1 AUSTRALIAN SPECIAL INTELLIGENCE PERSONNEL GROUP
& 1 - 8 SPECIAL INTELLIGENCE PERSONNEL SECTIONS
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII

With the establishment of Central Bureau on the 6 April 1942, Australian Army Intelligence staff were attached to individual Australian Army Signals Units as well to the various sections within Central Bureau at their headquarters at "Cranleigh" in Domain Road, South Yarra in Melbourne.

In early 1943 separate Special Intelligence Personnel Sections SIPS were formed by the Australian Army to regularise administration. Two of the SIPS were self contained intelligence cells, complete with traffic analysts, cryptographic personnel, linguists and drivers who would embed with the forward deployed Special Wireless Sections to provide immediate analysis and feedback to local Army commanders. They would also pass back raw intercepts of enemy transmissions to Central Bureau for analysis.

Most of the intelligence staff were attached to Central Bureau and only 3 and 4 Special Intelligence Personnel Sections were deployed to forward areas with Special Wireless Sections. Central Bureau relocated from Melbourne to Brisbane in September 1942, establishing its headquarters in "Nyrambla", a huge house at 21 Henry Street, in the suburb of Ascot. When Central Bureau outgrew "Nyrambla" most of its operations moved around the corner to numerous huts erected in Camp Ascot Park adjacent to Ascot Racecourse which had been turned into Camp Ascot. 

In August 1944, the separate SIPS were absorbed into a new unit called 1 Australian Special Intelligence Personnel Group 1 ASIPG allowing a more flexible organisation. The detachments in the Northern Territory and New Guinea remained and later detachments joined Advanced Echelon Central Bureau at Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea and the Forward Echelon Central Bureau in the Philippines.

1 & 2 Special Intelligence Personnel Section - authorised as holding units for intelligence personnel attached to Central Bureau in April 1942 in Melbourne with the two SIPS units being officially formed in Brisbane in January 1943 where they stayed with Central Bureau until they were absorbed into 1 ASIPG in August 1944.

3 Special Intelligence Personnel Section - authorised in August 1942 and while attached to 51 Special Wireless Section in Darwin were designated as 3 SIPS in early 1943. Around that time they relocated adjacent to Headquarters NT Force, about 57 miles south of Darwin where they were absorbed into 1 ASIPG as a forward detachment of 1 ASIPG in August 1944. The detachment relocated to Larrakeyah Barracks in December 1944 and stayed there until the end of the war.

4 Special Intelligence Personnel Section - authorised in August 1942 and whilst attached to 55 Special Wireless Section at Port Moresby in New Guinea were designated as 4 SIPS by early 1943. They had a detachment at Nadzab by December 1943 and moved forward to Finschhafen in March 1944 where they were attached to 53 Special Wireless Section. They were absorbed into 1 ASIPG in August 1944. As a detachment of 1 ASIPG they moved with 53 Special Wireless Section to Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea in September 1944 and then to Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies in August 1945.

5 & 6 2 Special Intelligence Personnel Section - raised as holding units for intelligence personnel attached to Central Bureau in Brisbane in February 1943. They remained in Brisbane and were absorbed into 1 ASIPG in August 1944.

7 & 8 Special Intelligence Personnel Section - raised as holding units for intelligence personnel attached to Central Bureau in Brisbane in July 1943. They remained in Brisbane and were absorbed into 1 ASIPG in August 1944.

Fred J. Smith served with the detachment of the 1st Australian Special Intelligence Personnel Group attached to 51 Special Wireless Section at Coomalie Creek near Darwin.

Anthony Alfred Ashbolt (VX111734) was detached from 1 Wireless Unit RAAF and attached to 1 ASIPG (New Guinea Detachment) on 30 August 1944. He emplaned Biak, deplaned Hollandia on 9 September 1944. Emplaned Hollandia on 10 September 1944, deplaned Brisbane on 11 September 1944 and marched into Central Bureau Intelligence Corps on cessation of his detachment to 1 Wireless Unit on 11 September 1944.

Charles THomas Baker (N275029) joined Central Bureau Intelligence Corps on 19 May 1943. He was granted Leave Without Pay LWOP 10 - 14 August 1943. He transferred to 6 SIPS on  13 September 1943 attached to Central Bureau in Brisbane. He wvacuated to 4 Australian Camp Hospital at Bowen Hills with Angular Conjunctivitis 4 - 7 February 1944. He was Evacuated to 4 Australian Camp Hospital at Bowen Hills (Pain in back, NYD) on 27 July 1944. Detained in 4 Aust Camp Hospital at Bowen Hills, to X List 3 - 7 August 1944. He rejoined his unit on 8 August 1944 and his unit was absorbed into 1 ASIPG on 30 August 1944.

I was contacted by Darrel Norman Keep (TX15386) on 14 July 2007 who shared the following information with me:-

I was a member of 1st Australian Special Intelligence Personnel Group stationed at Coomalie Creek 52 miles South of Darwin until relieved by a Canadian unit shortly before the end of the war. I would like to contact other members of that unit if any still live. Can you help or point me in the right direction Our headquarters was Central Bureau Henry St Brisbane.

I was originally a school teacher in Tasmania. I did National Service training then on the outbreak of war with Japan I enlisted...first in Unit Intelligence then in Field Security. In 1942 I was transferred to Field Security Service FSS Brisbane where I enlisted in AIF. Up to then I had been in the CMF. I was interviewed and then posted to Central Bureau where I was trained in decoding Japanese cypher....and then posted to the established unit at Coomalie Creek, NT

At Coomalie the intelligence unit was housed (If you could call it that) and worked with a RAAF Wireless Unit....3WU I think it was called. My memory is fairly good but I am 86 and I was 21 when I enlisted. So what I give from here could be patchy.

1ASIPG Coomalie consisted of one officer Lieutenant, one staff Sergeant, the rest of us. I had rank of Corporal or Lance Corporal. About 35 - 37 men all trained at Central Bureau.

Most were University Graduates a couple of undergraduates like myself.

The Wireless Unit had a very wide coverage of Japanese army transmissions from Manchuria to the Pacific Islands. And all transmissions were taken down by hand by the sigs men either in numbers code or Kana. The Intelligence group had Japanese code books, and schedules of station wavelengths. Localities, and details on how to follow scheduled changes of call sign, cypher change etc.

As messages came in they were passed to nearby Intelligence personnel who established the origin of the message....e.g. It could have originated from Tokyo but intercepted in the relay from Manila to Rabaul........The priority of each message and the final destination were recorded on it and as far as we were able the subject of the message.

Messages were sorted by urgency, subject and destination.... The most Urgent were sent in an early form of Fax to Central Bureau immediately. The rest, many hundreds daily, were taken to Darwin airstrip and put on a plane leaving at 2am and met at Brisbane.

Four groups of men worked 3 shifts covering 24 hours of the day 7 days a week Bloody uncomfortable during the wet, sweat and insects in the eyes 100 percent humidity and the messages pouring in and of course in the early days risk of being strafed if the Japanese recognised the significance of the huge aerials.

Intelligence personnel had to memorise hundreds of pieces of cypher as there was no time to be looking up cypher sheets all the time. For some reason, decyphering was referred to as "de-cheesing".

Among my comrades at Coomalie Creek were:-

Kenneth J. Marlowe - High School teacher Brisbane
Ian Harding - son of then Lord Mayor of Sydney,,, a lawyer who after the war became one of Australia's leading authorities on International Law.
Eric Dunlop - Uni lecturer
Brian Southwell - later chief librarian at Sydney University
Douglas Page - son of Sir Earl Page
Charles Archer.
Robert Goode.
And many others whose names now elude me.

As I said earlier we were relieved by a Canadian Unit which shifted to Casuarina Beach. We were posted to Manila but didn't get established there as the war ended.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Graham McKenzie-Smith AM, and Captain Dennis Magennis for their assistance with this web page.

REFERENCES

"The Unit Guide - The Australian Army 1939 - 1945" by Graham McKenzie-Smith AM

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 22 October 2021

This page last updated 22 October 2021