DID GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
SLEEP OVERNIGHT AT THE CAPALABA
RADIO RECEIVING SITE TO LISTEN TO
THE BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA?
I'M AFRAID NOT!!

Barry Johns of Wellington Point was interviewed on 6 August 2016 and he told of two Americans who visited the former WWII Capalaba Radio Receiving Site in about 1987/1988. Barry worked at the site from 1983 to 1987 as a Technical Officer. The two American apparently told Barry the following "story" which is replicated from the Queensland WWII Historic Places web site which is listed in the references below.

"General MacArthur decided to sleep at the receiving station. He had to maintain communication with the US fleet at all times. General MacArthur couldn’t risk the landline communication between Capalaba and his headquarters in Brisbane being bombed. Barry was told that General MacArthur slept in the switching room near where the cables from the antenna entered the room through a panel. This room was across from the room with monitoring equipment. The Americans pointed to where General MacArthur’s bed was put. [MacArthur’s GHQ was not moved from Melbourne to Brisbane until late July 1942. Equipment for the Birkdale radio receiving station was still being installed between June-September 1942. If did MacArthur sleep at the radio receiving station, it would have been some time after the Battle of the Coral Sea]."

Note:- The following note also accompanies the above text:-

 [The statements about Japanese military activity near Brisbane in May 1942, and General McArthur sleeping at the Radio Receiving Station, are currently uncorroborated].

The part of the above "story" that is missing is that MacArthur supposedly stayed overnight at Capalaba to listen to the progress of the Battle of the Coral Sea.

MYTH BUSTED

1. The Battle of the Coral Sea took place from 4 to 8 May 1942. General Douglas MacArthur was based in Melbourne in May 1942 and did not come to Brisbane for the first time until late July 1942 when he moved his GHQ SWPA from Melbourne to Brisbane. I have a copy of MacArthur's Office Diary which shows his location for every day of the war. Even if he did happen to be visiting Brisbane at that time, which he did not, he would have been standing in an empty cow paddock as the Radio Receiving Station had not been built by that time. Myth Busted!

2. The Capalaba Radio Receiving Site was part of the ACAN network which was the Army Command and Administrative Network. It carried Administrative traffic and later was used for the Sigsaly secure voice communications system which allowed MacArthur to have voice conferences with the Chiefs of Staff and the President in Washington DC. It DID NOT listen to operational units or ships of the US Fleet. Myth Busted!

3. Even if MacArthur did stay overnight at the Capalaba Receiving site, he would have only encountered encrypted morse code. I doubt he could even understand unencrypted morse code. And it would only have been administrative traffic, not operational traffic from battles Myth Busted!

CONCLUSION

It would appear that the two Americans might have told a few tall stories to Barry. General Douglas MacArthur did not sleep overnight at the Capalaba site either during the Battle of the Coral Sea or at any other time.

The two Americans also claimed that during the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese aircraft flew over Brisbane and dropped bombs at the mouth of the Brisbane River!! Again not true. They also claimed Capalaba was also a transmitting site during WWII. Again not true.

REFERENCES

US Radio Receiving Station Cotton’s Farm, Capalaba, Radio Communications site, US Army Signal Corps, Queensland WWII Historic Places

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 9 April 2021

This page last updated 10 April 2021