Brisbane Line

G'day all. I'm researching a book that I'm planning to write but I seem to have come up short....
'The Brisbane Line' - we all know it was to run from either Brisbane to Melbourne, Brisbane to Adelaide or Brisbane to Perth, we all know about the tank traps around Tenterfield, Paddy's Flat and Armidale and the bunkers around Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns but....

What else is there????

I'm planning on riding a 1978 Suzuki SP370 from Brisbane to Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide then back to Brisbane via the Darling River but I can't seem to find any other WW2 related sites other than those mentioned above. From Armidale south there seems to be no 'Line' related sites anywhere. The same goes for anywhere between Adelaide, along the Darling to Brisbane.

Surely there must be more out there than four (4) sections of tank traps, a few old air strips and a bunker up closer to Brissie....

Surely?????

Any help would be hugely appreciated

Rod 'Wulfe Ryder' Brown

 

Welcome to the forum matey.
http://home.modemss.brisnet.org.au/~dunn/ozatwar/brisbaneline.htm

From everything I have read on the Line it was nothing more then a myth and it was never to actually be used in the event of an Invasion of the Australian Mainland, so there therefore you will probably not find anything related to the line defenses because the actual line didn't exist as far as I know.

 

The Brisbane Line
Brisbane Line - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Very interesting.

 

Heres a map of the plans for the Defense of Australia.

 

As you can see the Brisbane Line is in the First Army Area. Probably protecting a run down the coast to Sydney and Canberra.

 

My understanding is that the "Brisbane Line" was a conceptual defensive line between Adelaide and Brisbane that was intended to defend the most important (in terms of population and industrial infrastructure) parts of Australia in case the Japanese invaded. It was conceived in about March, 1942, which coincided with MacArthur's arrival in Australia. I believe some local defensive works were started, but the Brisbane Line itself never really proceeded beyond the planning stage because, after about September, 1942, the Japanese were in no position to invade anywhere.

You might want to check this site; http://home.brisnet.org.au/~dunn/ozatwar/brisbaneline.htm

 

The fact was Australia is too large for any nation to easily launch a land campaign. Being larger then even the Soviet Union in terms of land mass and the size of your front you need many men to defend the whole nation which Australia at the time and even still now don't have. The idea of the Brisbane line was as stated earlier to give up the entire north section of Australia including the centre. There simply just wasn't enough there to worry about. The East coast below Brisbane was the main areas of Australia and in many ways that still hold true

By simply retreating it not only allows the defenders more time to prepare defences as fell as allowing them to focus on key spots instead of the entire country. It also stretches the supply lines of the Japanese just like at the Kokoda trail and Port Moresby. This alone may be a deciding factor just like in Papua. The tactic although not overally like was not necessarily a bad one, if of course it even existed at all.

 

That Japanese invasion was such a no-brainer.

Anyone who has travelled through the center of this broad, brown, wonderful land of ours will tell you that, for an invading Army landing at Darwin, there is really no place left to go. Thousands of square kilometres of open desert with nothing for a modern military to live on, let alone water. The Japanese would have landed in Darwin, and simply stopped stone dead in their tracks.

Funnily enough, tentative Japanese planning called for a landing much further southward, with principle targets of Brisbane and Sydney. So, maybe the Brisbane line had some merit as a paper position. Lucky for us, the Rising Sun lads were grossly overextended, on the end of a torturous supply chain.

 

If you want to see relics of WW2 mate you're better off riding your bike north. I live in FNQ and there are dozens of site scattered about up here. The hinterland behind my home was used as a staging area for the troops, both us and the yanks.

 

Brisbane Line: http://www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/brisbaneline.htm

Good pics of Tank traps around Tenterfield: http://www.ozatwar.com/locations/tanktrapstenterfield.htm
Quite out of the blue, I ran across the one on the Mount Lindsay Highway, well north of Tenterfield.
At the time I was certain these were army practice, being way, way outback of nowhere... for sure.

 

I have read before (but can't find) that the Japanese Army was not delusional enough to attempt any landings on the Australian continent. They knew that they had neither the manpower or logistics, much less the inclination to attempt such a gargantuan undertaking. On the other hand the Japanese Navy thought that they could pull off an invasion prior to the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway though. All I can remember where I came across this information was reading about said campaign, that after the war this information was collected after the interrogation of surviving Japanese admirals and generals. I figure that the IJA couldn't deliver the knock out punch to China which was right next door, there was no use to try to invade Australia. It would be their Bataan.

 

Considering that about 80% of the Japanese army was in China and Manchuria and what few divisions were available were slated for the Philippines and Burma there was simply not enough manpower to consider a new front.

 

We woulda snotted'em anyway... : )

 

I suppose "snotted'em" means y'all would have kicked their @$$'s in Australian.

 

Yes...invloves emptying ones nose in the general direction of the enemy...instead of any foot to anus contact...eeeww!

 

Ahh. I can see how that would send them running. Thousands of Aussies standing shoulder to shoulder bellowing "God Save the King & Australia too" while blowing boogers would be a sight to see.

 

Definately a kleenex moment...

 

Last time I was in Sydney you could have forgiven me for thinking they had won... cring...

But back on track.
I was absolutley astonishing to me how far inland and how far out in the bush surviving Oz at War defensive lines and structures were.
In the early 1940's that Mount Lindsay "Highway" must have been a goat track... hundreds of miles from the nearest farm.
To place a for real tank trap there was mind boggling. I had no idea I was going to run into it or anything like it.
- I spent an entire summer afternoon there just standing in stunned silence, taking in the aura of the place.

The same holds true for finds in the far, tropical north of Queensland.
See this very recent thread on ww2Talk: http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/48497-wwii-aust-usa-in-far-north-queensland-australia/

 

From my favorite Ozzie website:
- Justification for "paranoiad" responses like the Brisbane Line.

JAPANESE LANDINGS IN AUSTRALIA DURING WORLD WAR 2: http://www.ozatwar.com/japsland/japsland.htm

JAPANESE RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHTS OVER AUSTRALIA DURING WW2: http://www.ozatwar.com/japrecce/japrecce.htm

German Maritime activities off the Australian Coastline during WW2: http://www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/german.htm

AUSTRALIAN COASTLINE MINED DURING WW2 BY THE ALLIES, THE JAPANESE AND THE GERMANS: http://www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/ozmined.htm

"The Brisbane Line" Was it fact or was it a myth? http://www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/brisbaneline.htm

THE SECRET WAR IN AUSTRALIA DURING WW2: http://www.ozatwar.com/secretwar.htm