Chemical Warfare in Australia: Australia’s Involvement in Chemical Warfare, 1914 - Today

773 Pages·2013·3.57 MB·English

by  Geoff Plunkett

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Chemical
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warfare in
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This Meticulously researched book unearths a sixty year secret. As the Japanese swept
south towards Australia in late 1941, they carried chemical weapons, already used f
with deadly effect in China. Forced to counter the chemical warfare threat, Australia
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covertly imported 1,000,000 chemical weapons - including 16 types of mustard gas -
and hid them in tunnels and other sites around the country. This book tells the story r
of the importation, storage and ‘live trials’ of the deadly weapons. It reveals details of
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the chemical warfare agents themselves, Australia’s retaliatory plans, the involvement
of the USA, the lack of training of the weapons handlers and, finally, the dangerous

disposal of the volatile agents. Most of all, this is the story of the men who lived with i
the deadly weapons on a daily basis, handling them constantly despite the immense n
risks and suffering as a consequence. They were the Chemical Warfare Armourers

and almost every armourer suffered physically and often mentally from the effects of A
the weapons and the terrible burden of maintaining secrecy. This remarkable book
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contains over 300 photographs - many taken surreptitiously - that illustrate all too
starkly the conditions and the danger to which these men were exposed. This is an
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Australia’s Involvement In Chemical Warfare
unprecedented visual history.
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1914 - Today
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The author has worked at the Department of
Defence since 1996. Geoff has been researching A
Australia’s chemical warfare history for
the past eighteen years and is the author of L Geoff
Chemical Warfare Agent Sea Dumping
off Australia (third edition - revised and I Plunkett
updated), published by Defence in 2003.
A
www.mustardgas.org His next book will be Death by Mustard Gas.
CHEMICAL WARFARE
IN AUSTRALIA

CHEMICAL WARFARE
IN AUSTRALIA
GEOFF PLUNKETT
LEECH CUP BOOKS
2013
The opinions expressed in this book are solely those of the author and do not reflect Department
of Defence views and policy.
First edition – 2007
Second edition – 2013
Published by LEECH CUP BOOKS
Berowra Heights, Sydney, Australia
Written by Geoff Plunkett
http://www.mustardgas.org
Australian Army History Collection
© Copyright remains the property of the author and apart from any fair dealing for the purposes
of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no
part may be reproduced by any process without the written permission of the author. All
inquiries should be made to the publisher.
Printed by Lightning Source
Edited by Cathy McCullagh, typesetting by Margaret McNally and Geoff Plunkett
Cover Design by Geoff Plunkett
Maps by Keith Mitchell
Photos © Jeff Osborne and as indicated. Cover photos, refer pages 10 and 47.
Bodoni font 10, 11 & 12pt
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication:
Plunkett, Geoff.
Chemical warfare in Australia : Australia’s involvement in chemical warfare 1914 - today /Geoff Plunkett.
2nd ed.
9780987427908 (hbk.)
1. Chemical Weapons Convention (1997). 2. Australia. Royal Australian Air Force.
3. Chemical agents (Munitions) – Environmental aspects – Australia. 4. Chemical agents
(Munitions) – Australia – Handbooks, manuals, etc. 5. Chemical arms control – Australia.
6. Weapons of mass destruction. 7. Chemical weapons – Australia – Identification.
8. Chemical weapons – Health aspects – Australia. 9. Chemical weapons – Australia –
History. 10. Chemical weapons – Southeast Asia – History. 11. World War, 1939-1945 –
Chemical warfare. 12. World War, 1914-1918 – Chemical warfare. 13. Chemical weapons
disposal – Australia – History. 14. Railroads and state – New South Wales – Blue Mountains
(Mountains) – History. 15. Railroads – Abandonment – New South Wales – History. I. Title.
358.3400994
Full cataloguing available on the National Library of Australia website; http://www.nla.gov.au
D E D I C A T I O N
To all those who were involved in Australia’s chemical warfare history.
THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY HISTORY COLLECTION
Winning with Intelligence The Chiefs of the Australian Army
Judy Thomas James Wood
Duntroon Never Late
Darren Moore Gordon Dickens
The Warrior Poets To Villers-Bretonneux
Robert Morrison Peter Edgar
The History of the Royal Australian Corps Madness and the Military
of Transport 1973–2000 Michael Tyquin
Albert Palazzo The Battle of Anzac Ridge
Defenders of Australia 25 April 1915
Albert Palazzo Peter D. Williams
The Fight Leaders Doves Over the Pacific
D. Butler, A. Argent and J. Shelton Reuben R.E. Bowd
Operation Orders The Lionheart
Pat Beale David Coombes
Little by Little Battlefield Korea
Michael Tyquin Maurie Pears
Red Coats to Cams Chemical Warfare in Australia
Ian Kuring Geoff Plunkett
Bowler of Gallipoli A Most Unusual Regiment
Frank Glen M.J. Ryan
Vets at War Between Victor and Vanquished
Ian M. Parsonson Arthur Page
Only One River to Cross Country Victoria’s Own
A.M. Harris Neil Leckie
The Fragile Forts Surgeon and General
Peter Oppenheim Ian Howie-Willis
Hassett: Australian Leader Australian Army Unit Colour Patches 1987-2008
John Essex-Clark Philip Blackwell
Persian Expedition To Pierce the Tyrant’s Heart
Alan Stewart Gregory Blake
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C
ONTENTS
Foreword ix
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction xix
List of Photographs, Maps, Figures xxi
Acronyms and Abbreviations xxxvi
Chapters
1. The Armourers Remember: Gassed World War I Diggers 1
2. Chemical Weapons Procurement: The Initial Debate 8
3. Chemical Weapons Procurement and Their Retaliatory Use:
A Necessary Insurance Policy 17
4. Importation 29
5. Chemical Warfare Agents in Australia 38
6. The Armourers Remember: The Need for Secrecy 50
7. Chemical Warfare Organisation 59
8. Royal Australian Air Force Training 75
9. Army Training 91
10. The Chemical Warfare Units 100
11. Production and Storage 128
12. The Armourers Remember: The Storage Sites 139
13. The Armourers Remember: Daily Routine at the Chemical
Warfare Sites 190
14. Transportation: The Armourers’ Stories 201
15. The Chemical Warfare Plan 225
16. The Armourers Remember: The Experimental Stations and
the Brook Island Trials 236
17. Liaison: Interservice and International 274
18. The Armourers Remember: Accidents, Incidents and
Medical Treatment 281
19. Stockage Policy and Disposal 302
20. The Armourers Remember: Disposal of the
Chemical Warfare Stocks 319
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C H E M I C A L W A R F A R E I N A U S T R A L I A
contents continued
21. Sea Dumping 331
22. The Aftermath: The Armourers Reflect 359
23. Chemical Weapons Convention and Other Arrangements 374
24. Conclusion 377
Appendices
A. Chemical warfare agents present in Australia 384
B. Summary of codes used for the most common types
of chemical agents in existence in World War II 420
C. Transportation between storage sites 423
D. Ships 430
E. Ships – safety issues 447
F. Chemical munition types 450
G. Field trials with 25-pounder shells 517
H. Storage sites 552
I. Summary of stockage rates per site 586
J. The Chemical Warfare Plan (SWPA) 593
K. Chemical warfare units 598
L. RAAF stocks available for disposal 599
M. Disposal 602
N. Chemical weapons timeline 624
O. Air raid precautions (ARP) – civilian defence 631
P. Classification of war gases 643
Q. Japanese chemical warfare munitions 649
R. Gas incidents – World War I 690
Bibliography 709
Index 711

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F
OREWORD
In responding to the invitation to provide a foreword for Geoff Plunkett’s excellent
account of Australia’s preparedness for this aspect of war in 1939–1945, I am
grateful for the opportunity to pay tribute to those servicemen who received little
recognition for their dedicated work due to wartime secrecy.
Early in 1942, with the Japanese southward advance causing Australia
to prepare for possible invasion, one aspect of particular concern at Army
Headquarters was: would chemical weapons be used by Japan as had happened
in China? Photographs of Chinese blister gas casualties were studied, but little
was known of Japanese preparedness for large-scale chemical attack.
The most knowledgeable officer available to study this was Major D. O. Shiels,
Chemical Adviser on the Engineer-in-Chief’s staff. With his medical degrees
supplemented by doctorates from the University of London and Melbourne, and
service in the 1st AIF, he was well placed to assess the risk Australia faced. His
proposals to import stocks of offensive chemical weapons and to form specialist
army units are well documented in Geoff Plunkett’s account.
My own involvement in this field came about quite suddenly. In June 1942,
while serving as a company commander in the 2/14th Infantry Battalion, my
Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Key (who paid the supreme
sacrifice in the Kokoda Track campaign a few months later), called me and said,
‘The General wants you on divisional headquarters as a GSO3 for chemical
warfare.’ Without thinking, I said ‘Yes sir, how long do I think about it?’ His
reply, ‘This is not a job offer, this is an order!’ left me in no doubt. On reflection,
I realised that completion of a science degree before enlisting and service as a
brigade intelligence officer in Syria had led to my selection for the new posting.
My recollection of subsequent events includes a term at the Army Gas School
to learn the latest protective measures for troops in the field, followed by an
interview with Major Shiels when he asked me to form and equip an engineer unit
to examine enemy weapons and ammunition captured during campaigns. This
unit became 2/1 Chemical Warfare Laboratory and kept me very fully occupied
for the remainder of the war. Collaboration and help from American units of
the US Chemical Warfare Service was outstanding and we were encouraged to
obtain help and advice from many service and civil personnel with due regard
for secrecy requirements.
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