Hills History — Allenby Austin Francis Brown, RAAF

Given that we have just had ANZAC Day I would like to add to one of the WW2 veterans whose story was read out at the service.

Allenby Austin Francis Brown, service number 12595, Royal Australian Air Force. He served in the RAAF 305 Radar Unit as a "coast watcher", stationed on an island called Kiriwina, part of a group of islands called the Trobriand Islands out from New Guinea. They arrived there on an Arnotts fishing boat. The island is 400 miles long, with Japanese air bases either end of the island.

Allenby and his mates disguised themselves as native islanders and built thatched huts in between the bases, set up their radar, so that every time the Japanese "Zero's" took off to fly to New Guinea, they would radio Milne Bay (where the Allied "Kitty Hawks" were based) so they could meet the fight head on. Allenby and his mates were instrumental in keeping the Japanese Air Force at bay. If the Japanese sent 10 Zeros up the Allies would send 20 Kitty Hawks. The Japanese never worked out how the Allies did it.

This story was told to me by Allenby's son Noel Brown on his recent visit to Pleasant Hills.

Photo from the book "Two Steps to Tokyo".

Written by Fiona Beckett.