The Home Guard joined the Awarua Radio station’s 110th birthday celebrations last Saturday.
World War 1 and 2 Historical Reinaction Group and Home Guard enthusiast Lindsay Troon said during World War 2, a home guard camp established a 24/7 watch to protect the strategic communication centre from enemy invasion and sabotage.
There were very real concerns the Japanese would invade via sea through Bluff in the south to destroy the spy station, he said.
The radio station, which ran from 1913-1991, played an important international role, eavesdropping on enemy ship communications during wartime to pinpoint their locations, he said.
An Otago Daily Times article from September 2016 records historian Alex Glennie launching A Scrapbook of History, which contained an extensive history of the station’s activities.
Glennie recorded that about mid-1942, New Zealand operators warned the Australian forces Japanese midget submarines were nearing Sydney Harbour. Three entered the harbour, two were detected, but one attacked and sank the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors.
The station, operated by the New Zealand Post Office, transmitted telegrams as well as important radio communications to the Campbell Islands and other isolated coastal communities.
Callsign VLB, or ZLB, was New Zealand’s main receiving and transmitting coast radio station providing radio and voice ship-to-shore communications.
Coastal fishing and commercial fishing vessels at sea also relied on the station for safety and weather forecast services.
German contractors built the station that went operational on December 18, 1913, servicing the South Pacific region during World War 1.
It was one of two stations built by Germany’s Telfunken for a total of £25,000 for both. The Awarua station and its sister station at Awanui, near Kaitaia, opened on the same day.
The flat site was chosen because of its high ground conductivity, and low radio interference.
Mr Glennie’s book is available for sale at the museum. The German construction crew cottages are still standing and are now rented out.
source: Maritimeradio.org and ODT
