In Phuoc Tuy province South Vietnam, a Fordson Major tractor was stolen from the French Courtenay rubber plantation. Intelligence reported that it was being used by Viet Cong guerillas to transport weapons and ammunition across the Australian area of operations (AO). A patrol from 2 Squadron, Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) led by Sergeant Frank Cashmore was tasked with its destruction. This episode of Backyard Battlefields features excerpts from an interview with SAS veteran Anthony Bowden, recorded by the Australians At War Film Archive.
Listen to the episode at Apple Podcasts, Audible and Spotify.
The Courtenay rubber plantation circa 1971 (Image: AWM PO5389.011)A British Fordson Major E1A tractor, the model likely used by the Viet Cong. (Image: Our Warwickshire)SGT. Frank Cashmore SAS (Image: AWM POO966.085)SAS weapons and equipment at the Australian War Memorial (Image: Authors collection)
The ‘Emily Taylor’ was a 200 tonne Brig built in the Bombay shipyards for the commercial and military powerhouse the ‘British East India Company’. Launched as the ‘Antelope’ it carried 12 guns and in addition to being a troop transport, carried trade goods such as spices, Opium, textiles and silks.
It was later sold off and acquired by a private company Robert Taylor and Co. and renamed ‘Emily Taylor’ after the proprietors wife. It sailed to Western Australia and in 1830 was chartered by the colonial governement to transport settlers, including members of the Bussell and Molloy families, to Cape Leeuwin to establish WA’s third settlement, Augusta.
On the return journey to Fremantle ‘Emily Taylor’ was blown ashore in a gale and wrecked. It is considered it carried the first Chinese ‘migrant’ to Western Australia, a (likely) Cantonese man called ‘Moon Chow’ (also known as Chow Moon) He was the ships carpenter and found himself stranded when ‘Emily Taylor’ was wrecked. He was a skilled tradesman, joiner and boat builder and his talents were highly prized in the young colony. There is romantic speculation that Moon Chow, was the first to manufacture and sell dumplings in WA. This theory was fueled by a court case where a leg of pork was stolen from his home. Tragically in 1877, Moon Chow was killed when he was struck by a horse drawn mail cart on Fremantles High Street, close to where the Orient Hotel stands today. His death led to the first road rules in Western Australia including speed limits and the requirement to carry lights at night.
Listen to this episode of Backyard Battlefields at Apple Podcasts, Audible and Spotify…..
On the 3rd of March 1942 Japanese Mitsubishi Zero Fighters operating out of Kopang Indonesia attacked the Western Australian Pearling port of Broome. It was a target rich environment packed with refugees from the Japanese assault on the Dutch East Indies. Often described as ‘Western Australia’s Pearl Harbour’ it was the first of several attacks on Broome during the duration of the war.
Japanese Mitsubishi A6M ‘Zero’ Fighter (Wikipedia)Australian soldiers sitting on a Japanese fuel drop tank (Western Australian Museum))Flying Boat in Roebuck Bay (AWM)
Thanks to Amber Cunningham and ABC Perth for having me along to talk Western Australian history, Fenians, Convicts and the Hougoumont. Click the below link to listen:
