NEGRO SERVICEMEN RIOT
AT THE UPPER ROSS, TOWNSVILLE
ON 22 MAY 1942
| visits since 1 December 2000 |
By August 1942, there were about 7, 258 Negro servicemen based in Australia. One such Negro unit was the 96th Engineers General Services Regiment airfield construction Battalion that was based in the Upper Ross area near Townsville to construct the Upper Ross airfield (Kelso field).
On 15 April 1942, about 100 men of the 96th Battalion were involved in a fight in Townsville. They had been rounded up by white soldiers with fixed bayonets and loaded guns.
On 22 May 1942 between 8 pm and 9 pm several shots could be heard coming from the Negroes camp. One of the many to hear the shots was the late Arthur Kelso who was riding his horse on his property at Laudham Park, on Five Head Creek in the Upper Ross area just outside Townsville. He heard the initial shots and judged them to be about 1.5 miles away. The shooting continued and he could then hear Thompson sub machine guns. The firing continued until about 11pm.
Many of the locals who heard the firing thought the military were playing "war games". However all hell had broken loose at the camp. One source suggested that the riot started when a white Captain struck a Negro soldier. Arthur Kelso indicated that drunken Negroes started to fire guns at their white officers, who then returned the fire.
A road block was set up to prevent the rioting Negroes from entering Townsville. There were reports of 250 Negroes on the rampage and that they had commandeered some trucks and were heading into town. Arthur Kelso reported that he later heard that 19 coffins had been ordered to bury those killed in the riot.
Dick Kelso, Arthur's brother, who was with the 11th Brigade was one of those who manned a road block on Ross River road that evening after the riot. Dick said they were issued with live ammunition and Bren Guns as well. Dick reported that the rioting Negroes had been stopped and turned back at another road block near Corbeth's water hole on Ross River.
The 29th Australian Infantry Brigade War Diary No. 6 has an entry in May 1942 regarding the riot as follows:-
| 23 May | 0205 | Message from Div that 500 US tps. from an Engr unit were in revolt at Junc. of FIVE HEAD and ROSS CKS. They were armed and a rep. from Div. had gone out to contact them. | |
| 0225 | Message that trouble had been settled. |
The 51st Australian Infantry Battalion "War Diary or Intelligence Summary" in May 1942 had the following entries regarding the riot. Though the diary is identified as being for the 51st Australian Infantry Battalion, by that time it had been redesignated as the 31st/51st Australian Infantry Battalion:-
| 22 May 42 | 2400 | Bde reported U.S. negroes had seized their own arms. 51 Bn sent 2 coys to block STUART TOWNSVILLE road to all persons | |
| 23 May 42 | 0022 | B coy ordered to move to B. H.Q. picking up guides at ECHLIN ST. on route. Password BUCKS | |
| 0058 | patrol supply by C. Coy under Lieut Smith from Bde operating along WEIR ROAD | ||
| 0010 | D. Coy ordered to take up position ROSS RIVER Meatworks Br. with left flank STUART TOWNSVILLE road. 1 Sec M.G.'s attached. Instructions cancelled. Coy in reserve in vicinity RISING SUN. 1 Sec Carriers with A. Coy, 1 Sc with C. Coy. | ||
| 0225 | Instructions from Bde. A. Coy at ROSS RIVER Br. and Sec Carriers attached to be recalled. C. Coy remain in position WEIR AREA. | ||
| 0258 | Message from Bde state Carriers at C. Coy. ordered by Col. Forbes to return to lines. | ||
| 0344 | A. Coy returned to Biv. Area | ||
| 0718 | Bde instructions all coys return to Biv Area | ||
| 0855 | Bde instructions that all messages by wireless must be passed by cipher |
Lt. Frank W. Beasecker, Co. B of the 411th Engineer Base Shop Battalion in Cairns, wrote in his diary on
6 July 1943:-The 96th Engineers—a Negro battalion, had a mutiny a few months back and expended 30,000 rounds of machine gun ammo. Luckily no one was hurt but they were after the white officers.
This diary entry by Lt Beasecker is over a year after the suggested date of May 1942.
John Barr worked with Mick Statham at the Goods Shed in Ayr during the 1980's. Mick was in Coastal Defence, and in Commonwealth Construction at Garbutt. One of the subjects they talked about was the landing of Japanese troops on Australian soil. One of these "stories" suggests that some American Negroes based at Woodstock were brought down by train to Cromarty to capture 106 Japanese Marines that had been spotted coming ashore at Cromarty
The story suggests that a short battle ensured. Apparently two Negroes were wounded and a number of Japanese Marines were killed. They were taken and held at the cutting at Kissing Point in Townsville. These were the same Negroes that held the demonstration for their basic rights near Stuart Station during WW2. I wonder if this is referring to the above riot at Laudham Park involving the 96th Battalion. The 91st Battalion was the Negro unit that had been cased at Woodstock for a while.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I'd like to thank John Barr for his assistance with this home page.
I'd like to thanks Robert Beasecker for his assistance with this web page.
The 22 May 1942 date of this incident was provided to me by Ray Holyoak. Several extracts of Mr Holyoak’s 1998 James Cook University Honors Thesis; "The North Queensland Line: The Defence of Townsville in 1942" appear with permission on the Australia @ War website. This crucial date for the riot at the Upper Ross enabled me to search a number of War Diaries for confirmation of some of details of the event. Ray is carrying out a Postgraduate study in 2012 in regards to the African American experience in North Queensland during WWII.
|
© Peter Dunn 2006 |
Click here
to E-Mail
me |
|
|
|
Peter Dunn's |
|||
|
|
|
||
This page first produced 1December 2000
This page last updated 30 September 2011
AUSTRALIA
@ WAR
