their owners. An assault landing craft being swung aboard HMAS Westralia during the landing of 2/24 Infantry Battalion on Morotai, 18 April 1945. 1 The RAN borrowed six Landing Ships Tank (LSTs) from the Royal Navy between 1946 and 1955. The LSTs were used as general-purpose vessels and did not specialise in amphibious operations. After the LSTs were disposed of, Australia was left without any amphibious warfare ships.