South Australians in the Pacific

South Australian journalist, Colin Kerr, served with the AIF in both North Africa and the South West Pacific. He worked with the Far Eastern Liaison Office, FELO, as editor of their propaganda pamphlets, and also with the United States Psychological Warfare Branch. His diaries record his experiences in New Guinea and the Philippines. While in New Guinea, on 9 October 1944, he wrote,

If propaganda is worthwhile - and every competent commander today realises it's immense value - the propagandists should be given every possible facility to do his job. I hope that my brethren in the next war don't have to waste weeks & months digging up technicians, training unskilled men-in fact, building up their organisation as they go along.

FELO organised broadcasts in Pidgin English to remote areas of New Guinea to gain the support of the local people. Colin Kerr's records held by the Library include photographs of men loading shells with propaganda leaflets to be dropped in some remote areas of New Guinea and the Pacific.

South Australians contributed to the allied war effort in many other ways. Amongst the less well-known contributions is that of the Intelligence Corps. The experience of one of its members, Don Laidlaw, is told in his booklet, Anecdotes of a Japanese Translator. He had wished to join either the Royal Australian Airforce or Navy, but colour blindness prevented this, so he enlisted in the Army and was assigned to the Intelligence Corps. His memoir explains how, as a new recruit, he found himself called upon to be a Japanese translator with the 4th Military District at Keswick Barracks.

4M.D. Intelligence Corps had need to establish a Japanese Room if only to read and file instructions about matters pertaining to Japan which began to arrive from Victoria Barracks in Melbourne and other Military Districts around Australia. A Room was allocated and, since I was the one person without specific duties, I became the first member of the Japanese section.

Later Don was transferred to Brisbane as an officer with the Central Intelligence Corps, where he worked as a decoder of Japanese radio messages intercepted by the allies.