The unusual use of a DUKW as a floating delivery platform for an Auster AOP-6 aircraft. Note the yellow upper surfaces and ‘red-lead’ paint used below the water line. Only two Auster AOP-6s, A11-200 and A11-201, were used by the RAAF Antarctic Flight, one each during the 1953-54 and 1955-56 expeditions, with one being lost on each voyage! Photograph: AAD by PG Law, Cat No.4246-A3
Australian interest in exploring the Antarctic continent and sub-Antarctic islands goes back to the early part of the 20 th Century. But, it was not until after the Second World War that the Australian Government decided to have a permanent presence in the area.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) became involved in Antarctic missions in 1948, supplying two DUKW amphibious vessels for an expedition to Macquarie Island.
Royal Australian Army Service Corps, Captain Laurie Stooke’s interest in media articles published on an earlier expedition to Heard Island sparked this involvement.
He had read that landing the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) party was difficult as the exhibition encountered rocky, inhospitable shores.
Captain Stooke thought the ADF’s six-wheel drive DUKW amphibious capability could offer a solution. The DUKWs were a truck within an outer boat-like hull that had first entered service with the Australian Army during 1942, with 535 acquired by Australia under the United States Lend Lease scheme.
The ADF used the DUKWs extensively on operations during the Second World War predominantly in tropical waters.
Their proposed use in sub-Antarctic waters was a new challenge for the ADF. So, when the expedition headed to Macquarie Island early in 1948, Capt Laurie Stooke and Warrant Officer Jack Cunningham were aboard with the two DUKW amphibians.
This was the beginning of a long association between the Australian Army and ANARE. The Army established an ANARE Detachment to provide crews and amphibious craft for most Antarctic relief voyages between 1948 and 1994.
The detachment was made up of volunteers drawn from two Corps. The Royal Australian Army Service Corps which later transformed into the Royal Australian Corps of Transport, provided the drivers and detachment commanders, while the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers provided technicians for maintenance and repair.
This small party of Army personnel and their vehicles performed invaluable work, decreasing the time required to transfer stores and personnel.
Army’s amphibious vehicles became an integral part of Antarctic expeditions. DUKWs were used on ANARE relief voyages until 1970. Army then cautiously introduced the more modern Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo Mark 5 (LARC-V) vehicles, sending the dependable DUKWs along with the LARC-Vs on the new capability’s first expedition south.
The LARC-V was a boat with wheels and its success on this first trip resulted in its use for all subsequent relief voyages until the disbandment of the Army ANARE Detachment in 1994.
There is no doubt that the contribution of the Army’s amphibious vehicles on various ANARE expeditions was a significant one. The vehicles, although never designed to operate in such harsh conditions, performed well, making the transport of cargo from ship to shore that much safer and more efficient.
LARC-V ARN 117113 with some bemused locals on Macquarie Island during the last LARC operation for ANARE: the circumnavigation of the island in less than 11 hours during 1993. By this time, the LARC-Vs were finished in a Day-Glo orange upper hull and polished aluminium lower hull. Photograph: AAD by K Bell , Cat No.3559-A2.
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