Navy base marks 50 years

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 460, 3 November 1992, Page 1

Navy base marks 50 years

By

Jan Savell

Retired navy personnel showed today's Irirangi ship's company what a celebration is really about when they came to Waiouru to commemorate 50 years of naval presence in the area. The naval wireless/ telegraphy station or Waiouru W/T as it was t ^re commonly known) ^€gan operation at hihitahi in 1942. Initially boift Air Force and Navy personnel lived on the site but the Air Force soon moved out to Waiouru Military Camp. On the weekend past navy personnel reminisced about the conditions they found. "You would arrive at Waiouru at 3 am. It would be dark, cold and always windy. A 1500 weight truck would pick you up at the station and take you out to the W/T station, said Jim Adlam. "They'd have a hot meal for you and it was off to bed. In the moming you'd wake up and wonder why you ever came here!" Mr Adlam was the designated driver of that 1500 weight truck and his comrades at the reunion were keen to tell some stories about him. "I was the QM," said Jack Gardner. "I couldn't drive but would go with Jim to pick up stores from the station in Waiouru. One night we got there and Jim picked up his bag to catch the train. He just put the truck into first gear and said 'you come home from the railway station like this'. And I did, drove all the way back in first gear!"

Wrens made up the bulk of the personnel at the site from 1943 to 1945 . At one stage the ratio was 80 wrens to 40 sailors. They worked four shifts and were treated just the same as the male ratings. The isolation was a big shock to many of the women who had as little as three months training before being sent to Waiouru. "We would be woken and put on balaclavas, oilskins, sou'westers, gumboots and bellbottoms for the walk from quarters to the receiver huts," said Pauline Taylor. "When we got there the previous watch would have hot chocolate and buttered toast waiting for us." The station provided the Navy with a direct lirik to major capitals around the world. It was also the clearing house for the administrative signals for the British Pacific Fleet, The station's major achievement during the war was the broadcasting for the British Pacific Fleet off Japan, when the American Circuits were too heavily loaded to handle the British Admiralty's traffic. Operators relayed messages in code to officers at distant headquarters. In 1953 the Queen's Christmas Message to the Empire and Commonwealth was broadcast from Government House using naval transmitters in Waiouru. This message incorporated a statement relating to the Tangiwai rail disaster. Sailors from the station assisted at the scene of the tragedy.