Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Charles Hughes Cousens (1903–1964)

By John Baker

Early Life and Career
Charles Cousens was born on 26 August 1903 in Poona, India. He was educated in England at Wellington College and later trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Commissioned into the Sherwood Foresters regiment in 1924, he served on the North-West Frontier of India before resigning his commission in 1927 and migrating to Australia.

Once in Sydney, Cousens took on a range of jobs including working as a wharfie and amateur boxer. He got his start in media after reading advertisements on air for 2GB radio, where his clear voice and natural presence made a strong impression. He soon became a full-time radio announcer, eventually hosting popular programs and taking part in special events like the 1933 Armistice Day commemorations as one of 2GB’s “soldier broadcasters”.

Military Service and Capture in WWII
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Cousens joined the Second Australian Imperial Force in 1940, and was posted to Malaya with the 2/19th Battalion. He was promoted to temporary major just before the Fall of Singapore in 1942, where he was captured by the Japanese and sent to Changi Prison.

While in captivity, his past as a radio announcer was revealed by a fellow prisoner. This led the Japanese to move him to Tokyo, where he was forced to participate in English-language broadcasts for Radio Tokyo, a propaganda station targeting Allied forces.

"The Zero Hour" and the Treason Controversy
Cousens worked on a propaganda program called The Zero Hour, writing scripts and making broadcasts. He recruited Iva Toguri, an American of Japanese descent later labelled “Tokyo Rose”, and together they created segments often laced with irony and double meanings.

While the Japanese believed the messages supported their cause, Allied listeners could detect the subtle ways Cousens was undermining the broadcasts.

Back in Australia, however, Cousens was branded by some as a traitor. Others, including former colleagues and listeners, recognised his delivery was lifeless and likely coerced. After the war, General Douglas MacArthur ordered his arrest and return to Australia to face charges of high treason—the first such case under Australian jurisdiction, based on the ancient Treason Act of 1351.

Legal Proceedings and Army Action
Cousens arrived back in Australia in late 1945, weak and underweight from years of starvation in captivity. His wife was initially refused permission to see him. He was hospitalised and later placed under open arrest while legal proceedings began.

In August 1946, a magistrate’s inquiry committed Cousens to stand trial. However, by November, the NSW Attorney-General Clarrie Martin dropped the charges. Cousens always maintained that he’d only taken part in the broadcasts under threat of torture and death, and that he had done what he could to render the messages ineffective.

Despite the court dropping the case, the Australian Army stripped Cousens of his commission in January 1947, denying him the right to use his rank or access veteran entitlements. Nevertheless, his former comrades from the 2/19th Battalion chose him to lead them in the Anzac Day march that year—a sign of their respect and belief in his integrity.

Cousens later gave evidence in defence of Iva Toguri during her 1949 treason trial in the United States, where she was convicted on one count and sentenced to ten years’ gaol.

Return to Broadcasting
Cousens resumed his broadcasting career in 1947 at 2GB, presenting a range of programs including Quality Corner, Reflections in a Wine Glass, and Melody on Wheels. In 1957, he moved into television, becoming a newsreader for ATN-7. He also hosted music programs like The Commonwealth Bank Hour of Music, which was broadcast nationally.

Despite the controversy, he maintained a respected media profile, known for his smooth voice and measured presentation style.

Personal Life and Death
Cousens married Dorothy May Allen in 1929 and had a daughter, later remarrying Winifred Grace James in 1938, with whom he had a son. His stepdaughter, Judy-Ann Everingham, went on to become a well-known presenter on ABC TV.

Charles Cousens died of a heart attack on 9 May 1964. He was cremated following a memorial service in Chatswood, Sydney.

Charged under a 600-year-old English statute

When Major Charles Cousens returned home in 1945 the Army and Commonwealth Security Service wanted to make an example of collaborators. Because no Australian law covered treason committed overseas, prosecutors fell back on the medieval Treason Act 1351 (25 Edward III). A magistrate’s inquiry opened in Sydney on 20 August 1946, marking the first time an Australian had faced that statute.

Yet the case was shaky from the start. The Crown relied on two Japanese witnesses, a tactic that proved deeply unpopular in an Australia still reeling from news of POW atrocities. Public sympathy swung behind Cousens; newspapers ran editorials questioning the wisdom of the trial, and veterans pointed out that many POWs had done what they had to in order to survive.

Charges dropped – but punishment lingered

After seven weeks of hearings the New South Wales Attorney-General quietly withdrew all charges on 6 November 1946. The Army, however, was less forgiving. On 22 January 1947 it revoked Cousens’ commission, a decision critics viewed as spiteful given the collapsed prosecution.

Soldiers disagreed. When the 2/19th Battalion marched on Anzac Day 1947 they asked Cousens to lead them – an emphatic vote of confidence even though he was forbidden to wear his former rank insignia.

Return to the microphone and a contested legacy.

Stripped of rank but not of talent, Cousens resumed his media career, presenting news on Sydney’s nascent television scene and hosting classical-music programs. Still, the “Tokyo Rose” stigma never entirely faded; every few years a new article or radio documentary re-examines whether he was traitor or reluctant survivor.

Historians such as Robert Loeffel argue that the failed prosecution exposed how ill-prepared Australian law was to deal with overseas collaboration and how wary the public was of punishing POWs coerced by brutal captors. Cousens’ case, Loeffel wrote, embodied “Australian society’s aversion for the trial” and highlighted official vindictiveness in cancelling his commission despite the dropped charges.