THE OTHER SIDE

Mrs PENFOLD (Flinders) (15:51): The commemoration of ANZAC Day will have special significance this year for all those people connected with the HMAS Sydney tragedy since its recent discovery off the coast of Western Australia. It will evoke happier memories for those involved with the launch of a self-published book entitled The Other Side by Alex Wilson, which I now draw to the attention of the house. Alex recorded his experiences as a general hand in the RAAF in the Second World War in the north and west of Australia, New Guinea, the Philippines and, finally, on the island of Mindoro. Alex was mainly engaged in surveying for airfields and access roads. His last posting was with the Third Aircraft Construction Squadron. His laconic wit is typically Australian, as is his account of leaving Wyndham for Drysdale. In his book, Alex said:

We took off from Wyndham about 2pm...As we were all in the one compartment, busy talking and looking out the window, I could see all that was going on. I don't know if these planes had automatic pilot or not because our pilot started reading a book...About two hours later, he finally finished reading the book, looked at his watch and said, 'Hells bells! We should be there by now. All of you see if you can see a small clearing below.'

The clearing was not sighted, but they did get to Drysdale the next day. They had no transport at Drysdale, therefore the recognisance of a suitable spot for an airstrip was all done on foot with the help of local Aboriginals who acted as guides. Alex says that the local people had a very fun-loving nature. When the party came to a river and the guides were asked whether there were any crocodiles, they assured them that the only crocodiles would be 'little fellas' that would not hurt them. So, they stripped off and dived in. Alex said:

Those little buggers waited until we were under the water, then dived in. One came up behind me and grabbed my leg...Next thing they surfaced laughing their bloody heads off.

Wireless was an occasional break in the evenings, and a few times they heard Tokyo Rose. Alex said:

...a renegade American broadcasting from Japan and lo and behold she said that the small garrison at Drysdale River had been wiped out by a Japanese commando unit which had managed to land from a submarine.

The risks that men took came out in his description of their departure from Drysdale in an Avro Anson stripped down for use as a courier plane. Alex said:

...headed for that 300 foot hill in front of us, we must have been overweight as we had used up the entire runway still on the ground. We were going flat out through small bushes on the approach way, collecting leaves as we went. Finally, she lifted off and the pilot had to bank quite steeply to avoid the hill. Well, the tree tops were brushing our belly for what seemed like minutes, long ones at that, and my belly was where my mouth usually was.

Next day, they heard that the Japanese had bombed Drysdale killing several of their Aboriginal friends and a missionary. At a site near Yirrkala, one of the group constructed an oven from a termite mound, allowing them to cook bread and other delicacies that were not in the rations with which they were issued. Departing Sydney on the Van Der Lin (in which the army had refused to sail), Red Cross women gave each of them a little white comfort bag consisting of a woollen balaclava; a pair of long, heavy woollen socks; and a very long woollen scarf. He said:

Our movements must have been a well-kept secret because we were going to the blasted Tropics! We had to sleep shoulder to shoulder, head to toe, 550 men in the bloody hold of this ship.

After active service in New Guinea, Alex's company went with American forces to Morotai, landing under fire from enemy planes, and eventually to Mindoro, having their first taste of Kamikaze pilots on the way and again landing under fire.

Ignorance about Australia was brought out in Alex's scathing comment: 'The Yanks, well the ones I met, thought we were all black and that kangaroos were man-eaters.'

Their task at Mindoro was to build a landing strip in five days to take transport planes, a job that the top brass thought was impossible. If the strip was not completed in the time limit, the men were told to abandon the project and join Filipino guerrillas in the hills, provided they could get past the Japanese. Alex commented, 'We made the deadline despite the bombings and lack of sleep.'

I quote some lines from Alex's poem 'Nowhere to Run and Nowhere to Hide', describing that feat:

Then the bombs started falling and the shrapnel flying

And close by the cry of a young man dying

And I prayed, dear Lord, please save my hide.

I have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

The sky is on fire from our shells screaming back

But their mission is suicide and they fly through the flak.