Visit to Simpson Barracks - HRH The Princess Royal of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals

Parade Booklet - Visit to Simpson Barracks - HRH The Princess Royal of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals

History of Army Communications Training Centre

Princess Anne Banner

Order of Ceremony

Troops on Parade

Corps History

Royal Australian Corps of Signals Museum

Photographs from the Princess Royal's visit to Simpson Barracks

HRH Princess Anne's motorcade arriving on the parade ground

HRH Princess Anne viewing the Banner on parade

HRH Princess Anne reviewing the Troops on parade

HRH Princess Anne talking to the Troops on parade

HRH Princess Anne talking with Major Tony Richards

HRH Princess Anne views the Corps Paintings

Certa Cito 75

Beyond the Boundaries International Symposium & Trade Show - Wednesday 26 April 2000

Certa Cito 75 - Celebrating 75 years of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals

Opening address by Sir William Deane, Governor-General

There are two reasons for my being here this morning. The first is for the official opening of this important Symposium and Trade Show ? Beyond the Boundaries. The second, and for me the more important, reason is to pay tribute, as Governor-General of our nation, to the Royal Australian Corps of Signals in this its 75th Anniversary year.

The Corps, with its motto certa cito, was founded as a separate corps of the Army on 1 January 1925. Since then, it has provided distinguished service to the Army, to the Defence Force, and to Australia generally; continuing the proud traditions of signalling that existed in our Army long before there was a distinct Signals Corps. Signals and our signallers were of critical importance to the Australian contingents in the imperial forces in the Boer War. In the years since Federation, they have played a central and absolutely essential role in our nation's military history and in all our military achievements. From Gallipoli and the Somme to the Western Desert and Kakoda. From Malaya and Korea to Vietnam, Cambodia, Bouganville and East Timor. And in so many other places. Over the three-quarters of a century since its formation, that role has been the life and service of the Corps.

The Corps' motto, commonly translated as swift and sure, captures the basic aim underpinning all signallers' activities. Both in battle and in peacekeeping missions, the speedy, accurate and secure communication of information is vital to the effective running of military operations. Obviously, information must be reliably relayed - a properly based decision can only be made with knowledge of the situation as it really is. And it is just as important that information be relayed speedily - the circumstances in which armed forces operate are prone to change quickly, and, for tactics to be effective, they must be based on current information. Finally, communications must be secure - their effectiveness is destroyed or undermined if they disclose to the enemy present locations, future movements or other sensitive information.

To achieve these fundamental objectives, the Corps of Signals has, over the years, magnificently adapted to a constantly and rapidly changing environment. Indeed, the theme of this Symposium and Trade Show, the only defence industry trade show of its kind scheduled for Australia in the next three years, is one that is particularly appropriate to the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. For throughout its proud history, the Corps, has demonstrated a constant preparedness to move "beyond the boundaries" of current practices and technologies in the bid to provide the most effective and efficient communication systems possible for our Defence Force.

Often this has meant that the Corps has been well ahead of its time. During World War II, for example, the Corps enlisted a large number of women - then something of a rarity in the armed services. They were trained as operators, draughtswomen, instrument mechanics, drivers, dispatch riders and in many other roles. It was soon appreciated that enlisting women was not simply a way of releasing men for active service in forward areas. The Signal Officer in Chief commented in November 1942 that the women were carrying out their duties as well as the men, that their speed as operators was outstanding, and that their discipline was exemplary.

Not surprisingly, the Corps' major challenge in recent times has been in adapting to, and putting to best effect, the rapidly changing communications technology. Initially, of course, the challenge for signallers was to succeed in simply getting a message across as swiftly as possible. And so they used flags, semaphores, and, famously, pigeons. In World War I, for example, the British Army alone had more than 20,000 pigeons in France.

But the twentieth century, with the practical utilisation of the electronic telegraph, revolutionised the way that military communications were made. And later on, radio was again completely to alter the nature of a signaller's job. The Corps put these developments to best effect, but retained the more traditional methods when they were useful. Thus, even at the end of World War II Australia still had some 4,000 pigeons in use in the South West Pacific Area.

It is doubtful that we will ever see the use of pigeons again. But who would be prepared to be completely dogmatic? Be that as it may, today's Corps has at its disposal methods of communication - radio, microwave and satellite links, - which seem to make the more primitive methods irretrievably obsolete. With this evolution in technology, the Corps has not only gained new ways to perform its traditional functions. Its role has also expanded. It now, in addition to striving for high quality, high capacity and secure communications, conducts electronic warfare - using advanced technology to control the electro-magnetic spectrum ? to listen to and to interfere with enemy electronic transmissions. For example, our signallers, with their advanced interception technology, played a major role in helping INTERFET detect armed militias on the border between East and West Timor. In that, they repaid a debt of honour owed by the Corps to the people of East Timer for the heroic assistance given to their predecessors in the darkest days of World War II.

Electronic warfare is, of course, not an entirely new concept. Signallers have never been confined to a role merely of providing communication systems for soldiers. One of the most famous instances in Australian military history saw signallers play a direct role in deceiving the enemy, to the advantage of our troops. That instance was, of course, Gallipoli - where at the end of a horrific campaign, a series of ingenious deceptions, including a complex signals plan, kept the enemy thinking to the last minute that the Australians were settling in for the winter. The Anzac forces were thus able to evacuate with barely any casualties. As one record put it: "The immaculate withdrawal from the Peninsula was made possible by the courage and efficiency of our signal engineers".

In December 1997, I was privileged to deliver the eulogy at the funeral of one of those signallers - who was also the last surviving Australian of the almost 16,000 men who, 85 years ago yesterday, landed at what is now called Anzac Cove. In the course of that eulogy, I said:

"Ted Matthews [used to] say that he was not one of the real heroes. [That he] was a signaller and the infantry, he said, had the worst of it. Yet he was there at Gallipoli, without respite, for the whole duration of the stalemate: through the heat, and the flies, and the stench of death, and disease, and attack, and counter-attack, and the cold as winter drew on, and bonds which transcended and transcend individual mortality were forged between those men and the soul of our nation."
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"For ANZAC is also about courage, and endurance, and duty, and mateship, and good humour, and the survival of a sense of self-worth ? in the face of overwhelming odds".

I added the comment that Ted Matthews was a wonderful example of that Anzac spirit.

The same comment could be made about another signaller called Matthews in another World War - Captain Lionel Matthews G.C., M.C. of 8th Division Signals. His heroism and steadfast loyalty, so well recognised and honoured in the Signals Museum, remain, in my view, unsurpassed in the annals of our nation.

Over its 75-year history, the Royal Australian Corps of Signals has magnificently upheld and enhanced that spirit of Anzac. For that, as Governor-General, I extend to the Corps and all who have served our country in its ranks my sincere thanks and admiration. I have no doubt that the traditions and standards of the Corps are in good hands with its current members. And I wish the Corps and all its members, past and present, a very happy 75th Anniversary celebration, and offer my best wishes for all the years and all the challenges that lie ahead.

And now, with great pleasure, I declare the Symposium and Trade Show - Beyond the Boundaries - to be officially open.

Sydney Olympic Games 2000

OPERATION GOLD - SYDNEY OLYMPIC GAMES 2000

Royal visit a highlight for Signallers

SIGs Devlin Gough and Warren Day, 145 Sig Sqn, are promoted by HRH Princess Anne

A visit by Her Royal Highness the Princess Anne to the 145th Signals Squadron proved to be a memorable occasion for two soldiers.

SIG Devlin Gough and SIG Warren Day came to the VIP morning tea unaware of their impending promotion until they were summonsed by their Colonel-in-Chief at the end of her inspection.

With one soldier having recently returned from East Timor, and one about to depart, the members of 145 Sig Sqn took great pride in showing Her Royal Highness their detailed knowledge of modern military communications.

Wearing her distinctive Royal Australian Signals Corps diamond pendant, Princess Anne said that she enjoyed her role as Colonel-in-Chief, having earlier this year opened the RASigs Museum in Melbourne.

The Princess Anne congratulated the squadron on their professionalism and dedication. She also thanked personnel for their contribution to the safety and success of the Sydney 2000 Games.