Japanese submarine sighted and captured near Green Island during WW2

JAPANESE SUBMARINE SIGHTED AND CAPTURED
NEAR GREEN ISLAND DURING WW2

A sighting of Japanese soldiers on the beach at Yarrabah Mission may have been linked to reports of a Japanese submarine being seen in the area and supposedly captured near Green Island. The Australian War Memorial records indicate that the Royal Australian Navy had investigated the sighting of a Japanese submarine off Green Island.

Were they really Japanese or were they Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) operatives or maybe Netherlands East Forces Intelligence Service's officers from the the "House on the Hill" in Cairns?

Rob Hinxman, a school teacher at Yarrabah, remembers that there was a map of the area taken from the Japanese submarine captured off Cairns. The map was apparently held in either the John Oxley Mapping Section of the Queensland State Library or at the Queensland Maritime Museum.

In January 2024, I was contacted by someone who used work in the dive industry. He shared the following information with me:-

I had the pleasure of working & socialising with a respected research diver (Government Department). He was a really honest & humble guy.

He has recovered a number of lost artifacts over many years & I assisted him in recovery of a WW2 Propeller & Gearbox that people had been trying to locate for over 40 years. That is why I trust his information.

During a conversation, he told me that there was a sunk Japanese WW2 Submarine located off Green Island. I asked him where he had got that information & he confirmed that he had dived & viewed the wreck.

Apparently, the location details were suppressed due to the high amount of Mercury on board, "among other reasons".

Have thought about this consistently over many years & then saw your post.

Not sure if he is still alive. There was no location, direction or distance given.