Spies, Saboteurs, Propaganda and other Subversive Activities - History of Special Operations Australia aka Inter-Allied Services Department aka Services Reconnaissance Department

On 26 April 1942, General Blamey advised the War Office that General MacArthur had agreed to:-

• the establishment of a Special Operations organisation in Australia under his direct control,
• that it was in the process of being formed in conjunction with the US and NEI forces,
• that financial provisions were being considered by the governments concerned,
• that Lt-Col Mott had been instructed to set up the Organisation which for security reasons was to be known as the Inter-allied Services Department ISD and
• that the existence of the organisation was to be known only to the Prime Ministers and the High Command.

On 17 May 1942, two months after arriving in Australia, Lt. Col. G. E. Mott established the Inter-Allied Services Department (ISD) in its new headquarters in "Airlie", located at 260 Domain Road on the corner of Punt Road in Melbourne.

The job of ISD personnel was to:-

- harass enemy lines of communications

- attack enemy shipping and small craft in harbours and rivers

- organise resistance by local inhabitants

- establish secret communications

- disseminate propaganda against the Japanese and Germans

- direct sabotage, subversion and fifth-column activity

ISD was later dissolved and a new Special Operations group known as Special Operations Australia SOA was established under Lt Col Chapman-Walker. SOA reported to General Blamey. In May 1943, SOA was given the cover name of Services Reconnaissance Department SRD.

The Australian Army had established a holding unit known as "Z" Special Unit. SRD was responsible for the various operations and men would be allocated from "Z" Special Unit and other military forces such as RAN and British Army and be attached to SRD for these operations.

This PDF document gives a very detailed overview of the operations of SRD and its organisation structure, camps and training establishments. It also contains a number of organisation charts for SRD. It is an enhanced transcription of a document held on the NAA site. The original document does contain a number of mistakes which are corrected in this document. Where possible I have added links to the Service Records (held on the NAA site) of personnel mentioned in the document.

Some of the SRD training establishments covered are:-

• Z Experimental Station, Cairns
• Fraser Commando School, Fraser Island
• School of Eastern Interpreters, Melbourne
• Careening Bay Camp (Special Boat School), Perth
• Camps 6 & 8, Mount Martha (near Melbourne)
• Advanced Training Camp, Morotai
• Advanced Training Camp, Darwin

And other SRD camps covered include:-

• Lugger Maintenance Section, Darwin
• Peak Hill Camp (near LMS)
• Healy Road Camp, WA
• Naval Base Camp, WA
• Lake MacKenzie Camp, Fraser Island, QLD
• Urangan Camp, QLD
• 2 camps at Leyburn, QLD (State Forest and Fogarty's Paddock)

Other Australian Army Training Schools were also used as follows:-

• Parachute Training Unit, Richmond, NSW
• School of Military Engineering, Liverpool, NSW
• Signals Training Centre, Bonegilla, VIC