Clippings re 1967 bushfires from VK7AL
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* “Irresponsible” radio messages
ap3/e/
Help was —~enlisted
from Post Office
THE Commissioner of Police (Mr. Fletcher) had enlisted
the support of the Post Office to suppress irresponsible mes-
sages over mobile transmitters, so evident on the day of the |
great fires. |
The Director of Posts and{master-General recognised) The commissioner had
-|Telegraphs (Mr. R. R. Gil- ‘the Government appointee also confirmed that on that
son) said this yesterday, re- the Commissioner of day he had ample communi-
to questions from Police — as the supreme cations available in all areas
~~
plying
Mr. E. A. Beard, w ho wrote authority in the emergency.)of the State.
to “The Mercury” on the The commissioner had) In fact — in addition to
E wail of amateurs to help) not surrendered any of his his own facilities the
defence communica- jauthority on February 21, Army was helping the Sig-
tions on February 21. ‘No civil defence emergency nals unit in the Nugent
Mr, Gilson said the Post- had been declare d. area,
Irresponsible messages
had spread alarm and de-
spondency, and had hamper-
ed fire-fighting.
Mr, Gilson said the P.M.G,
fully supported the Govern-
ment in its endeavours to
jhave an orderly and effi-
‘Invaluable help -by
\cient organisation for emer-
gencies.
It consequently supported
the commissioner in his re-
quest to help eliminate un-
radio operators
lawful and misleading re-
ports over mobile transmit-
ters.
; Any action necessary dur-
ing future emergencies
would be taken in conjune-
WE would like to add weight to the complaint of Mr. E. A. tion
ties.
with appointed
i
authori-
Beard, as regards the conduct of the P.M.G’s. Department, Mr. Gilson added that the
towards the amateur radio operators, during the recent P.M.G. had played a signifi-
cant part in determining
bush fire crisis. the communications scheme)
vigil on a little, fire-blackened hill out | for the Civil Defence Organ-
Being attached to the Civil Defence lisation.
Organisation, we were able to gain a in the middle of nowhere, just acting as
first hand knowledge of the services a repeater station, if required.
performed by these people with their When we personally visited such a
radio equipment. lonely spot and inquired from the
Some of the readers may not be aware operator as to how long he intended to
that after the fire had raced through remain there, we were simply and
outlying districts, there was no com- honestly told, “Until a replacement ar-
munication by means of P.M.G. wires— Tives.”
they had been burnt to the ground. We earnestly appeal to all the people
However, by a deal of foresight and in those areas served by the amateurs,
the strategic placing of radios and particularly Colebrook and Richmond,
operators at such places as Colebrook, to give us their whole-hearted support
Richmond, Woodbridge, Mt. Rumney, and backing in making publie the mag-
Mt. Wellington, and a host of other nificent effort of these, as yet, unsung
vantage points, communication with heroes.
stricken areas was maintained through- We feel sure, that if another such
out the critical stages. emergency arose, the services of these
We, personally, went into many of people would again be of untold value,
these areas and saw for ourselves the as indeed they were on this occasion,
magnificent work these amateurs were Hobart. LITTLE BOYS BLUE,
doing. rwie Sis A
_ Sometimes their vigil lasted for 36
hours, often without sleep and with
little food, Sometimes it was a lonely
ee
Sa ee Ser eS
Colebrook praises work
of radio amateurs
THE residents of Colebrook would like to add their praise and thanks to
the amateur radio operators for the work that they did in Colebrook in
the days following the fire.
Colebrook was left without food, cloth- public is waiting for evidence to sub-
ing, power, and any communication stantiate the claim of irresponsibility.
whatsoever, There was very little drink- I understand, also, that during last
ing water. Seventy-four families had lost year these same operators were ad-
all or some part of their living. The dressed on the way in which they could
nearest telephone was eight miles away, assist in time of an emergency—he it
and we had to travel to this several fire. Hood, or some other catastrophe,
times to order our most urgent food re- Therefore, I doubt that they would have
placements, “rushed off willy-nilly’? as has been
The situation could have turned to suggested. 4
chaos, but for the timely help of the
tadio operators, who through a link “Enlightened’s” irony appears to indi-
with Richmond, obtained our needs from eate that when accused, individuals, or
Central Control. groups of individuals have no right to
Lowdina. M, EDDINGTON. defend themselves,
Like C, K. Spiegel Iam not going to How many of us knew who and what
enter into the argument on whether or amateur radio operators were before
not the P.M.G, Department should have the correspondence in “I'he Mercury?”
given permission for the use of amateur Is it then just a publicity stunt on their
radio operators, if required, part? I don’t think so.
But as an outsider I would like to We are hearing of them and from
comment on “Enlightened’s” remarks.
Though not conversant with all the
them now, because in the event of an- 33/2
Use of radio
other such crisis “if” amateur radio
articles in the amateur radio operators’ operators are called on for assistance,
code, I do khow that such a code exists, the public will know they are reliable
A reading of the code would be sumfi-
in emergency
receivers and transmitters,
cient to indicate that there is no room ALSO ENLIGHTENED.
for irresponsible amateur radio opera- Lenah Vallley.
tors. It is assumed that “irresponsible
messages” are passed by irresponsible IT would be appreciated if the Dir-
operators,
Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems to TODAYS TEXT ector of the P.M.G. Department would
answer the following matters through
me that this is the reason why Mr. Cor- GRACH to you and peace fram the Press.
dell was able to state that, although “all God our Father and the Lord Jesus On Tuesday, February 21, his de-
messages did not go through his con- Christ. partment was approached for permis-
trol room,” no irresponsible messages Il Corinthians 1: 2. sion to use amateur radio frequen-
had been passed by his members. The cies to assist Civil Defence Communi-
cations, if required, in the Strickland,
Elderslie and Nugent areas. _
The reply which was, | believe, a
directive from the director, was that
“amateur frequencies are not to be
used under any circumstances” —
despite the fact that he was informed
that a state of emergency still exist-
ed and that the radio vehicles he
offered as an alternative would not
suffice or, in fact, be available.
His suggestion of using the Army
communications was not practical as
in the main outbreak an Army unit
was assisted by a mobile radio unit
belonging to and operated by a radio
amateur.
The director was informed also of
the seriousness of the situation.
Further, as a counter to the re-
quest | believe he personally contact-
ed the Controller — Inspector Fletch-
er — and offered him the use of the
radio vehicles.
Does this mean that if, in the un-
forseeable future, another emergency
eventuates, radio amateurs will be
prevented from assisting communica-
tions in this State? 2
Why, then, are they permitted to
assist in emergencies in N.S.W. and
Victoria, when alternative communi-
cation facilities pre more plentiful
than in Tasmania? 5
It is understood that the P.M.G.
has been co-operative to civil de-
e before this.
fersLindisfarne. E. A. BEARD.
Lack of “co-ordination in
emergency communications
I DO not intend to buy into the arg
ument on whether or not the P.M.
should have given permission for G. Department
the use of amateur radio frequenc
if required, on February 21. ies and operators,
This, I feel, is 2 matter for the
Defence authorities and the Direc Civil provided emergency communicat
ions be- ten-in, apart
tor of tween Colebrook and Hobart durin from the people actually
Posts and Telegraph to sort out betwe g that handling the
en time, I must ask Mr, Gilson messages, It is, therefore.,
themselves, together with the
Commis- to either difficult to understand
sioner of Police, substantiatethese charges or that these ama-
There appears to be a een pec to the members of the amateur apolo gise
Servic
_teur Operations had “spread alarm and
ae Ba e. despondency and had hampered
co-ordination pclae operators provided only fire-
between these three de- ‘oint-to-Point” communications fighting.”
partments, if the Civil Defence and the
people
- ask the P.M.G, for permission to use traffic handled consisted of messa i radio: ser-
ges be-
services of amateur operators and the tween responsible members of ee eee ce
Defence, Police, P.W.D., Health theDepar
Civil I would aS
quencies, which the Commissioner fre- request Mr. Gilson to state
Police states, were not requi of iment, and other similar organisations, t- whether his allegations.
which- were
red. It Additionally the amateur communi- made in reply to a letter about amateur
is hoped that
“Black Tuesday” has operations, did, in fact, refer to amate
all of us enough experience of given cations took place on frequencies on
‘ ur
areal which very f ew “outsiders ze erators, "Or or tohe some $ other service,
emergency to enable us to Set all avail- ” could lis) °. Sandy Bay.
3
able services ¢C. K. SPIEG
:
possible use in co-or dinated for the best
future, m —
EL,
; r,
It is obviou
that Hie. ees from reading the ress
I must, howeve comment y e are 4 dedicated.
Gilson’s statement which implie on Mr,
s that, ee ee - We have read how they
ion i
Smee ee eats be res Haye suring earn Hanes
oan : ‘
ae F
sponsible, ” erat
“unlawful”
ceeded to fire-dévastated areas, and have
passed messa ges to—where
been told, In fact, Mr, we have not
As one of the emateur operators Cordell, admitting
who that all messages did not go throu
ns ae gh his
control room, on one hand denie
s that ir-
responsible messages were
passed. but
on the other hand Says that
if they
were, they were accepted in
good faith,
This is surely dedication callin
irrational rationalising by playi g for
ng it both
ends and the middle, and havin
g a bet
each way, But their utmost dedic
ation, of
course, comes in their public
display of
Self-aggrandisement,
After Black Tuesday the presi
dent of
the institute said how wonderful
amateurs had been. In the more recenthe
correspondence t
and over
air the the
amateurs themselves have said how
won-
derful they are,
Surely if a little more dedic
ation had
been displayed in offering their
services
to the Police Commissioner on
the day of
the fire, instead of rushing
off willy-
nilly, these would-be Magis of
the
Waves would have indicated a finer radio
sense
of duty to the community,
West Hobart, ENLIGHTENED,
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Nf3/67»
it
Communications in
Che Mercury fire emergency
i. Hobart: March 16, 1967 I HAVE followed with interest and concern the verbal
battle via Press and TV about the non-co-ordination of
Emergency radio services during the recent emergency.
It would seem strange that when com- In respect
there was
to the Derwent, of
the usefulness of her erew in
course,
network
munications play such an important part cleaning-up work, but
fire-fighting and
jn our daily life that no plan exists to lam concerned with the communications
co-ordinate these services in an emerg-
aspects of the disaster.
QUITE a deal of the chaos and ency.
If, as I believe, the low-powered walkie-
tax-
confusion during the bush fires There are many questions that
ask so that in the
the talkie sets were of little value during the
. fire-fighting, what steps are being taken
payer can and must
disaster was occasioned by the event of any further disaster full use to obtain higher-powered units for our
breakdown of normal means of can be made of themy police, fire and civil defence authorities?
communication and the lack of a Why was the national station off the We trust that Hobart will never experi-
properly co-ordinated, alternd- air on the day of the fires? Is it a fact ence a day such as Black Tuesday again,
that this station owns its own emergency but the answer to these questions and
tive emergency system. power plant, but this cannot be switched the calling of a meeting of radio author-
on without permission from Melbourne? ities to discuss co-ordination of services
The seriousness of this situa- Is it a fact that this equipment is situated for emergency use is vital and should be
tion was only too evident in the in the middie of a marsh and thus was ordered by the Premier without further
metropolitan area and country away from fire danger? ado and public name-calling by amateur
and official radio alike.
districts alike. With communica- If the P.M.G, officials are noW so con-
cerned about technical infringements of
Hobart, SMOKE SIGNAL.
tions disrupted, essential co- the emergency we
regulations during
operation between citizens and must ask them what plan did they have
the authorities proved impos- for the use of amateur and other radio
services and what action to implement
sible. In the absence of a pre- this plan was taken on the day in ques-
arranged, co-ordinated plan for tion by them?
an emergency of this magnitude Who authorised Hobart radio to close .
down at its normal service time of 2000
“wastage” of both manpower E.S.T. and why was not use made of this
and equipment was inevitable. station for the clearing of telegraphic
traffic during the evening hours?
In quite a number of in- We read that H.M.A.S,. Derwent was
stances, however, amateur radio sent down from Sydney “to serve as a
operators stepped into the communication centre.” Whilst I do not
intend to disparage the action of the
breach, especially in country naval authorities in this gesture, may I
areas, in a praiseworthy effort ask why those in authority did not ar-
range for the use of the radio equipment
to provide vital communication on board the four merchant vessels in
links. Since then, the diverse port for links to Mainland capitals? | am
opinions expressed in both of- assured this is completely feasible and
two links could have been used for goy-
ficial and unofficial circles have ernmental business about emergency as-
been so conflicting that, not sur- istance required and the other two to
prisingly, the public is now con- sist relieve the burden from the P.O.
links.
fused as to the success or uther- The cables could have been collected
wise of their efforts, no matter and runners used to and from the vessels
how worthily motivated. being used as transmitting stations. If
my memory serves me correctly a mer-
“At this stage, the expression chant vessel’s radio was used during the
Napier earthquakes to keep contact with
of. conflicting opinions, and in- other cities till the N.Z. Navy arrived at
dulgence in recriminations, as the scene.
has occurred in some instances,
will serve no useful purpose.
Only by a thorough, calm and
reasoned review of what was
dohe in an attempt to provide at
least some alternative means of
communication can those tre-
sponsible hope to evolve a co-
ordinated system that will stand
the test of a civil emergency, be
itsmajor or minor.
‘With this in mind, there will
be general public accord for the
suggestion that a conference of
communications authorities and
official and amateur radio ex-
perts be called immediately. Not
only would this permit diseus-
sion of the co-ordination of their
services, but it would enable
plans to be made for a workable
communications network which
could be implemented immedi-
ately in any emergency.