Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

On 17 February 1942 , Prime Minister John Curtin stated that the fall of Singapore opened the Battle of Australia. Two days later, a Japanese attack on Darwin sank eight ships, damaged 13 others, destroyed 23 aircraft and caused 545 casualties of which 243 died.An attack on Broome 12 days later destroyed 24 aircraft and killed a further 70 people. In response to the looming crisis, the government formed the 2nd/1st North Australia Observer Unit (NAOU) and appointed MAJ Bill Stanner as the first CO of a special reconnaissance unit.

On 28 March 1942, MAJGEN Herring assumed command of the Northern Territory Force and immediately revised plans for a more mobile force to counter the Japanese threat. Realising he could not hold the entire coastline, Herring decided to establish a ‘Northern Australia Observer Organisation’ to communicate aircraft sightings and naval and military movements from observer stations, some of which were established by the RAN as far back as 1909, which were part of the Coastwatchers organisation.

While the formation of such a unit was still being considered, E. J. Connellan, a local airline pilot with extensive experience in the north of Australia and its more remote regions, advocated the creation of a network of special Army listening posts, supplemented by bushmen and cattlemen organised into an irregular guerrilla unit, similar to the existing but poorly equipped Volunteer Defence Corps. However, following Herring’s discussions with an anthropologist MAJ Bill Stanner, who was seconded to the Staff, it was decided to implement Stanner’s concept for an observer unit to cover the approaches to Australia’s north, and the NAOU was created.