Eyewitness accounts of top secret missions
Z Special Unit operatives inserted into Borneo in 1945 were on Top Secret missions to gather intelligence and to train and arm local peoples, many of whom had already been conducting guerrilla warfare against the Japanese.
The operatives were trained in unarmed combat and how to survive in the jungle. They were briefed not to keep cameras, diaries or notes. The records if captured could endanger the mission and reveal vital intelligence. Despite this, some of the operatives brought cameras with them and others kept records. Some of these photographs and records are on display as part of the exhibition A Matter of Trust. The photographs provide a unique visual record of the island of Borneo and of the people these operatives fought alongside in 1945.
Major Gordon “Toby” Carter Officer Commanding the Semut operations took photographs of some of the Dayaks that he worked with. This photograph of an Iban Dayak armed with an Australian rifle and his parang (sword) was taken on Operation Semut 2. While serving with the Allies, Dayaks were often issued with Australian army clothing and weapons.
Roland Griffiths-Marsh of Operation Semut 1 wrote that he kept a secret record of the guerrillas that he served with. The list was wrapped in oiled silk and buried for hiding. He wrote many years later that he had kept the list in order to provide compensation to any widows of the Dayak guerrillas he served with and to recover weapons issued at war’s end. He told no-one at the time that he kept this record. As part of the exhibition the Memorial has digitised and published online over 10,000 pages of records created behind enemy lines by Z Special Unit operatives in Borneo these signals, lists, maps and reports are now available on the Memorial’s website.