| Photographs: | None |
|---|---|
| List: | Register of the National Estate |
| Class: | Historic |
| Legal Status: | Registered (25/08/1981) |
| Place ID: | 101955 |
| Place File No: | 1/13/026/0023 |
| Nominator's Statement of Significance: |
|---|
| The Middle Head Radio Station played a significant role in the defence of Australia during World War II. It is perhaps the sole remaining example of such an installation, certainly in the Sydney Metropolitan Area. It was the first Radio Station to provide a frequency standard for measurement purposes and thus its importance to the early development of the science of communication seems clearly established. |
| Official Values: Not Available |
| Description: |
|
HISTORY The Middle Head Peninsula has had a long association with the Army and in particular the artillery. At a very early stage, major gun emplacements were established, as a part of the defences of Sydney, at various strategic points to the north, south and east of the headlands and along the shoreline, towards Chowder Bay, which prior to World War II was termed the Sydney Fortress. In the years immediately prior to the Second World War, the area to the west of the old fortifications, which consists of a stone wall and moat, was used extensively for Militia activities, the Ready Reserve, as they would now be called. In 1939 the Militia provided initial training for newly recruited servicemen who were assigned to the Army Signal Corps and it appears that training continued in this area during the war. It was here that in 1939 as new recruits, Mr R Robert Carr and Mr D (Donald) Eatch were trained by the Militia based at Middle Head, and prior to their departure for active service elsewhere. During the War years, two major Army Signals complexes were established, one close to the old Department of Communications Radio Station to the eastern end of the peninsula and the other located further west, at Lower Georges Heights. The eastern complex, which was the home of 12 LFC Signals, had access to six guyed radio masts each ninety feet in height. These had originally been erected under the supervision of a Sergeant Riley. They were set up with one pair close to the eastern perimeter cliffs, one pair to the north, close to Cobblers Beach and another pair overlooking Obelisk Beach. With these masts it was possible to operate with a receiving system which was known as dual diversity. A small side effect of the existence of the Army Signals aerial masts was that, under the influence of the wind, they produced a noise which could be heard both at day and night in the area. The complex at Lower Georges Heights, which was later to become the home of Eastern Command Signals, also had substantial radio masts erected in the immediate area. The easternmost Army Signals complex formed a part of the Sydney Fortress together with North and South Heads and was controlled from Victoria Barracks. These four units formed the elements of a network, which was linked together by telephone line. In the case of Middle Head, this line passed under the Harbour as a submarine telephone cable running from Watsons Bay to Cobblers Beach and across to North Head. At that time, the transmitters in use were Type 133 and receivers were Number Fours. The receivers were later replaced with improved apparatus which appears to have been the AR7, a radio made in Australia by the Melbourne based firm of Kingsley. During the latter part of the War, the complex was commanded by Major A (Arthur) Tokorsky-Brown and in 1947 Major C (Charles) Alien took over the post. Promoted to the rank of Major in 1942, Major Alien had moved to Middle Head in 1945. The eastern Signals establishment was to operate at this location until 1947, at which time the buildings were surrendered to the School of Pacific Administration. The Army Signals establishment transferred initially to timber huts immediately to the west and adjoining the complex that they had originally occupied. However, in the early 1950s the Signals operatives were entirely withdrawn from this part of Middle Head. The land upon which is now located the remains of the Department of Communications Surveillance and Monitoring Station originally formed part of the old Middle Head component of the Sydney fortress. It is to be found directly to the east of the stone outer wall and moat. The buildings used to accommodate the transmitting and receiving apparatus had been the Guardhouse of the Fort and two cells, form this earlier period, are to be found in it still. In 1934, on the basis of a permissive occupancy, the site was handed over to the Post Master General's Department and was not finally vacated until 1985, by which time the Army had handed over the bulk of the site to the State of New South Wales. From 1934 on, a variety of antennae were erected. One of the tallest masts was said to have been from the sailing vessel, Helen B Sterling that foundered in 1922. This same mast was reputed to have been used initially by a commercial radio station, One of the other timber antenna poles that remain on the site also appears to have once been the mast of a sailing vessel. By the time of the outbreak of War in 1939, the Postmaster General's Department had created a Wireless Branch under the superintendence of Mr W (Bill) Crawford with Mr J (John) Metherall, formerly of the British Navy, as Assistant Superintendent. Initially this had been formed to control and monitor the operations of the many broadcast stations that had appeared during the previous fifteen years or so and to ensure that the provisions of the Geneva Convention with regard to frequency of signals was complied with. In this context it appears that the advice of the eminent engineer, Sir George Julius (inventor of the Automatic Totaliser), was sought. Despite his advice that the site was unsuitable for establishing a frequency standard, unless a huge concrete base was provided for the equipment, the Post Office proceeded to develop it for this purpose. It appears that the station provided what seems to have been the first of a series of frequency stable transmissions for comparison purposes in Australia. The station call sign at this stage was VNS and the transmitter used was on old Lister. The frequency signal was actually produced at the Post Office research laboratories in Victoria and conveyed to VNS by means of telephone land fine. At a later stage a number of other similar stations were created in other States. At the present time, the only remaining radio station which provides such a service in Australia is located at Llandillo near Penrith in New South Wales: further this radio station, call sign VNG, is not in its original location. Apart from monitoring the activities of radio amateurs and at this period the station was assigned the amateur call sign, VIK 2 AA. During this same period the Wireless Branch was given the task of supervising the training of the radio operators recruited to the newly formed Department of Civil Aviation and exams were conducted both at Middle Head and in the City at the Haymarket. By 1940 the Middle Head Station had five personnel and it was at this stage that Mr G (George) Murden was recruited as a Telegraphist. During this period, although there was no official contact with the Military in the immediate area, new recruits to the Royal Australian Signals, would come up to the Shack, as the PMG personnel referred to the Station, to look at the installation. It was at this time that a new recruit, Mr D (Donald) Eatch, was able to inspect the Station. With the commencement of the World War II, the duties of the Station expanded to the monitoring of all transmissions and during this period the volume of illicit traffic increased markedly. The favoured location for such traffic was in the 14 megaHertz or twenty metre amateur band. It appears that clandestine transmitters sprang up all over the place and in particular the activities of a station signing itself PAK were observed and reported to Melbourne, where direction finding equipment was located. During the time that this station was in operation, its procedure was to send out code in the form of five figure groups and from time to time change frequency unexpectedly. After some while this traffic ceased, Mr Murden recalls, and its was assumed that it was dealt with. The other major task, during this early part of the War, was to intercept German press material sent out by the station which signed itself as DAN. The material was sent on to the Department of Information as a substitute for information which was no longer available from the pre-War press services. With the entry of Japan into the War, the station personnel took steps to deal with this new situation. Together with the officer in charge, Mr V (Vivian) Horder, a Post Office trained Telephone mechanic, Mr Murden learnt the Japanese Morse Code. This has approximately twice as many characters as the International Morse Code. These two officers then commenced the interception of traffic from the North and the Pacific Islands. The intercepted material was provided to the newly created Military decoding and decyphering group which was known as the Discrimination Unit and was located in the Victoria Barracks, at Paddington. During this period the receivers in use were made by Hallicrafters, a well known American firm, but were not well suited to interception work, being rather unstable. At a later stage in the War, new receivers made by the American firm RCA and known as the AR 88 were brought into replace the earlier apparatus, with a significant improvement in performance. Other personnel at the station during this period were Mr P (Peter) Sinclair and Mr C (Charfie) Carrol who were both Radio Inspectors and responsible for checking the radio systems of vessels which entered the Harbour. During the period that vessels were in the Harbour their radios were required to be sealed. During this period, the Middle Head Radio Station kept a permanent 24 hour-a-day watch on the official Marine distress frequency of 500 KiloHertz (Kilocycles per second) or 600 metres. It was this factor which allowed the traffic of the Japanese submarines that entered Sydney Harbour to be intercepted. For reasons which are not at all clear, the first submarine which penetrated the Harbour by following a ferry through the boom, gave instructions to the second submarine on the Marine distress frequency. Naturally it was immediately intercepted by Middle Head and an alarm was given. Following this, some time in 1943, it was decided that the Middle Head Station was very vulnerable to attack. When it was also decided that slit trenches were too hard to dig in the rocky peninsula, a decision was made to move the station to the old Post Office building at Pyrnble. For the last couple of years of the War, the Middle Head Station was simply locked up and used to occasionally for demonstrations to visiting dignitaries. At the end of the hostilities in 1946, the Post Master General's Department once more occupied the Middle Head Station and the former activities of frequency measuring and monitoring of radio traffic was resumed. It was at this time that Mr H (Horrie) Young, freshly demobilized from service in the Navy, joined the PMG and commenced work at Middle Head. The operations of the Middle Head Radio Station were to continue, ultimately administered by the Department of Communications, until 1985, at which time the station was abandoned and passed into the care of the State of New South Wales as part of the Sydney Harbour National Park. Unfortunately, given the passage of time since the Second World War, many of the operatives who were directly involved with the Middle Head Radio Station have long since deceased. This circumstance, coupled with the clandestine nature of the work being undertaken at the Middle Head Radio Station, has resulted in great difficulty in determining the full extent of its role in the War. DESCRIPTION The site consists of 8 wireless masts, 2 sheds and the radio house (former the guard house). MOAT AND STONE WALL Stone wall and moat surrounding the radio station site. THE RADIO HOUSE The radio house is a four room sandstone cottage with iron roof and a verandah on two sides. The verandah posts are simple timber posts with a curved decorative valance. The interior was not inspected. SHED A shed stands adjacent (to the north-east) of the radio house. WIRELESS MASTS 6 of the wireless masts (constructed during World War II) are 90ft: timber posts with switch gear. At least a couple of the timber antennae are reused ship's masts. Steel masts - 3 CABLE HUT corrugated iron |
| History: Not Available |
| Condition and Integrity: Not Available |
| Location: |
| Old Fort Rd, Georges Heights. |
| Bibliography: Not Available |
Report Produced: Wed Feb 10 03:11:33 2010