Australia committed to the conflict in June 1950, deploying a training team, a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) bomber squadron and a RAAF transport squadron. Australia deployed Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army and further RAAF elements from 1955 onwards.
In April 1950, the British Government asked whether some RAAF units could be sent to help in Malaya. Australia's prime minister, Robert Menzies, hesitated. Menzies was profoundly pro-British and anti-communist, and he replied that he was 'deeply conscious of the serious position in Malaya'. He nevertheless feared that the electorate would not approve of 'committing Australia to a militaristic policy.' He was also unsure whether the British would win.
Menzies postponed any decision on the matter until after the visit of the British Commissioner-General for South-East Asia, Malcolm MacDonald. But the visit, which took place in early May 1950, made the Government's decision more difficult. Despite urgings in the Australian press for intervention in Malaya, the visit sparked some anti-British demonstrations, while Cabinet was unconvinced by MacDonald.
An article on the front page of The Canberra Times outlined the prime minister's response to the Malayan conflict. It makes very clear the links he drew between the situation in Malaya and the wider Cold War. The communist threat was one that Menzies used to his electoral advantage during this period.
With Machiavellian skill, the Soviet leaders have endeavoured to weaken and disintegrate the non-communist [Asian] countries by infiltration of political parties, trade unions and other organisations, in order to create unrest, disorder and discontent.
[‘MALAYA PART OF REDS’, The Canberra Times, 31 May 1950, p 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2782142]
Menzies nevertheless found a compromise. On 31 May 1950, he announced that Australia would send one RAAF unit to Malaya. However, it was to be a transport squadron rather than a bomber or fighter unit.
The advance party of No. 38 Squadron RAAF arrived in Singapore in early June 1950. It was a low-key start to what became Australia's longest involvement in an overseas conflict until the War in Afghanistan.
However, the Federation of Malaya declared a state of emergency on 16 June 1948 in response to rising violence from the Malayan Communist Party (MCP).
No. 38 Squadron started to arrive in Singapore in late June, with the last of its 8 aircraft and ground crew arriving in early July 1950. Learn more about RAAF operations in Malaya.
The invasion of South Korea by the forces of communist North Korea on 25 June 1950 changed the Australian Government's outlook. Stronger measures against the communist guerrillas in Malaya seemed more appropriate.
Just 2 days after the Korean War began, Cabinet decided to send the Lincoln bombers of No. 1 Squadron RAAF to Malaya along with a small group of military advisors.
Now known as the Bridgeford Mission, Australia's 8-person team was sent to study British anti-insurgent operations in Malaya. The military mission included senior officers from the 3 armed services:
- Major-General William Bridgeford, Army (later Lieutenant-General)
- Colonel John Gordon Noel Wilton, Army (later General)
- Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Cox, Army
- Lieutenant-Colonel George Radford Warfe, Army (later Colonel)
- Major Stuart Paul Weir, Army (later Brigadier)
- Lieutenant-Commander Anthony Synnot, RAN (later Admiral)
- Wing Commander Gordon Henry Steege, RAAF (later Air Commodore).
CANBERRA, 19 July: An Australian military mission will fly to Malaya with the R.A.A.F. Lincoln bomber squadron to study all aspects of the campaign against Communist guerillas and to acquire information of value to the Australian services. Announcing this tonight, the Acting Prime Minister (Mr. Fadden) said that at the same time the experience in jungle warfare of members of the team would be at the disposal of the British authorities in Malaya
['AUSTRALIAN TEAM TO SEE WARFARE IN MALAYA', The West Australian, 20 July 1950, p 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47875743]
Later deployments
Political and military developments in the mid-1950s led to Australia's increasing military commitment in 1955.
In late 1954, Australia joined the newly formed South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) and agreed to the establishment of the British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve (FESR) in Malaya. At the time, Australian Army units were returning home following the end of hostilities in the Korean War.
The FESR included an infantry brigade, bomber and fighter squadrons and naval vessels. It provided the organisational structure for most of the Australian involvement in the Malayan Emergency.
The army component of the FESR was the 28th Commonwealth Brigade. The 28th Brigade had served in Korea and was re-formed at Penang, Malaya, in 1955. Australian Army infantry battalions and artillery batteries and their support units served 2-year tours of duty in Malaya from 1955 as part of the 28th Brigade.
The RAAF bomber and fighter squadrons based at Butterworth from 1958 were part of the FESR.
The RAN ships involved in the Malayan Emergency were also part of the FESR.
A significant part of service in Malaya from October 1955 was that many families of servicemen joined them. Wives and children lived in ‘married quarters’ in such places as Butterworth, Penang and Singapore.
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