“Platypus and her deadly chicks”
By Laurie Garnaut

A Royal Australian Navy Second World War biography
Darwin 1941-1942; Cairns 1942-1944; Moratai 1944-1945
Snr Petty Officer Laurie (Richard Lawrence) Garnaut
Official Number 22217
Served Royal Australian Navy 14-6-1938 – 13-6-1950
Laurie Garnaut World War II Service Certificate

1. Page 1 After many requests, I decided to write as I knew it; the part H.M.A.S. Platypus played in the Second World War and particularly her period in Cairns.

2. I am not going to mention any names, some I remember, but after almost fifty years, there are many names I have forgotten, so I have decided not to mention any, occasionally I meet one of them, but they are thinning out now.

3. I was a member of the Supply Branch of the Navy, and a Butcher by trade, supplying meat to the various ships attached to Platypus. In writing this story I may have made the odd mistake, but I am sure I remember it all. How could I forget. This is how I saw it.

4. Having joined the Navy in 1938 and after a six months training period, I was drafted to the Glamour Ship of the Royal Australian Navy H.M.A.S. Canberra and flagship of the fleet. After the war had been going for ten months, much to my disappointment, I was sent back to Flinders Naval Depot to do a course. A few months later, I was drafted back to sea, not to the Canberra or the other two ships; I had my eye on the cruisers Sydney and Pert, but to the Platypus.

5. Platypus for many years was based at the Naval Depot at Garden Island and was H.M.A.S. Penguin. At the end of February, 1941 she was recommissioned as a sea going ship and renamed H.M.A.S. Platypus. At that time the Platypus was a First World War pre-historic has been, as far as I was concerned. She was built about 1917 in England and was a Mother ship to submarines in the Royal Navy and developed the nickname of “The Platypus and her deadly chicks”. A coal burner of approx 3500 tons with compliment of about 300. She was a most uncomfortable ship, designed for the North Sea and the cold, and my home for the rest of the war in the tropics.

6. What I failed to notice, when I joined her at Garden Island in Sydney on the 14th April, 1941, was the Guardian Angel parked on our mast head keeping us company. I will never know how we survived the war with only one casualty, accidentally killed. I am convinced the Guardian Angel was the answer. There is no doubt about Platypus having a charmed life. A Sydney Harbour ferry the Kattabul took her place and was sunk by a Japanese Midget submarine on 31 May, 1942 with the loss of 19 killed and missing and 10 wounded.

7. When the Platypus was attacked during the big raid on Darwin on 19th February 1942, we were only armed with a first World War 4 inch gun plus one Lewis and one Vickers machine gun, a few 303 rifles and one three pounder. We were attacked by numerous dive bombers. The Lugger H.M.A.S. Mavie, moored alongside, was hit and sunk, but Platypus never received a hit. The crew all felt that the ancient 4 inch gun, which was never meant to be an ack ack gun, made the attacking planes over cautious. Subsequent attacks saw the same results.

8. Page 2 - Feb. 19th 1942 saw the first air raid on Darwin with every other large vessel in the area either sunk or damaged, Platypus was the only large ship that was not hit and all the interior damage was caused by near misses. Official records show that approximately 250 were killed and three to four hundred injured. Of those killed Warships 90, Merchant and Troopships 80, Hospital ship Manunda 12, Australian army 2, R.A.A.F. 6, U.S. Army and Air force 7, Civilians in town 14, Civilians on wharf 39. There were probably many more unaccounted for, oil covered bodies were floating in the harbour for days and usually buried wherever they came ashore. The Japanese raiding force consisted of 36 Zero fighters, 71 Dive bombers and in addition there were 27 land based bombers from Ambon and another 27 bombers from Kendari in the Celebes. All told, there were 150 tons dropped on Darwin and the harbour.

9. On Platypus that morning, the Master at Arms and the Quarterdeck staff were getting ready for Captains defaulters, and everybody concerned were fallen in waiting for the Captain, who would arrive as always right on the dot of 1000, it was exactly 0957 when Platypus let go with her siren, and at 0959 the first stick of bombs hit the wharf. That was the only warning we got before the raid anywhere in Darwin. I have heard many versions and read many books about it and the findings of the Royal Commission, but on Platypus because of Captains defaulters and how punctual the Captain is and the Master at Arms checking his watch to call everybody to attention as the Skipper walked on to the quarterdeck.

10. We had heard that on the 19th a squadron of U.S. Air force Kittyhawk fighters were going to arrive, and when the flight of bombers came into view everybody thought the Yanks had arrived. Who had the presence of mind to sound off our air raid siren I don’t know, but the bombs leaving the plane must have been sighted, because the siren was going when the first stick hit the wharf. It was not long before all of our life boats were racing round the harbour picking up survivors and many of them were brought back to Platypus and they were all cover in thick oil, and we cleaned them up as best we could, and used our own clothes to clothe them. I can still picture a little chinese seaman, half my size, wearing my special white shirt and shorts I kept for going ashore, it was real comical to see him trying to hold them up and by this time they had oil all over them. I hope he made it O.K.

11. One of our boats bought back two young midshipmen off one of the merchant ships, they laid them on the quarterdeck and our M.O. was doing all he could to save them, it was obvious one had died and the other one never had long to go, a sick berth attendant told me after that the kid had regained consciousness asked for a drink of water, sung out for his mother and died. None of it was very pleasant, so I will skip it and keep to a few stories on the brighter side.

12. When we abandoned ship, we naturally took a lot of stores with us, because we still had to eat, and nobody had thought about the officers liquor store, and when the Chief Steward went to check on it, what did he find “nothing”. When I got ashore one of the Supply assistants and the Captains Coxswain called me over to a secluded spot in the bush, and while I have never liked whisky the bottle they handed me was just what the doctor ordered, and I discovered that they had a case of whisky planted in the bush. It’s funny the Officers never did find out what happened to their grog.

(Page 3 & 4 in original text are photos with Dad's captions for each photo.)

13. Page 5 - When the Mavie was sunk along side Platypus, the concussion from the bomb did a lot of damage in the Engine room of Plats, we had to close down our boilers, and we lost all power, and to say the least there was one hell of a mess around the ship, we were expecting our turn, so all hands turned to and made rafts out of anything that could float. All of our boats were working round the harbour picking up survivors from several ships going down, and with all the makeshift rafts, we had something to hang on to when our turn arrived. The whole time old “Berther”, our four-inch gun, was still blazing away even though she was averaging two miss fires to every shot she got away. I only heard this story after, but when the Mavie got hit, the Captain of the gun was screaming to his gun crew, “Fire, for Christs sake fire”. “Misfire”, was the reply, then as the dive bomber let go his bomb, the next shout was, “For Christ’s sake duck”, so besides that Guardian Angel I mentioned earlier, God was hanging about too. There was a good story about the Mavie, and I got it from good authority and I remember the story in one of the many books I have read about that fateful day. In those days, if stores were transferred from one ship to another, it had to be signed for on a special form called a ‘ten sixty six’. I’ll stand corrected on that number, but I am sure it was 1066. However, Mavie was, among many other things, a store ship for the other luggers we were using, but fully loaded, I don’t think it would be any more than about two tons of stores. This was the opportunity for other Navy ships in the harbour to balance their store books so out came all the 1066’s and, some time later, the Mavie was lost carrying five times her full load as her records showed.

14. When darkness fell on the 19th February, things had quietened down and an assessment was made of the damage to the engine room. It was obvious that we were not going to be able to get under way and with only a few rounds left for our four-inch, it was decided to abandon ship and just leave a guns crew on board. We all thought that “Merv” (Darwin sailors nickname for Japanese Air Force) would be back next day to clean up the leftovers and even invade the place, but little did we know that the Carrier force that attacked Darwin pulled back after the initial raid and it was a few days before they were back again, this time with bombers and fighters from their bases in Timor. Usually it was 27 bombers and as many fighters and, on other occasions, it was seven bombers and a batch of fighters. By the time we left in December to go to Cairns, the R.A.A.F. airfields, the harbour and the town took it in turns and, all told, about sixty raids. Platypus, during this time, survived every attack they made on her.

15. We landed ashore during the early hours of February the 20th. Darwin was a ghost-town. All the civilians, most of the Air Force and some of the Army personnel were having a marathon race towards Adelaide and they would have finished up at the South Pole if they had got their way. I must pay tribute to a few of the Army and the so called “Saturday after soldiers” (the Reserves), some Waterside workers and a few civilians. They did a tremendous job in getting Darwin back on even keel. The Salvation Army, the Morale boosters, always managed a cup of tea and a biscuit after every raid. The Presbyterian Minister and the Catholic Parish Priest had their hands full administering to the dead and the dying and the injured. They were an inspiration to everybody. As for the Hospital staff and the Hospital ship Manunda which was hit with many causalities; there has been many books written about them all and if there is such a person as an unsung hero, they are at the top of the list.

16. Page 6 - After we had all landed and split up into groups, we took over a street of houses and when we moved in, it was evident that the occupants had moved out in a hurry leaving the breakfast washing up half done etc., so we just took over and carried on where they had left off. Our first job was to dig slit trenches in the bush behind the houses, and make sure the stretch from the back door to the trench was clear of rubble and you can be sure that the four minute mile was broken many times after that. We really appreciated the few days respite after that, and by the time Merv started bombing again we were a little more organised, but we still had things to learn. We only had white tropical uniforms and we became a sitting target for the Zero fighters, who would come in at roof height. We soon fixed that, we got a 44 gallon drum, filled it with water, put a fire under it, added numerous packets of coffee to it, and then in went all the white uniforms. It worked, but I have never seen a more motley mob of jungle fighters, and maybe, that is what frightened the Japs away.

17. While we were ashore for a few weeks we supplied, with stores and ammunition, all the Corvettes and small boats from ashore, but at the back of my mind was always the huge refrigerator back on Platypus, tucked almost down to the bilge packed tight with meat and small goods and no power in the ship to run the motors. When we got around to it, after a couple of weeks, with a gang of sailors equipped with resporators, we opened the doors and fair dinkum you could see nothing except maggots the size of elephants. Everything had to be taken up four flights of ladders (stairs) by hand and dumped over the side, and I have never seen so many sharks, and the stink went right through the ship, and after many days of scrubbing with disinfectant the smell was still there, however, once the main engines were got going again the exhaust fans soon freshened things up. It would have to be the worst job I have ever done.

18. The main part of the crew were not ashore very long, I cannot recall how long it could have been, a couple of weeks of many weeks, but the whole of Victualling Supply staff were very busy maintaining supplies to all our ships and Naval headquarters ashore. We had got hold of 30 cwt tray top truck, and it never let us down, even though, while we had it I cannot recall it having a decent service, and most of the time, it run on half normal petrol and half aviation spirit. Those of us who drove it never knew anything about driving or had a license, but I recommend the quickest way to learn is being in a target area and the air raid siren is screaming out. A supply assistant from Melbourne, Victoria and myself, being the Butcher were co-pilots of old faithful, and daily we went out to Vesty’ meatworks, where the Army butchers were slaughtering anything they could lay their hands on, race down to the wharf, supply all ships with meat, the motor boats from all the ships in the harbour would be waiting for us and they could always see us coming, because, wherever we went we always had fighter cover hovering over the top of us. (Millions of blowflies). After the meat delivery we would go out to the various Army and Navy stores, pick up the remainder of the stores, deliver those, and we were never late, because it was a mad rush to get the deliveries done before midday, which was a favorite time for Merv to come over and drop a few more bombs. We always headed for the beach, because we had a grandstand view of the ships and the harbour copping it, until one day they dropped a stick of bombs from one end of the beach to the other,

19. Page 7 - so from then on it was head for the bush, but the trouble was the R.A.A.F. Darwin was in that direction and a favourite Merv target. A shovel from then on was added to our kit, and our fighting gear became a tin hat, bayonet, rifle and a shovel. The following procedure was then adopted.

1. At the first wail of the air raid siren out of the truck.

2. Dig a hole.

3. Get the head below ground level.

4. Get cracking on the Hail Mary’s. (It worked).

20. A couple of weeks after we had landed we got word that Jap paratroopers had landed and were heading through the bush in our direction, so those of us who had rifles (there was not enough rifles and tin hats to go around at this stage), were split up into two groups and took off into the bush looking for them. Both parties were given a direction to take, so we started crawling our way through the scrub. It was pitch black, with no moon and our mob, not being trained in this sort of a caper, started to veer to the left, and the other mob started to veer to the right, and we were just about to open up when we heard ahead of us a voice sing out “shut up you silly bastards, they will hear us”. Immediately our private war finished up with a roar of laughter when we realised it was our mob, Platypus nearly lost half it’s crew that night, and fortunately it was a false alarm, and that Guardian Angel, I spoke about earlier, decided to come with us when we abandoned ship and having learnt to swear on the ship saved the day.

21. Prior to our private war, a Commadore arrived in Darwin, I had served on the H.M.A.S. Canberra the first few months of the war, and he was at that time our Captain. He addressed all the Naval personnel in Darwin, and told us that the Navy would defend Darwin at all costs, and went on to tell us of his exploits during the first world war and how he was Captain of a cruiser and left the bow’s on a Arctic iceberg, and sure enough that Navy clown from among the crowd yelled out “It’s a pity the ship did not leave you on the iceberg with the bow”, naturally nobody ever found out who said it, and in normal circumstances there would be stopage of leave for the whole ship until the culprit was found, but we were not going anywhere anyway, so we got on with the job of defending Darwin. The whole area was in such a chaotic mess after the blitz, a load of Geisha girls could have taken the place.

22. Darwin was known for the thousands of empty beer bottles laying around everywhere, and when we got ashore after the 19th, the local defence mob had barbed wire stretched everywhere up one street and down another and wait for it, underneath all that barbed wire was broken beer bottles, and this was going to keep the Japs out. What it really was, a ready made prisoner of war camp, and I know who would have been caught inside, it would have made the Geisha girls tasks much easier.

23. When daylight came on the 20th February and a Japanese attack did not eventuate, and it was a week before another air raid, we were able to take stock of the situation, and it was not a pretty sight. Most of the woman and all the children had been moved south when it became obvious that Darwin would be attached, and as previously mentioned except for a few Army (I really don’t know how many Army personnel took off), a few Air force and a handful of Wharfies, civil defence, public servants and all Doctors, Nurses, Hospital staff and wounded, plus the various

24. Page 8 - religious organisations, we were on our own. I’ll stand corrected, but as far as I know the Navy never lost a man to the Adelaide stakes.

25. While I am referring to old faithful (the truck), I must mention a funny story about an incident that happened after the main crew were back on the ship and Darwin was back on the right track, occasionally when the R.A.A.F. were showing a good movie, at a makeshift theatre alongside the runaway. I would drive down to the wharf and pick up twenty or thirty sailors from Platypus, they were ferried ashore in motor boats, and I would take them out to the movies, and there would be two or three hundred or more servicemen present, by this time plenty of yanks and many other nationalities, and they were great nights. However, one night the inevitable happened, a Wing Commander stopped the show and got up to say a few words, and told us not to worry, but would ack ack gun crews kindly go to their stations, and you should have seen the stampede to get away from the aerodrome. All lights were switched off, and it was pitch black, and there were so many trucks trying to get back on the road, it was hopeless, so I told everybody to stop on the truck because I knew another way out. We cut across the runaway onto a bush track and we headed into the bush. The ground was all wet from recent rain, and next thing I know we are bogged. However, I quickly put her into reverse to try and clear the bog, but I could feel the truck moving forward. It was only a 30 cwt tray top, and when I looked out to see what was happening all the sailors were off the truck and lifting and pushing, and that has to be the only truck reversing full astern, yet moving full ahead in existence. However, we were well into the bush when the bombs started falling on the drome, and we had a grandstand view. You should have seen the mob when we got back to the wharf, they were all covered in mud, and after that there were no further volunteers to go to the movies.

26. Back to a more serious story, a day or two after the raid everybody was busy getting the Hospital ship Manunda sea worthy and all the serious casualties from the local hospital were loaded aboard, and if I remember rightly all the nurses were shipped out, and it was a sad moment seeing them all go, but there was a sigh of relief when we heard they had made it safely to Fremantle. For weeks after there were ships arriving with survivors from sunken ships and evacuees from the East Indies and other places, and large numbers of them were seriously wounded, and stretched our medical facilities to the limit. Every night at sunset you could hear the Last Post coming from the cemetery. Sunset seemed to be burial time. One occasion was a sad moment for us, one of our mates a young supply assistant was a bit late diving into his slit trench during the day. He was based at Naval Headquarters Darwin.

27. There was no doubt in any ones mind that the Japs were going to land in big numbers and take Darwin, so preparations were in hand to evacuate Darwin and fall back to Adelaide River and join up with the Army who were establishing a line of defence there, and the instructions to the Platypus crew was to load the truck with supplies and march south to join up with the Army. I can still see it, the truck leading the way and a mob of silly sailors marching behind it. No cover on an open road just a few 303 rifles and Zero fighters coming at us from every angle strafing to their hearts content.

28. Page 9 - The Divisional Officer of the Supply and Writer Branch was very popular and we all had full confidence in him, and he worked out a contingency plan if the balloon went up, and he set to work trying to make some sort of a fighting force out of us, and he made arrangements for a few at a time to get some sort of training from the army, we had no equipment so we set to making back packs out of sand bags, and in the bag we put three beer bottles full of water, some fishing lines, vegemite, salt, tea, coffee, dog biscuits and the bare necessities, mug, knife etc., one change of clothes and that was as much as we could get in the sand bag. We had a rain slicker which could be used as a ground sheet, a tin hat, rifle, bayonet, and the gas mask bag, (we were not going to need a gas mask where we were going). In the bag we had spare ammunition a first aid kit, a mirror and a few other odds and ends. Our plan was that if the balloon went up and our chances of getting to Adelaide River were nil, we were going to take off into the bush and head towards Arnhem Land to an agreed rendezvous point and carry on a private war of our own with remnants of the Army, who were going to join us if they were unable to make Adelaide River. I wonder how long we would of held out in that country, but thank God, not only for us, but the whole country, because if the Japs had of got a foothold, we would never have got them out. There is one thing for sure, by now we would have forgotten more than the Bush Tucker Man had ever learnt.

29. In writing this story of Darwin in those days, it may sound disjointed, but I am only telling these stories as they come to mind, and it is amazing how things come back to mind as you go along, however, I think this story has to be the classic, when the crew rejoined Platypus and their were only six or seven of us living ashore, and we were living in a house in Main St., I think it was called. None of us were heavy drinkers, but we liked a few beers, and it was hard to come by in those days, so one of our mob decided to make a home brew, and he said he knew all about it, so the big day come when he bottled it up, and we used wire to hold the corks in. During the night the corks got blown out split in two by the wire, so next day in went fresh corks and we left it for a few days. In the meantime, we got hold of two bottles of VB I think it was, so one evening we sat down and had fifty-fifty VB and home brew, and it was not a bad drink (I think). Next day we woke up not remembering too much about the night before or going to bed. We all had camp stretchers on a side verandah, with one single light in the middle, hanging about six feet from the floor, it had a glass shade on it, but it was all smashed, and nobody knew who broke it, however, there was an inner room leading off the verandah, and we noticed a big chip out of the door archway and in a direct line from the light and archway a hole in the wall of the room and imbeded in the wall was a hunk of shrapnel. When we went outside, about a hundred yards or so from the house, was a bomb crater. We had an air raid during the night, and did not even know it. The rest of the home brew got tossed out and the brewer nearly went with it. That Guardian Angel was certainly with us that night, and must have looked on us as innocent victims of the demon grog. Platypus had the most mournful sounding siren, and it was the main air raid siren for the area, you could hear it anywhere, and when it sounded off everybody’s morale was shattered and millions of butterflies in the stomach went into top gear, how we did not hear it, I don’t know.

Update! 17^th March 2008
before reading paragraph 30...
Laurie Garnaut's reaction to
sinking of HMAS Sydney...
HMAS Sydney found – ABC website
View 3 online videos – ABC free videos link
1. “The Hunt For HMAS Sydney” -
full documentry video 55:30 as seen on ABC
2. “First Video Pictures Of HMAS Sydney” 2:21
3. “ABC 7.30 Report story 17^th March 2008” – breaking news of find with Kerry O'brien – 6:35

30. Page 10 - When the H.M.A.S. Sydney was sunk and disappeared with all hands, it was a sad day for me, because all the chaps I joined the Navy with, and did my new entry training with in Flinders Naval Depot, Victoria (H.M.A.S. Cerberus) were sent to sea in various ships, I went to the Canberra and some to the Sydney and to the Perth, so there were very few of us who survived the war. It was also very upsetting because among the Sydneys’ crew was a young able seaman who I knew so well, both our fathers were Master Mariners, and they had ketches and carried wheat and barley from Yorks Peninsula in South Australia to Port Adelaide and unloaded into Steamers and the Sailing ships and many of these Windjammers were in the famous grain races to Europe in the early days. Both of us lived in Fletcher Road, Birkenhead and we were only young kids when we went to sea with our Fathers, so when we joined the Navy we were well experienced in going to sea in heavy weather, I have been in gales in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the North Sea, but getting caught in a southerly buster that hits the southern coast of Australia particularly when you are in a ketch or a schooner, is equal to anything the Navy could dish up. “A ketch in the North sea, I’m not so sure about that”.

31. The worst part of losing a life time friend was his younger brother, who happened to be an ordinary seaman with me on Platypus, and on hearing that Sydney was lost with all hands was a very difficult period, I tried to reassure him, and I was thankful that they sent him home by plane and I was glad he had left before the 19th February blitz. I have just thought of a couple of funny stories, maybe the two concerned did not think it funny, but during the bombing of Darwin, I had a mate who was also a Navy butcher attached to Naval headquarters in Darwin, and right at the side of the road, outside headquarters, a long slit trench had been dug and was most unpopular, because the two man hole in the ground was a lot safer. However, the butcher heard the air raid alarm, so he carried on cutting up meat until the ack ack opened up, and he sprinted for the long trench and was the only one in it. I saw him a few minutes after the raid, he was white and speechless, and what had happened was that he was up one end of the trench and a bomb had landed in the trench up the other end, but did not explode, and he could see the fin of the bomb sticking out of the ground. He was well and truly clear when it did go off. I saw him a few years ago, and he said he still has nightmares about it.

32. The other funny story concerned, was a chap from Port Pirie in South Australia, a member of the AIF and at the time stationed in Katherine, I was back aboard Platypus by this time, and our two families have been very close all our lives, however, he got some R & R and thumbed a lift to come and see me. I had got permission for him to spend a weekend on board Plats with me. It was a beautiful moonlight night on the Saturday night, and we were sitting on the forecastle having a yarn when all of a sudden the ships siren sounded off an air raid alarm, and the howling wail over the top of us nearly gave him a heart attack. I had to go to my action station, so I left him in a good spot on the upper deck where he was out of the road and could watch the fireworks. I told him he had nothing to worry about, because at night the RAAF usually copped it, lo and behold the harbour really copped it, and bombs dropped all around the ship without a hit, and when I found him after the all clear, you reckon the butcher was white, you should have seen him, Sunday night I had told him they never go for the same place twice in a row, but I was wrong and need I say any more. I saw him about two years ago and often ring him up, and like the butcher he reckons he still has nightmares.

33. Page 11 - On the brighter side, Platypus was a very useful and valuable ship. She became a mother ship to Corvettes, Patrol boats and numerous other small craft and was equipped with the most modern engineering and shipwright workshops and could carry out any job that was required. I remember a Dutch submarine limping into Darwin after a very heavy depth charge attack and in about four days we had her ready for sea again. There were always Corvettes alongside sometimes four abreast. They would return from patrols, come alongside, most of the crew would go off ashore on three or four days R & R and Platypus would take over restoring them with ammunition etc., give the boiler cleans, and when the crew came back they would be ready to take off back on patrol around the New Guinea Coast. There was no guarantee that we would ever see them again.

34. We were very fortunate in this situation. There were always ships of all nationalities coming and going every day. You could always get, give and receive the latest buzz (gossip) on how the war was really going. When you are at sea on patrols sometimes for weeks on end boredom can become the greatest enemy. It does not matter what time of the day it is, wherever you look the same face is going to be there. Every ship had their clowns, always in trouble and the reason all Captains go grey at an early age. As in any circus, clowns are necessary to release tension and pressure. No doubt the Army and the Air Force had their clowns and someday an entertaining book could be written about service clowns.

35. Before I leave the Darwin area, I must mention the fleet of small craft which were taken over by the Navy and put into service. Amongst them were luggers, pleasure boats, fishing trawlers and anything that could float. There were the ships that kept the ammunition and supplies moving from Darwin to Timor for the remnants of the A.I.F. who had formed themselves into Commando like units, after Timor had been captured by the Japanese. They caused the Nips, numerous casualties and tied down hundreds of troops that may otherwise have been used elsewhere.

36. Platypus was heavily involved in preparing the stores to ship over to the Commandos, and I got the brainwave of gathering all the old magazines from the various ships and each time a load of stores were prepared a bundle of these books would go with them. After we left Darwin, I never gave it another thought until a couple of years after the war I met one of these Commandos in a Melbourne Hotel (Young & Jacksons). He told me how they looked forward to the store drops and I was pleasantly surprised when he said that the bundles of books and magazines were very popular among the troops with the Womens Weekly on the top of their list.

37. I have read many stories about these small ships. Each time they returned from sea they would tell us hair raising stories about their trips and the regular air attacks they had to endure. Most of them made it back, but unfortunately, there were casualties including one of our destroyers H.M.A.S. Voyager which had to be abandoned after running aground on a Timor beach. All her crew were rescued.

38. Page 12 - Today is Tuesday 22nd July, 1991, and in about an hour the ABC 7.30 is going to tell us something about the blitz in Darwin on the 19th February, 1942, I am about to wind up my stay in Darwin, there are many more things I could write about, like how our defences gradually got back on even keel, and the change to Darwins’ ack ack guns from 3-7 to 5-9, and how they took heavy toll of attacking planes, and the build up with the Air force, and the arrival of the Yanks in their Kittyhawk fighters, and a famous Australian fighter pilot and his band flying Kittyhawks fitted with Merlin Rolls Royce engines and a great big sharks mouth painted on the front. I have read many books and they are all accurate, I just want to tell my story as I saw it. I do have one final story before we pass on from Darwin, the day the butcher and the bomb landed in the same trench together, I was not far away, my mate and I were in a small hole close to the Catholic Church, it was an old wooden building and the Japs were dropping what we called daisycutter (anti personnel) bombs, they would explode on contact, and for many years around the grass would look as though it had been cut with a lawnmower, and a couple were dropped close to the Church, and after the raid I went into the Church, I can’t recall structural damage, but inside was a real mess. I went up to the altar and cleared away a bit of the mess and lit the sanctuary lamp and next thing there was a loud voice saying stand still and turn around slowly, and I done it perfectly, and when I turned around there was an Army Provest and I was looking down the barrel of a forty-five. Fair dinkum, it looked like the size of the four inch on Platypus. He thought I was looting the Church, but I soon got that squared away. I have paid visits to Catholic churches all round the world, but that was the only time I had a bloody big cannon to welcome me. There was an unusual sight in the Church after that raid, there was a statue of an angel holding aloft a bracket of candles, and a piece of shrapnel had gone right through it, but the statue did not shatter, I saw photo’s of it after the war, but I believe a cyclone some years later finished it off. Our Guardian Angel was in the slit trench with us.

39. I heard the interview on the 7.30 report, and was pleased to see an old shipmate of mine, he was a Chief Petty Officer Shipwright, and he appears to have remembered it all, and I notice the snaps he was showing were much the same as the ones I have. Both he and his wife attended my wedding to a Cairns girl in St. Patricks Cathedral, Melbourne 18-1-47.

40. Before leaving the Darwin area, I must mention two other sad events that made 1942 the worst year for both the Navy and the Nation. In that year we lost the Canberra, Perth, Yarra, Armidale, Vampire and the Nestor, and in those ships I lost practically all my new entry classmates.

41. While writing about the Platypus, I have been thinking about a title, and she had a nickname during the first world war when she was mother ship to submarines, and during the second world war she was a mother ship to our fifty six Corvettes, and they hung around like chickens around a mother hen, so what better title could I get than “Platypus and her deadly chicks”.

42. Page 13 - Early in December 1942, and after being in Darwin for 20 months, we received word that we were going to Cairns to establish a Naval Base and a loud cheer echoed throughout the ship. There was only one problem before reaching civilization, a stretch of water was known as bomb alley, which was between Wessel Island and Thursday Island. Japanese float planes would bomb anything that passed through there. One float plane appeared but kept out of range and circled our ship a few times. When he came too close a couple of rounds from our four inch helped change his mind and so we arrived in Cairns safely. This was just in time for me to go on leave, spend a week on troop trains, and be home to Adelaide for Christmas.

43. After two weeks leave in Adelaide, I again boarded the train and headed for Cairns. I was not looking forward to the long trip. You have to experience a long journey in a troop train to know what this is like. The section from Adelaide on the Melbourne express was O.K., but from then on the rot set in. If you didn’t like sausages and potatoes three times a day you starved. Each time the train pulled in at a staging camp, never on time, the sight of overcooked snags and the thought of the days to come really got to you. To me there was always a brighter side. When the train pulled into a staging camp for a meal break, all the servicewomen and the members of the Senior Service were served first and when we were all seated the Army were let loose. I have been called many things in my time, but I could never repeat what the Army called us. The humorous side was after the Army were served next came the Blue Orchids (Air Force) to clean up the left overs. They were not exactly polite to us either.

44. During the first couple of years of the war, there was a certain amount of friction between the services, but when the Yanks came into the picture any Australian uniform in trouble with the Yanks had the full support of all the services. As far as I can observe that situation still exists today. It would be true to say that the three services have a tremendous respect for each other, even the Yanks, deep down they had our respect too. We all know that without the Yanks and their Atomic Bomb many thousands of Allied service men and women would never had made it home.

45. I remember later during the war, I was on a troop train and due to the change of rail gauge we stopped at Albury to change trains. On the other side of the platform was a train full of Yanks, and all hell broke loose. The M.P’s had their hands full, but they managed to get all the Yanks back on the train and very quickly sent the train on its way. However, it was more huff than puff and more humorous than serious.

46. Page 15 - On arrival back in Cairns, I found that Cairns was already being transformed into a very active Naval Base, and it was not long before the Army, Air force and the units of the American forces began moving in, and from that time on, the quiet peaceful tropical paradise that was Cairns began to disappear, and we will never see that again. Including the services, the population of the area more than trebled in a very short space of time, but the locals soon adapted, and the various local and religious organisations organised clubs etc., and did a fantastic job to boost the morale of the troops, and eventually many of the local girls, during and after the war, married Allied servicemen, and I wonder how many of Cairns grandchildren and great grandchildren owe their very existance to the Platypus, and I would like to think that Platypus becomes a part of their family history for generation to come. I know one member of the crew, who married a local girl, and they have six children and nineteen and a half grandchildren, and there would have to be twenty or more crew members who can tell a similar story, however, not many of them settled in Cairns.

47. Being a Catholic, I can only write about CUSA (Catholic United Services Club), and the R.S.L, and like every other Club CUSA was always open and tea cakes and sandwiches etc., were always available and as far as I can remember it was always on the house. Of an evening there was always a piano on the go and girls to dance with, even though you had to book a dance five or six ahead, and because of the shortage of females, you were lucky if you only got one or two dances a night. I must pay a special tribute to the Augustinian Fathers who were in Charge of the Diocese of Cairns in those days, and we never had a Chaplain, but the Priests’ at St. Monica’s Cathedral looked after our needs and were always available to the many servicemen who needed their support and advice.

48. CUSA clubrooms were in the upstairs annex of the Hibernian Hall at the corner of Lake Street and Florence Street.

49. The R.S.L. still on the corner of Florence Street and the Esplanade was another popular place for servicemen, and we were really looked after, all the local members in those days were First World War Diggers with a sprinkle of Boer War Veterans, and many interesting stories were told over a few beers, they were great guys, and I am afraid there are very few of them left now, and perhaps, God willing, we will all get together again.

50. Because of the invasion of thirty or forty thousand beer drinkers into the City, beer was rationed, and the local pubs were only open a couple of hours per day. The Army and the Air force were given their quota’s and the R.S.L. set aside a special area of their club for the Navy to dispose of their quota. The existing two storey section of the Club was used and an old building at back, which was used as a Club for the local members, and the Navy had a bar in the front, and the drill was form a queue through one door past the bar and out through the other door, and you drank your beer keeping in the queue, so it was like one big circle with late corners able to join the queue at the bar. As time went by the circle would get smaller and smaller until only a few diehards were left cleaning up the dregs.

51. Page 16 - Because of the shift in the war to the Pacific area, Cairns became the ideal place for a Naval Base, and the numbers of Corvettes and other ships to be serviced by Platypus increased rapidly, and increased to such an extent that we had to get storerooms and refrigerators ashore to handle the volume of work. The Gaiety Theatre in Grafton Street was taken over as a victualling store, two refrigerators were taken over in the Albion ice works, both these storerooms were between the wharf and Shields Street, and a shop behind the Barrier Reef Hotel in Lake Street was taken over as a Naval Clothing Store. Our Shipwrights and Engineers used storerooms in the Harbour Board buildings, and the local Navy Auxiliary Patrol, a voluntary organisation who used their own small boats (much like the Coast Guard is today I imagine) and housed in the Cairns Sailing Club building were taken over by the Navy, and many of their members joined the Navy.

52. The inevitable happened, and the WRANS appeared on the scene, and their quarters were on the Esplanade, just past the R.S.L. and previously it was the Homeleigh Guest House. Naval Headquarters was housed in Hayles Flats on the corner of Shields Street and the Esplanade where the S.G.I.O. building stands today, and after the war Hayles Flats were moved and are still standing today at 40 Kingsford Street at the foot of the House on the Hill, which was the headquarters of Z Force and the brain child of that famous raid on Singapore Harbour when so many Japanese ships were blown up. I remember the night the KRAIT left Cairns, she came alongside Platypus and we filled her with the victuals. Little did we know, and the crew for that matter know, where they were going and how famous they were going to become.

53. The Navy has always been very strict with leave, and the crew were split up into three watches, and the duty watch was never allowed ashore, however, when we had all these stores on shore, those of us who were in charge of them had a free reign, and whenever I was questioned why I was going ashore it was always to check the refrigerators, and that situation made my stay more pleasant in Cairns.

54. There was a large build up of American troops, and the Strand Hotel on the corner of the Esplanade and Spence Street (now the Pacific Hotel) became the American Red Cross centre for servicemen, and the way some of the Yanks carried on they thought they owned the place, however, they soon got the message to think otherwise, at one stage there was a big build up of A.I.F. troops preparing to go to New Guinea, so they let of steam outside the Strand and Cairns had a riot on its hands, and it looked like becoming the battle for Cairns until the Australian and American Military Police moved in with a fleet of trucks and cleared the streets, they returned all the servicemen back to their units and ships and put the area out of bounds for three days. I was one of the lucky ones, I had special pass to go ashore, the R.S.L. still got their quota for beer, and the locals and a handful of us had the time of our lives, plenty to drink, then up to CUSA and for once the girls outnumbered us. The A.I.F. were shipped to New Guinea and the place returned to normal (two or three beers and two dances if you were lucky).

55. There are many funny stories about that riot, I can’t guarantee the authenticity of them, but apparently the Strand suffered the most.

56. Page 17 - The Australian forces had two Victualling stores issue ships, they were the Merchant ships Merkur and Charon, and they did a fantastic job in keeping up the supplies to the Australian forces, wherever they could get to them. I only had connections with the Merkur, and wherever we were, she was always a welcome sight, and I can’t recall serious shortages, and when supplies were getting low, the Merkur would appear over the horizon. I remember later, during the war, when we called into Biak, it was a small island north of New Guinea and was an American motor torpedo boat base, and we went ashore to pick up a few stores. I have never seen anything like it, comparing our stores and the Yank stores, was like comparing the local corner ship with David Jones in Sydney. When I arrived at the store with a working party from the ship, I was greeted by an Australian army stores Sergeant, he was liason Sergeant with the Yanks, he had a truck ready for us, and told us to be ready to back in and load up when he gave the signal, and don’t take any notice of air raid sirens. After a while the air raid siren went off, and you should have seen the stores staff clearing the stores and heading for the jungle, the Sergeant came out and told us to back in and help ourselves and forget about signing for anything. That’s not the way we do it in our Navy, and with an air raid alert on, I was not going to hang about to sign anything.

57. Back to Cairns and an incident I would like to forget, when the Merkur arrived one day, we had been waiting for her to berth about 0730, because we had two Corvettes alongside all ready for sea to head back on patrol duties in New Guinea waters. The Waterside workers were sitting around having a meal break, they had started quite early that morning, and we could not get them to start work until the required time, so a working party from Platypus went aboard the Merkur, loaded up a sling of frozen carcasés of mutton into a sling , and we had it hanging over the wharf and as a truck was backing in a Navy Lieutenant came running onto the wharf and told us not to load it into the truck, because if we did, the wharfies would go on strike. I can still see the leer on the wharfies faces as we had to put the mutton back into the Merkur’s cold rooms. Those wharfies don’t know how lucky they were with the Lieutenant hanging about, or they would have had a war and a half on their hands. I think I am expressing the feelings of all the forces, when I say that back in Australia, except for those people who had lost a loved one in the war, nobody had any idea of what was going on. I’m glad it did not happen, but I sometimes think that a decent air raid on all our Capital Cities and particularly Canberra, it would have pulled everybody out of their complacency and made them realise that there was a war on and made life much easier for the troops. (The Corvettes went back to the war without their mutton).

58. It’s time I changed the subject, and got on to a brighter subject like the day a supply assistant went ashore in Cairns and had one too many, and on arrival back on the ship reported to the Corporal of the gangway, made his way along the upper deck, saw a box of rubbish, and instead of taking it ashore to the special rubbish tins the ship had, he could see nobody around, so he dumped it over the side. Back to the Corporal of the gangway, he the supply assistant making his way along the upper deck after reporting to him, next thing he heard a loud splash

59. Page 18 - and immediately sounded off “man overboard”, a search was made of the ship, and he was missing, it was about 2300 and the rest of the night was boats out on the Cairns Inlet with lights searching for a body. I knew his parents quite well, they lived in Essendon Victoria, and I knew I was going to have to write to them and I was not looking forward to it. And at daylight next morning, who was curled up underneath the anchor chain, out of sight on the forecastle sound asleep?, I don’t know what he told the fast greying Captain, but later when the waters had calmed, he told us that he remembered throwing the rubbish over the side, and it was so hot he crawled in under the anchor chain and went to sleep. After the war, he married a Cairns girl, and gave the bride away when I married a Cairns girl in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne on 18th January, 1947.

60. As in all coal burners, every so often it was coal ship day for Platypus, and when the ships company did it themselves it would take a day and half and when the waterside workers did the job it was about five days. (I am not going to argue a few hours either way, but I remember it took us a third of the time). I can’t even remember how many tons we loaded, but I do know, that we burnt twelve tons a day laying alongside in Cairns. The workshops in Platypus worked around the clock repairing Corvettes and many other ships that had been damaged in the numerous actions around New Guinea. Coaling ship in the Navy was an exercise that the whole ships company was involved. The only ones excused was the Captain, a couple of other senior Officers, the sick bay staff, the quartermaster, the cooks and the butcher (me).. On those days, coal dust got into everything, and the clean up job was nearly as big as the loading itself.

61. I remember coaling ship in Darwin one day, the coal ship came alongside and the tide was very strong and one of our young Able Seamen slipped and fell between the two ships, and we never saw him again. The official records show that Platypus only had one casualty, accidentally killed and it was that lad. Incidentally, coaling ship in a target area keeps the butterflies in the stomach on the move.

62. With the build up of Yank forces saw the arrival of a Catalina Flying base and in our period in Cairns, large numbers of Catalinas would take off early each morning and return in the afternoon, we always counted them taking off and we all felt it when so many of them did not make it back. We got to know many of the crews and they were a fantastic mob, and I was pleased to see the monument in recognition of their war effort.

63. In their own way the Platypus and her chicks also did their share in the war effort, and I would like to see something done to remember them, and I would hate to think that after all the good that the Navy done in those days was forgotten in the future.

64. During our stay in Cairns was our first experience with the Wrans, and women in the Navy was unheard of, and it did not take them long to fit into the so called mans world, and they became very popular with everybody. I remember one incident in Cairns that was very funny ( I thought), one young Wran was a staff car driver, and on this particular night, some Officers were driven to a private party, and they had arranged to be picked up later in the night, and when she went to pick them up they were all in the grip of the grog and apparently stacking on a nice turn. She had one look at them and turned around and returned to base without them, and when the Officer of the watch asked her where her passengers were, she told him that she did not join the Navy to drive drunken Officers about.

65. Page 19 - There was hell to play and next day she was up before the Captain in real trouble, so she thought, but he agreed with the action she took and dismissed the charge. I’m glad I was not one of the Officers when they were told to report to the Captain’s Cabin.

66. As you tell one story, so you think of another, this incident happened one day when we had just finishing coaling ship and the coal ship had put her anchor down and used the tide to swing in alongside Platypus. There was a controlled mine boom protecting the Cairns channel from enemy submarines, and when the coal ship pulled her anchor up it was hooked in a wire and after investigating it, a mine was found to be hooked onto the propellor of Platypus. Preparations were made to pull the mine clear, so when the time came to pull it clear, Platypus abandoned ship for the second time, and don’t ask my why, but all the Officers stood like Nelson did on the Quarterdeck, and the whole ships company stood where the Pier Hotel is today, well in ear shot of the ship. The order was given for the launch to drag the mine clear, when all of a sudden the loud voice of the ships clown sung out “Blow you bastard”. The mine was safely moved, we all returned aboard, but as usual nobody knew who yelled out.

67. While we were in Cairns the ships social committee decided to have a dance, the Aquatic hail was booked and a few of the girls from the CUSA club helped us with the preparations, and everything went well on the organising side, so we finished up calling it the Naval Ball, and in one of the photos can be seen the decorations of the band stand. It was the 20th June 1943, and I was secretary of the organising committee, and during the day I received word that my Father had passed away in Adelaide, there was no hope of my getting home, and that was the end of the ball for me. However, the whole committee refused to go unless I went along. There was no really bright spots during the war, but on that night the war was left outside the door.

68. I mentioned earlier about Naval clowns, well even the Officers had theirs, we were preparing to leave Cairns, so the Naval shore base was commissioned H.M.A.S. Kuranda, and it was on the sight where the Harbour Board building is today, and the First Lieutenant of the Base was not very popular with the sentries, he was only doing his job the way it should be done, and he regularly got out of bed during the early hours of the morning and prowled around the base checking on the sentries, but word would fly around and they would all be ready for him.

69. Page 20 - One morning an obituary appeared in the Cairns Post, but as usual the culprit was never discovered, and the only information the Cairns Post could give was who we all suspected a Naval Lieutenant, a grandson of a most famous Australian.

70. Like all good things, the end was in sight for our stay in Cairns, the Naval Base was up and running and we were preparing for sea, and officially we did not know where we would be heading, but we all knew the buzz was right on target, Melbourne here we come for a six month refit to be converted from coal to fuel.

71. None of us liked leaving Cairns, we had made so many friends and our stay was very enjoyable, and little did I know that after I left the Navy in 1950 that I was going to come back and settle in Cairns. When the time came in May 1944 to sail there was a big crowd to see us off, and I do hope that there is a place in the history of Cairns for “Platypus and her deadly chicks”.

72. After leaving Cairns we headed south inside the reef and made out way to Sydney, I could not recall very much about that trip, but I do remember calling in somewhere and coaling ship. It was great steaming in through Sydney Heads again and seeing the Bridge in the distance, and there is no feeling like coming back to your home port. Except

73. Page 21 - for a harbour full of ships and uniforms of all nationalities roaming the streets, you would never know that there was a war on and the papers were full of the current strikes in progress, and the Railway and Waterside workers were top of the list. We did not stop long in Sydney and after unloading all our stores and equipment we used for servicing Corvettes and loading up with stores, that were required in Melbourne, we prepared to go to sea again and one of the funniest incidents was about to happen, and among other things Platypus was one of the first ships to have seagoing Wrans in her crew.

74. At the time of our leaving, there were about twenty Wrans on draft from Sydney to Melbourne, but they were stranded because of a train strike, so Platypus was ordered to take them with her, so we steamed our way out through Sydney Heads with the Wrans lined up with the crew for leaving harbour. After clearing the heads it was decided that the Captain would use his sea cabin on the bridge, and his quarters were used by the Wrans until the Mother Nature took over and the Tasman turned on one of the best gales I have ever seen in that area. Platypus could just make steering way and was virtually hoved to all night. There were very few on the ship who were not sea sick, and about midnight and a call came over the blower for all ships company not sea sick muster in the Captains flat (outside his quarters). There were only about twelve of us still on our feet. The Chief Buffer was waiting for us and he opened the door to the Captains Quarters and you should have seen the mess, Wrans laying everywhere and only about four of them were not sick. Every time the ship dived into a sea, her stern would lift out of the water and the Wrans were right on top of the propellor and the vibration really made them sorry they ever joined the Navy. It was decided to shift them to the upper deck so the work benches in the shipwrights workshop were prepared with plenty of blankets and we made them all as comfortable as possible, so I became a nurse for the night, standing by with a bucket as it was required.

75. The next afternoon as we rounded Gabo Island the weather had changed rapidly and it was a beautiful calm sunny day, and the Forcastle of Platypus looked like Bondi Beach with sailors and wrans sunbaking, and all the girls had lost their green looks and decided the Navy was not so bad after all. I felt sorry for the sailors who had to clean up the mess and the stink in the Captains quarters. I met one of the girls in Sydney after the war, and she told me it was an experience she will never forget. Our deadly looking chicks were certainly looked after that night.

76. We discharged the stores in Williamstown along with the Wrans, then proceeded up the Bay to Princess Pier Port Melbourne where we spent five glorious months while the ship was converted from coal to oil, and equipped with several Oerlikon and Bofor guns. We were free to go ashore every night and I was able to get home to Adelaide several times.

77. After leaving Melbourne towards the end of November 1944, we proceeded north again calling in and reloading with stores etc., in Sydney. The ship seemed to have a new lease on life, her speed did not increase

78. Page 22 - very much, but the thought of no more coal ship, made our day, and we were well equipped to handle attacking aircraft, but little did we know at the time, that while we went right back up into the fray, we never fired another angry shot, because from now on we had plenty of air cover.

79. Our next port of call was Townsville and after refuelling and topping up with stores, we were on our way again, and we made our way to Madang in New Guinea and began servicing the Corvettes again. Mopping up the Japanese was still going on around the area and there was plenty of troop activity ashore.

80. One of my jobs on the ship was organising R.C. Church parties to get to Mass on a Sunday, and while in Madang, we attended a Mass said by an A.I.F. Chaplain and the Church was packed with fully armed soldiers and a few unarmed sailors, however, during Mass there was a sudden outbreak of rifle and machine gun fire and I remember one of the sailors asked me what was going on, because the soldiers did not seem to take any notice, so I replied, they were probably practising on a gunnery range, and I will never forget the face of a very large Army Sergeant, he was fully armed and had a couple of hand grenades hanging about his neck, and he said very loudly “practice range be buggered that’s our mob cleaning out a pocket of Japs”. Usually after a Mass ashore I have a big job of rounding the Church party up and getting them back to the ship, particularly if we were in a port and grog was available, however, oh this day when I got down to the ships boat to take us out to the ship, they were all there ahead of me.

81. From Madang, we headed for Biak and after a couple of days there, we proceeded to Moratai and carried on looking after our chicks. Moratai was a very big Allied base which was established after the Japs were cleared out of the place, and mopping up was still going on when we arrived. Our job was a repetition of Darwin, we anchored in the middle of the harbour and from then on there was always Corvettes alongside and we were kept up to date on what was going on.

82. Being right on the equator the heat was almost unbearable and the ship was never designed for tropics, and to make matters worse, at night all scuttles (portholes) had to be kept closed because Japs dressed as natives in native canoes would drift around the harbour and toss hand grenades through open scuttles. If you were unlucky enough to be ashore after dark, it was a hair raising experience returning to your ship, because the harbour was packed with ships of all nationalities. The Yanks in particular were trigger happy and if a motorboat was slow in replying to “who goes there” or give the wrong reply they just opened up on you.

83. I can’t remember too much about those days, we were flat out all the time unloading our stores from supply ships and storing our Corvettes and getting them back to sea again. I do remember one day when preparations were under way for the landing on Borneo, and the place was packed with ships and landing craft, it was a clear sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, and away went the air raid alarms. Next thing, there were ships going in all directions and all blazing away with every gun

84. Page 23 - they had and it was like a huge umbrella in the sky, and when the all clear sounded it was like an overcast day. There was no wind and it took a long time to clear.

85. About that time an American destroyer stopped and boarded a Japanese hospital ship, then escorted it into Moratai, and instead of casualties it was fully loaded with well equipped Jap troops, and as each one disembarked they were made strip while all their clothes were inspected for arms etc., and one lonely woman was found among them. I could never forget the best day of all, it was August 15th 1945, we were very busy storing ships and that night we had movies on the upper deck, and the movie showing was “The Great Waltz”. and we were watching right underneath the ships air raid siren, and halfway through, little did we realise, for the last time away goes the siren, and it just kept going and during the mad rush to get to action stations every ack ack gun in the harbour with star shells and tracers was the most spectacular sight I will never see again.

86. I never reached my action station before the loud speakers started screaming out “It’s all over Japs surrender” and there was not a dry eye in the ship. The wardroom issued beer all around the ship, and we proceeded to unofficially “Splice the main brace”, nobody got any sleep that night and everybody were talking about getting home. I could not join in that conversation, because I was a member of the permanent Navy and I knew my contract did not finish until 1950 (twelve years).

87. Next day it was business as usual the Corvettes were going to be flat out taking the surrender of Japanese garrisons scattered around in all the islands in that area, mine fields would have to be swept up, and Allied prisoners of war repatriated and generally we were in for a bush period.

88. A couple of days later the ships paymaster (my boss) came and saw me and suggested that I should have a break for a couple of weeks and suggested that I go for a trip in the Junee (Corvette) and get away from it all, so I transferred to Junee, and we sailed for the Taulaud Islands at the southern tip of the Philippines, to a place called Beo to take surrender of the Japanese garrison. On board we had a native boy from Beo, who was able to identify Japanese war criminals who had carried out atrosities against natives and allied servicemen. I went ashore with the landing party and my only job was guard duties with a tommy gun, but we met with no resistance and they were just as happy as we were that the war was over.

89. We transferred all the troops to a major prisoner of war camp at Manado in the Celebes. I am not quite sure, but I think we made two trips. The Japanese were mystified at how we knew the right people to grab as they came aboard. We had prepared a special place on the ship for them. The Japs were not able to see the native boy who they all knew, arid he was able to identify them all with all the details required. I believe that many of them, including their Colonel Commander were later found guilty and executed.

90. Page 24 - It was funny on that island, when we got there all the Natives were bowing to the Japanese, and when we left, the Natives had them bowing at them. It was really humorous to watch the natives enjoying it.

91. I felt quite refreshed when I got back to Platypus, and we were kept very busy right up till we left for home in November. Whenever I could get a day off, I would round up three or four mates and go for a sail in one of the ships whalers, sometimes fishing with hand grenades on the reef (when we were out of sight of the ship), Other times we would land on an island and swim off the beach. One Day, on what appeared to be an uninhabited island called Radar, a native boy came out of the jungle and led us to a hut in a clearing, and inside we found an elderly native lady laying on some blankets and one of her legs was in a mess with ulcers and covered in gangrene, so we signalled the ship and a Doctor, with a medical team, came over and later took her to Moratai. I often wonder how she got on.

92. Eventually word came through in November that we were going home and the Wang Pu, a merchant ship taken over by the Navy, was on her way to relieve us. Preparations for sea were made and when Wang Pu took over, the big day came, and when we got underway instead of heading for sea, the skipper took her up the harbour, turned round and headed for sea, and when passed Wang Pu instead of whistles and standing to attention, the loud speakers, specially rigged up and pointing at Wang Pu, Let go loud and clear “Bing Crosby singing, I’ll be home for Christmas”. I won’t repeat the signal that went to Wang Pu’s mast head.

93. After leaving Moratai, we headed for home and I can’t recall very much about that trip, except to say that it was very pleasant without the tension and a light at the end of the tunnel.

94. As we fell in for entering Sydney Harbour, I could not help but think about all those other lads I joined up with, they all finished up on the glamour ships and I copped the old Platypus. Most of them got killed in the Canberra, Sydney and the Perth, and there were very few of us left, and our Angel Guardian parked up on the mast head must have felt just as proud as we were of the Old Girl, and I am sure she was doing 40 knots or more on that final run up the harbour, and the paying off pennant and a huge White Ensign flapping in the breeze.

95. After the Platypus was paid off, I was drafted back to Flinders Naval Depot where my confirmation as a Petty Officer came through, and before I left the Navy on 13th June, 1950, I went to England and served some months on a British Aircraft Carrier, H.M.S. Glory, and later in our Aircraft Carrier H.M.A.S. Sydney, but that’s perhaps another story, and most of my memories are with the H.M.A.S. Platypus and her deadly chicks.

PETTY OFFICER RL. GARNAUT.
OFFICIAL NUMBER 22217.
ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY.
14-6-38 – 13-6-50.
DARWIN 1941- 1942.
CAIRNS 1942- 1944.
MORATAI 1944 – 1945.

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Laurie & Agnes Garnaut
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