Wartime at Mitchell River Mission

JAPANESE SUBMARINE SIGHTED WEST OF AURUKUN MISSION IN APRIL 1943

“On 11 April 1943 reports were received of a Japanese landing on the south east shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria at Galbraith.

At around the same time, local residents from Mitchell River Mission and Galbraith reported seeing lights out to sea. There were also reports of a submarine being seen west of Aurukun Mission.

It is possible that this may have been Japanese Submarine RO-33” .

Can anyone give me some more details on these stories.

See me online:

https://www.ozatwar.com/japsubs/sight03.htm The Editor wishes to thank the sources of this information. The more we can add to the story of the events at Mitchell River Mission/Kowanyama during the 1940’s the more complete the story will be. During time of war the War Secrets Act did not permit information to reach the public for national safety reasons.” These are excerps of online posts.

Much of this information will be available now that time has passed since the conflict. Kowanyama Project would love to hear anything that readers have to add in either photographs and stories.

REFERENCE BOOK

Bradley, Vera, "I Didn't Know That - Cairns and Districts Tully to Cape York, 1939-1946, Service Personnel and Civilians", Boolarong Press, 1995

Mitchell River Mission War time

The old Air Surveillance Post camp was near where the Men’s Shed is now and the old dormitory mango trees.

American Airforce crew at Dunbar 1940’s photographed by Phyllis Campbell-Hughes

Unfortunately, past modern airport extension works have erased much of what remained of the site of the surveillance post and camp at Belboro near the site of the New Mission’s first dormitory in 1915.

An early dump of artifacts was pushed across the airport runway site to a place outside of the airport control area. Some photographs exist of the wartime Mission airstrip and the B17 Bomber crash site on the plains near Shelfo. A search continues for the actual site of the crash and the repair of the aircraft. The gilgay plain is very difficult to negotiate in even a four-wheel drive vehicle. Cannon shells were thrown from the aircraft for safety reasons before the bomber crashed. They were sometimes found but the last example was lost in the early 1970’s and would now be dangerously unstable if any are found and picked up.

Report cannon shells to the Police and do not handle them. The shells are dangerous.

JAPANESE SUBMARINE RO-33 LANDS A PARTY ON MURRAY ISLAND IN NORTH QUEENSLAND DURING WW2

Japanese submarine RO-33

The Murray Island elders speak of a Japanese submarine captain who used the islands close by as a means of evading detection from antisubmarine patrols. There are eyewitness accounts of the crew coming ashore to collect fresh water from the wells and fresh fruit from the islanders gardens. Apparently, the captain utilised the island for quite some time.

In April 1942 Japanese submarines RO-33 and RO-34 were placed under the direct command of the Japanese South Seas Force to search for convoy routes and suitable anchorages prior to the planned assault on Port Moresby. RO-33 left Rabaul in April 1942 to reconnoitre Port Moresby. Both submarines were later ordered to blockade Port Moresby and guide Japanese shipping into the area.

Manuel McAuley from Murray Island on the eastern side of Torres Strait believes that it was Japanese submarine RO-33 that put a landing party ashore on Murray Island during World War 2. Vanessa See Kee (Curator of the Torres Strait Heritage Museum) told Manuel that RO33 was credited with sinking the Burns Philp ship Mamutu" (300 tons) on the 7th August 1942 north of Murray Island.

RO-33 was a small but well-armed submarine of 940 tons with a crew of 42 officers and men.

It is estimated in that in late July 1942, or sometime after the sinking of the "Mumutu", the submarine surfaced beside "Dauar" Islet (one of the 3 volcanic islands that make up Murray Island). They landed on "Dauar" Islet to take on fresh water from the wells at the Sardine Factory and to obtain intelligence on the area. In another instance a submarine (presumably the same one - dates need to be confirmed) cruised the length of Murray Island on the surface at about 4 knots.

Australian signals personnel based on the island at this time logged the reports and according to Vanessa See Kee a signaller who was based on Murray Island was still alive in August 2001. Manual McAuley was due to interview an islander who remembers the landing. A crew member of the submarine knew his father before the war. This fellow was called "Ottosun" (we assume Otto San, as in the Japanese form of respect). He was a Beche-deMer boat skipper in the Torres Strait before the war. He was also a trusted friend of Gee Dee Williams, the manager of the sardine factory located on Dauar Islet prior to the war. It is believed that Otto (nicknamed "Black Otto") by the Torres Strait Islanders, was an officer of some sort on the boat.

On 29 August 1942, HMAS Arunta sunk the RO-33 10miles SE of Port Moresby (09-36S, 147-06E). All hands were lost.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I'd like to thank Manuel McAuley from Murray Island on the eastern side of Torres Strait for his assistance with this home page.