Harry in the frame for new agency

In August 1915, Harry Freame was badly wounded at Gallipoli and finally repatriated to Australia. By 20 November 1916, the day he was officially discharged from the Army, he was living at 2 Bondi Road, Bondi.

Freame’s return to Australia coincided with the attempts to establish a new intelligence network to monitor Japan whose translation efforts were headed by James Murdoch. 

Murdoch. a journalist and teacher, had been appointed as a professor at Sydney University to allow him to take up the role.

Harry Freame in Sydney c1920. It is likely he was recruited to intelligence activity as a Japanese speaker.This is the sixth in a series on Australia's early intelligence activities, the second on the life of Harry Freame.  

 Murdoch had a major problem in finding sufficient Japanese speakers and began to recruit from Japan. His recruits entered the country despite the then White Australia Policy. Murdoch’s wife was Japanese too. It seems from immigration records that the White Australia policy was bent to allow all this to happen.

 This was neither the first nor the last time that this happened. The White Australia Policy was never an absolute, but more a barrier that could be relaxed when circumstances demanded it.

It seems likely that Harry Freame was recruited to this intelligence effort. We have no direct evidence for this. However, intelligence historian John Fahey mounts a fairly convincing case.

Fahey shows first that Freame was linked through the Army to two of the people involved in the creation of this new intelligence network. He has also found references to an unnamed Japanese speaking Australian ex-serviceman who was being used by the group.

Freame was a native Japanese speaker. We know of no other Japanese speaking ex-serviceman at this point, so the connection seems likely.

In all this, it also seems likely that the newly appointed Japanese consul in Sydney was well aware of Australian activities including Freame’s possible involvement.

Australia was in many ways a very small goldfish bowl. The newspapers covered new arrivals, while the Japanese or Japanese speaking community was very small that they were known to everyone including the Consul.

There is no evidence that I know that either Japan or the Consul were especially worried about Australian activities at this point. However, it does seem possible that files were created that might later prove fatal to Harry Freame. 

As I described in an earlier column, political infighting led Prime Minister William Morris Hughes to cancel this first Australian intelligence operation targeting the Pacific in general, Japan in particular.

By the time Freame became involved again, Australia was in the position it had been in 1916. It had a renewed interest, but no structure and very few Japanese speakers.

I am jumping forward. Even before Hughes closed the Pacific Intelligence Branch that had been carrying out Australia’s Pacific intelligence activities, Harry Freame had decided to return to New England.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 27 February 2019. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019   

‘Spy’ a hero of Gallipoli

Harry Freame at Gallipoli. This is the sixth in a series on Australia's early intelligence activities, the second on the life of Harry Freame.  

In my last column in this series on Australia’s early spies, I referred to two stories about Harry Freame that became built into the Freame legend.

The first was that in 1904 he served as part of an international band of mercenaries hired to help suppress a revolt in German East Africa, the second that he worked as an intelligence office for President Porfirio Diaz during the Mexican wars.

The legend also says that with the collapse of the Diaz Government in 1911, Freame fled Mexico by pack horse with a price on his head, escaping to Australia via Chile.  

In his book Australia’s First Spies, John Fahey points to evidence that suggesting that that these stories are just not possible. That said, events would now occur that do make we wonder. Just how did a merchant seaman acquire some of the skills Freame apparently possessed?

When war broke out in 1914, Harry was working as a horse breaker at Glen Innes with wife Edith still in England.  Horse breaking is a skilled trade. If Harry spent all his time at sea, where did he learn to break horses? Was he just a quick learner? He could certainly bluff.

Harry enlisted and in late October 1914 sailed with the 1^st  Infantry Battalion for the Middle East. He arrived on Gallipoli on 25 April as lance corporal and was subsequently promoted to sergeant.

On Gallipoli, Harry worked as a scout, Here, writer Darryl Kelly suggests,” Harry's skill and knowledge of previous campaigns began to surface.” Perhaps not, Mr Kelly accepts the legend, but Harry was clearly very brave and adopted a swashbuckling style that fitted with his claimed past.

The army uniform was modified. Leather pads were fitted to elbows and knees, the .303 rifle was replaced by pistols worn on both hips, a third pistol was carried in a small shoulder holster under his shirt, a bowie knife in a boot scabbard. A black and white bandana worn around the neck completed the outfit.

In service, Harry earned Australia’s first Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery under fire. Australia was in need of heroes and his exploits were reported in local newspapers and later in Bean’s official history of the war.

On 14 August 1915, Harry was badly wounded and was evacuated and finally repatriated to Australia. A new chapter in the Freame story was beginning. 

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 20 February 2019. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019   

Creating the Freame legend

Osaka 1800s: This was the world in which Harry Freame grew up. This is the fifth in a new series on Australia's early intelligence activities, the first on the life of Harry Freame. 

In my last column, I spoke of Australia’s efforts towards the end of World War I to establish an intelligence service capable of spying on the Japanese Empire.

That effort failed because it became embroiled in political disputes that had little to do with the objectives, and much to do with the personality and power position of then Prime Minister William Morris Hughes.

However, it did (we think) introduce a New England character to the world of spies and spying.

I say think because that figure wrapped himself in so much myth and conflicting stories that none of us can be absolutely sure. Even his own family could not be sure.

Wykeham Henry (Harry) Freame was born in Osaka Japan about 1880 to William Henry Freame, an English sailor, and Kitagawa Sei, the daughter of Kitagawa Yasuaki, a local samurai from Shiga Prefecture.

According to John Fahey, the marriage was an historic event in its own right because it was the first in Japan where a Japanese head of family officially sought to instigate a marriage to a foreigner.

This was not welcome and it took time to arrange. Finally, approval was granted in June 1873 by the main office of the Great Council of State.

I doubt that the office would have adopted the same position if they had known that William was already married. He had, in fact, married Ellen Coker on June 20, 1867 in Melbourne and already had a son. 

Harry always lied about his age depending on purpose, creating confusion.

When he enlisted in the Australian Army in August 1914, he gave his age as 29, then lowered it later depending on the position he was seeking. However, we know that he was born before his father died at the end of 1881.

It appears that Harry was educated in Osaka until the age of 15 or 16, learning to speak fluent Japanese. He then left for England and entered the merchant marine.

"He (Harry) was clearly a better husband than his father for his wages were paid to his wife."

In England in 1906, Harry met and married Edith May Soppitt from Middlesbrough. He was clearly a better husband than his father for his wages were paid to his wife. Later, he would nurse her on the family farm at Kentucky until her death.

From this period in the merchant marine would come two stories that became part of the Freame legend.

The first is that in 1904 he served as part of an international band of mercenaries hired to help suppress a revolt in German East Africa, the second that he worked as an intelligence officer for President Porfirio Diaz during the Mexican Wars.

Looking at the dates, I have always thought that the first was unlikely, the second just possible. But whichever way, they would become part of the Freame legend.  

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 13 February 2019. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019   

Early Royal Australian Navy intelligence makes a difference

Captain Meyer and crew, SS Greifswald: The capture of the German maritime code books on the Greifswald were part of Australia's first and greatest intelligence success.This is the third in a new series on Australia's early intelligence activities. 

As the world headed into World War One, the British navy was arguably the best and most sophisticated international intelligence service in the world. In a way it had to be, for it was operating in a global environment and needed to know what was happening. 

From its ships and bases a constant stream of intelligence fed back to London. It was already an early expert in what we now call SIGINT, intelligence based on the interception of signals. 

When the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was created, it became an integral element in this global network. It not only provided information, but had access to the global Royal Navy information flows. 

In December 1912, Lieutenant Commander Walter Thring from the Royal Navy was recruited to the RAN oversight, among other things, naval intelligence. 

An energetic man, Thring quickly had a major impact. Among other things, he created a War Book for the RAN based on the Royal Navy version. This set out the actions to be taken should War break out and played a major role in the RAN’s subsequent fast response. 

As the possibility of war became closer, the RN developed plans to attempt to seize German naval code books.

 As the possibility of war became closer, the RN developed plans to attempt to seize German naval code books. 

On 2 August 1914, two days before Britain’s formal declaration of war, the RAN received instructions to activate the Examination Service, the name used for search and seizure operations on vessels entering or leaving Australian ports. 

SS Greifswald Freemantle following seizure.

By 8 August, the RAN had identified seven German targets, By 10 August, a copy of the German maritime codes had been seized. This meant that the RAN and Admiralty were able to read German maritime traffic within a week of the war started. 

By 3 September, the RAN had captured multiple sets including the signal book of the German Imperial Navy. This effect was that the entire global German naval communications system had been compromised within a month of the war starting.

Initially, all the intercepted traffic was sent to the RAN station in Perth where the first code book had been captured. There Captain CJ Clare, the District Naval Officer, had commissioned George A Pfizer, the Senior Master of Modern Languages at Perth Modern School to translate and make copies of the captured books.

Working hard, Pfizer completed his task by 15 August 1914. On that day, copies were despatched to RAN HQ in Melbourne and to the Admiralty by ship. Until they arrived in London, the RAN remained the centre of the global British decryption effort. 

You would think that the German navy would have changed its codes after the early loss of ships. In fact, in an astonishing display of complacency, it did not do until early 1916. The early Australian naval intelligence triumph therefore had long term impact on the war. 

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 30 January 2019. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015, here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019  

Australia ventures into intelligence

Led by flagship HMAS Australia, the Australian fleet enters Rabaul in 1914. While this was seen as a great triumph, Australian naval intelligence had already achieved a greater victory. This is the second in a new series on Australia's early intelligence activities. 

Reading John Faye’s 2018 book, Australia’s First Spies, I was struck by the relative sophistication of Australia’s early intelligence efforts. I was also struck by the way that bureaucratic and political infighting tarnished that early promise.  

Three intelligence networks were important in the first two decades after Federation.

The first and least important was military intelligence.

In November 1901, British Major General Edward Hutton was appointed as the first General Officer Commanding the newly formed Australian Military Forces. Hutton, an experienced soldier who understood the importance of intelligence and the need for armies to study other armies, began building military intelligence.

On 1 July 1909, Hutton was replaced by Australian born Major General John Hoad. Hoad was an ambitious man and an effective bureaucratic politician, but he had little knowledge of, or interest in, military intelligence, and the function decayed.

The second intelligence network was the civilian network established by Atlee Hunt.

A lawyer, Hunt had been Edmond Barton’s private secretary in the period leading up to Federation. In May 1901, Barton appointed Hunt as secretary and permanent head of the Department of External Affairs to which, until 1909, the Prime Minister's Office was also attached.

Hunt immediately began to build an intelligence network using, among others, the overseas trade representatives appointed by the Australian colonies, now states.

"The third and by far the most effective Australian intelligence network was that founded by the newly formed Royal Australian Navy"

It was Hunt who launched Australia’s first ever international spy mission in 1901 when Wilson Le Courtier was sent to the New Hebrides to spy on the competing French and British interests in that territory,

The third and by far the most effective Australian intelligence network was that founded by the newly formed Royal Australian Navy.

Today, we think of the successful invasion of German New Guinea in as the first successful action by the Royal Australian Navy.

That’s true at one level, but it’s not really correct. Arguably, the most important RAN success, one that had a significant effect on the outcome of the First World War, was the breaking of the German maritime ciphers.

I will tell you this story in my next column. 

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 23 January 2019. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015, here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019  

Australia ventures into foreign policy - and spies

Raising the flag, Port Moresby 1883: This action by Queensland set the initial framework for both Australian foreign policy and its espionage activities. This is the first in a new series on Australia's early intelligence activities. 

In this new short series of columns I am going to take you into the world of Australia’s early spies, well before ASIO, ASIS and the alphabet soup of this country’s multifarious intelligence agencies.

In a way, Wednesday 4 April 1883 provides a useful entry point to our story. On that day, Henry Chester, the Police Magistrate on Thursday Island, raised the flag at Port Moresby to formally annex New Guinea and adjacent islands in the name of the British Empire.

Chester was acting on the instructions of the Queensland Premier, Sir Thomas McIlwraith.

The Australian colonies had been concerned for some time about the expansion of German power in the Pacific. They had asked the central Government to annex New Guinea, but also refused to pay any of the costs. In 1876, London declined.

Frustrated, McIlwraith. decide to act unilaterally.  

The British government repudiated the action. However, after the Australian colonies agreed to provide financial support, the British Government made the territory a British protectorate the following year.

Agreement was also reached between the Netherlands, Germany and Britain defining a key dividing boundary.

West Papua became a Dutch colony. The north eastern portion of the island became German New Guinea, the south eastern portion became British New Guinea, later Papua. Four years later, in 1888, Britain formally annexed the territory along with some adjacent islands.

In 1902, authority over Papua was effectively transferred to the new Australian Federation. With the passage of the Papua Act of 1905, the area was officially renamed the Territory of Papua, with Australia assuming formal control in 1906.

This simple tale provides the basis framework for understanding both Australian foreign policy and the emergence of Australia’s intelligence activities.

To the Imperial Government in London trying to balance costs and. imperial economic and political interests at time of growing competition between rising empires including that of the United States, the acquisition of new, distant and potentially costly territories was a low priority.

The self-governing Australian colonies and then the new Commonwealth of Australia were well aware of the imperial position, but took a different view.

While loyal to the Empire, they saw the South Pacific as their economic and political territory, wishing to establish a hegemony similar to that asserted by the Unites States over the Americas with the 1823 Munroe Doctrine. They were also concerned at the growing influence of other rival empires in the Pacific that threatened this dream. 

The end result was the early emergence of a quite distinct if parochial Australian foreign policy. 

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 16 January 2019. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015, here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019  

Musing on Geraldine Doogue's new RN radio program on new genres in Australian history

Interesting program this morning from the ABC's Geraldine Doogue New genres in Australian history. The introduction describes it this way

Saturday Extra brings you in the month of March emerging and established historians who are embarking on studies of particular regions in Australia and using different means to trace the history such as literature and the environment. Eminent historian Tom Griffiths provides his take on this new genre.

As indicated, the program began with an interview with Professor Tom Griffiths whose most recent book is entitled The Art of Time Travel: Historians and their Craft.  I haven't read it yet. Clearly I must.

This was followed by an interview with Tony Hughes d'Aeth whose recent book, Like Nothing on this Earth: A Literary History of the Wheatbelt, studies the work of eleven writers to explore the experiences and feelings of living and working in West Australia's wheatbelt area, a region that is almost as large as Britain. I liked his approach.

I'm not sure about the new genre part, mind you  After all, historians such as John Ryan have been working in this space for many years. However, I was pleased to see a renewed interest in regional history as well as a focus on using different sources to explore different aspects of life.

I responded with a comment hoping that there would be some inclusion from the broader New England in the program. I gave a link to this blog as an example of the range of topics. However, reading the blog actually left me dissatisfied at several levels.

Because I write across a number of platforms, the blog does not properly represent the range of work that is around nor the different threads involved. Further, I am trying to write a history of the full North over 30,000 years so that I am constantly moving between topics, adding topics. In a way, it's a bit uncontrolled. Then, too, I write outside the academy so that I'm not aware of the range of work going on.

I have the strong impression that the interest in the history of the broader New England has been in decline for a long time. The historians I do know who have done so much are dead or old now to the point that I am just about the youngest. The younger ones within academic life who are interested are so pressed by day-to-day pressures that they don't have time to write.

They also face a problem in that the KPIs that govern their life are structured in such a way that to be interested in local or regional history simply does not cut the mustard unless they have an institution that has it in its mission statement and is prepared to commit resources, to provide top cover, even though it gains no money.      .

Let me give a simple example. An article in say the Armidale and District Historical Society Journal is read by locals and then stays as a resource for broader interest. I use it all the time. I know others do. But it doesn't count because it's outside the KPIs.

I remember going into the University and asking what I might provide that would help them measure the UNE contribution. I was told that nothing I did could be counted because I was an adjunct, not a staff member. Further, all the stuff I did fell outside the parameters anyway.

I thought f...! Here's a place that was founded in part to serve New England, the university of the North. Here's a place that has had a dramatic influence on the texture of Northern life and well beyond. And now this is all written off as irrelevant to comply with certain imposed KPIs.

Then I thought, blow them  Each week I get to more people than read the standard academic article in twelve months. I know people are interested, although I struggle to respond to the feedback because I am working alone.

I may seem to have drifted. I have not. I am looking forward to following the series. If we have new work on regional history, if people are trying new things, I want to know about it, recognising that I am outside the academic loop.

For my part and looking at this blog, it is also time to draw together some of my writing even though it is far from perfect.

Janine Rizzetti's review of Klaus Neumann's Across the Seas: Australia’s Response to Refugees. A History

Janine Rizzetti's The Resident Judge of Port Phillip remains one of my favourite history blogs. I mention this now because she has written a number of very good posts, most recently a book review,

‘Across the Seas: Australia’s Response to Refugees. A History’ by Klaus Neumann.

From Janine's summary, I suspect that this is a book I should read for both personal and professional reasons. I also hadn't realised  until I read the post that former Fraser Government Immigration Minister Michael MacKellar had died. Janine has a link to his obituary in the Age. .