Fascinating story of Aust ‘Bletchley Parks’
AUTHOR: Craig Collie PUBLISHER: Allen and Unwin RRP: $32.99
REVIEWER: Mary Ann Elliott
BLETCHLEY Park in England was the centre of signals intelligence during the Second World War.
Largely unknown during that time, it has since become the subject of books, film and television documentaries.
Even less known is the fact that two secret intelligence organisations existed in Australia at the height of the Second World War in the Pacific.
TV producer-director and author of highly acclaimed books such as The Japanese on the Kokoda Track and Nagasaki, Craig Collie is well placed to write about Australia’s two Bletchley Parks.
The intercept room at an innocuous house in Park Orchards near Melbourne and the Victoria Barracks, the initial location of the Special Intelligence Bureau, became hubs of activity.
Australia was already at war with Europe but the Pacific war had not yet begun.
The Japanese menace began in earnest with the bombing of Pearl Harbour on a quiet Sunday morning, December 7th, 1941.
Decrypted messages about the impending disaster were sent to the War Cabinet in Canberra and to Washington but were not given much credence.
However the subsequent intercept and penetration of Japanese naval codes turned the tide of Japanese domination in the Pacific region.
For example, decoding helped to pre-empt the Battle of Midway in June, 1942. Following Allied bombing, the Japanese navy never recovered from the attack.
A motley crew of cryptologists, mathematicians, Morse and wireless operators, undercover agents, Japanese-speaking army personnel and just very clever men and women made up this unique group.
Vivid portraits of the main protagonists bring them to life, together with intriguing insights into their deciphering skills.
Excitement and tension rise with each decoded message, gripping this reader like a fast-paced thriller. Fascinating stuff.
A motley crew of cryptologists, mathematicians, Morse and wireless operators, undercover agents, Japanese-speaking army personnel and just very clever men and women made up this unique group.