Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit

The Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit was under the command of Donald F Thompson, he was an anthropologist– that is someone who studies people, society and culture. In 1928, he was given a grant of £600 to go to Cape York- that is right at the tippy top of Queensland, or the northern most point of Australia. He was also commissioned to go and make friends with the tribes of Arnhem Land, that’s at the top of Northern Territory. Because North Queensland and Northern Territory were not as populated by Europeans, many Indigenous tribes still existed and Thompson spent 2 and a half years learning their language, adopting their lifestyle and establishing relationships with many of the leaders.

Cut to 1941, Thompson was a Flight Lieutenant in the Air Force and he gave a lecture at the Victoria barracks in Melbourne about the Arnhem Land tribes. In the audience were the Army Chief of Staff and the Director of Military Operations. They were struck with the idea of harnessing the skills of the Arnhem Land tribes to form a covert reconnaissance unit that could protect and patrol the northern coast and would be headed up by Thompson, who already had well established relationships the many of the tribes and could speak the language. And so, he moved from the Airforce to the Army to head up the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit.

In the Army’s eyes, one of the enormous benefits of using Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders for this job, was the only wage they would have to pay was Thompson’s and a couple of other white officers. In the words of the Director of Military operations, “The costs of services provided by the natives would be repaid in trade; tobacco… fish hooks, wire for fish spears, tomahawks and pipes…It will be seen that the costs would be very moderate for a plan which [would] ensure a very comfortable degree of safety to Darwin.”

In his report on the Northern Territory Coastal Patrol, Thompson corroborates this by writing, “the natives who had been recruited for the special force were repatriated and rewarded with presents of knives, tomahawks and tobacco.” They were also issued with, 2 pieces of calico and a strong blanket, a brass disc carved with a number to wear around their neck and “Each man received a weekly issue of at least three sticks of tobacco at all times”.  He also writes about their work ethic, “every man in this unit carried out willingly and cheerfully what should have been the work of two men”. He further sings their praise by saying, “Freely, and without complaint, they submitted to the rigorous discipline, and without pay, without any guarantee of reward, with only the most primitive equipment, and without arms or weapons, they gave their best in loyalty, unrelenting hard work and sweat, in the stronghold of the people from whom they had known neither justice nor understanding.”

He goes on to describe the length of their deployment, “the wireless operator worked for 10 months…7 days a week” and another, “served continuously for 18 months without a break.” All work, no pay.

It was not until 1992, 50 years after the recon unit operated that the Australian government finally awarded medals and backpay to any surviving veterans of the unit and their families.

In 1942, the unit had begun its intensive training, they did military drills, surprise attacks, night approaches, infiltration, regrouping, marching and patrols. One exercise involved a long night swim through a mosquito infested, mangrove filled river. Despite these conditions, they approached the rendezvous successfully and silently.

Thompson describes the calibre of men that he recruited for the unit, “The men selected were especially fine specimens, all people who had grown up in an area where tribal feuds were still carried on, and where guerrilla fighting still plays an important part in their lives, most of these men were renowned warriors with almost legendary reputations for their prowess as spear fighters.”

To ensure that the unit was truly covert and not recognisable as being affiliated with the Army, Thompson insisted that they did not use guns, but only traditional weapons.

 However, he did make an exception and trained them in the use of Molotov Cocktails- which are a kind of petrol bomb in a glass bottle, with a rag out the top that you light before you throw. Thompson wrote that they “proved adept in handling Molotov Cocktails and looked forward eagerly to an opportunity of demonstrating their new skill.”

They also went bare foot and did not wear uniforms. Thompson even trained himself to go bare foot, so his army boot prints could net be tracked. Additionally, the unit did not need a supply line as they were adept at living off the land, and this was yet another economic bonus for the army, not having to continually supply these soldiers with food.

By 1943, the army had time to create and train a company of white soldiers who were called the Northern Australia Observation Unit. Their job was to monitor the entire north coast for enemy activity. They were more of a traditional army with horses, uniforms and guns and so the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit were disbanded. The new unit received both pay and rations and were ordered that they could use Aboriginal trackers informally- by informally, that meant that they would not pay them or give them rations.

Donald Thompson was later awarded an OBE- which is basically a medal from the Queen for outstanding civil service.

But, unfortunately, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the unit received very little recognition for their work, despite Thompson’s glowing commendations in his report. In 1949, when Thompson was attending an ANZAC Day march in Darwin, the Department of Native Affairs did not allow his right-hand man Raiwalla to attend the ceremony.

As a side note, this was not the only time that the Australian Army used Aboriginal knowledge for the defence of the North. In 1981, they began a unit called Norforce, whose main job was to find areas susceptible to invasion. In fact, Norforce is still in operation today. It is an Army reserve unit, they generally do surveillance and try and detect foreign threats and drug smugglers, however in 2020 they were deployed for  several other missions including Operation Bushfire, which was helping to clean up Kangaroo Island in South Australia after the devastating bushfires and then Operation Covid 19 Assist- where they worked on checkpoints of the borders of the Northern  Territory, ensuring that vulnerable remote Indigenous communities were protected from the threat of Covid-19.

As of recording this episode in January 2021, there have only been 98 cases recorded and no deaths. That is a wonderful effort at keeping the community safe.