Backyard Battlefields

Albany's Princess Royal Harbour was named by British Explorer George Vancouver in 1791. He chose to honour Princess Charlotte, Queen of Wurttemberg and eldest daughter of King George III. The local Minang - Noongar people call it 'Mammang Koort' meaning 'The Heart of the Wild Whale'.

Recognising the strategic importance of Albany and it's magnificent harbours, construction began in 1891 on the Princess Royal Fortress 'The Forts', paid for by the British Imperial government and the various Australian colonies.

During World War II, the Western Australian port of Fremantle was host to over 170 US, British and Dutch submarines. Braced for invasion and taking the war to the Japanese in South East Asia, these submarines made 416 war patrols between March 1942 and  August 1945. Many never returned. This episode of Backyard Battlefields is an interview with Lynne Cairns, author of 'Secret Fleets: Fremantle's World War II Submarine Base'

Campbell Barracks is a defence establishment in Swanbourne, Western Australia. It was named for Lt. Colonel J.A Campbell, the former Commandant of Commonwealth military forces in WA. Located in the heart of what is colloquially known by locals as the 'Golden Triangle' it has played a role in almost every major international event affecting Australia for more than 60 years from the Vietnam War to the Bali Bombings. This episode of Backyard Battlefields is a brief history of Campbell Barracks.

Corunna Downs was a top secret WW2 airbase in Western Australia. Called the 'Invisible Airfield', it was located in desert and spinifex country in the Pilbara region. Its strategic location allowed Australian and American bombers to launch surprise attacks on Japanese targets in the Dutch East Indies. 

An Australian plan was established in 1939 for the domestic production of armaments in the event war cut off the continent from the oceanic supply lines which sustained it. As a result a number of factories were built thoughout the country. One of these was established in Welshpool, Western Australia. Factory No. 6 as it was known produced one of the most import calibres of the war, the venerable .303, used by Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft, Vickers and Bren machine-guns and the iconic Lee Enfield Rifle. 

Axford Park is a small reserve in the suburb of Mount Hawthorn, Western Australia. It is named for soldier and local resident, Thomas Leslie 'Jack' Axford, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions during the Battle of Hamel in 1918. This operation was directed by Australian General John Monash and was considered a 'text-book' victory which included the use of massed tanks, a technique pioneered at Hamel. The 'VC' is the highest award in the British honours system and is granted for extraordinary valour 'in the presence of the enemy'. 

Nestled in the quiet suburb of Mount Lawley there is a Masonic Hall built in the 1928. It was designed by George Herbert Parry, a prolific Western Australian architect in an interwar 'Beaux Arts' style. During WW2 it found a new purpose, used by the Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF) as the 6th Fighter Sector Headquarters responsible for the air defence of Western Australia. 

On the 3rd of March 1942, Japanese Zero fighters operating from Kopang, Indonesia attacked the Western Australian Pearling port of Broome. It was a target rich environment with the harbour  packed with military and civilian aircraft filled with refugees from the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies. One of the victims was a Dutch Dakota carrying a fortune in diamonds bound for the Commonwealth Bank in Australia. Often described as 'Western Australia's Pearl Harbour' it was the most dramatic of several attacks on Broome during the dutation of the war. 

The Brig 'Amity' was the ship which carried Major Edmund Lockyer and a contingent of troops to form the first European settlement in King George Sound, Western Australia. It was initally called 'Frederick Town' after Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (King George IIIs favourite son) and was later renamed 'Albany'. The local Menang people call it 'Kinjarling' said to mean 'Place of Rain'. Today there is a replica of  'Amity' which forms part of the Museum of the Great Southern.

Cape Naturaliste was named for a ship of the French Baudin Expedition of 1800. It's a prominent location, overlooking Geographe Bay on one side and the vastness of the Indian Ocean on the other. The high ground made it the perfect location for a lighthouse, guiding ships through the sometimes treacherous waters surrounding the Cape. During WW2 it was the operational position for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) 33rd Radar station, a link in the air defence chain protecting the South West Sector of Western Australia.