Among the many military establishments that operated in Queensland during the Second World War, few have faded from public memory as completely as the School of Military Intelligence at Southport on the Gold Coast.
Yet during the final years of the war this institution trained intelligence personnel destined for service throughout the South-West Pacific Area. It also played a role in the wartime story of the Netherlands East Indies Government-in-Exile and the Dutch intelligence service NEFIS, which operated from Camp Columbia in Brisbane.
The existence of the school came to light during research into Jan Bakker, a Dutch Engelandvaarder who would later become one of the Netherlands’ best-known intelligence officers.
Born in Eibergen in 1922 and raised in Bandung in the Netherlands East Indies, Bakker reached England in 1944 after an adventurous escape route through Switzerland, France, Spain and Gibraltar. After joining the KNIL (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army), his aptitude for intelligence work attracted the attention of senior officers. He was subsequently sent to Australia for officer and parachute training.
In November 1944 Bakker was assigned to the Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service (NEFIS), the Dutch wartime intelligence organisation that operated from Australia. By this stage NEFIS had become an important component of the Allied intelligence structure in the South-West Pacific and maintained close links with Australian and American intelligence organisations.
The headquarters of NEFIS were located at Camp Columbia in Brisbane, which also served as the principal headquarters of the Netherlands East Indies Government-in-Exile. From there Dutch personnel collected intelligence on Japanese-occupied territories, prepared special operations and assisted Allied planning for the liberation of the Netherlands East Indies.
Shortly after joining NEFIS, Bakker was selected for specialist intelligence training at the School of Military Intelligence in Southport.
Evidence for the school’s activities survives in Australian War Memorial film footage recorded on 4 January 1945. The film identifies the institution as the LHQ School of Military Intelligence and shows students receiving instruction in aerial photograph interpretation, stereoscopic analysis, map reading, terrain assessment, intelligence reporting and related analytical techniques.
The footage also identifies Colonel Evan Mander Jones as Chief Instructor. Jones was a senior Australian intelligence officer who later served as Deputy Director of Military Intelligence.
The Southport school appears to have been one of the principal intelligence training centres supporting Allied operations in the Pacific. Students were trained to analyse reconnaissance photography, identify enemy positions, prepare intelligence reports and interpret military information for operational commanders.
For Bakker, this training proved formative. Following Japan’s surrender he returned to the Netherlands East Indies where he became involved in intelligence and security operations during the Indonesian struggle for independence. He later rose to prominence as head of intelligence units in Indonesia and Netherlands New Guinea and eventually became known as “Virgil”, one of the most successful Dutch intelligence operatives of the post-war period.
Although only briefly mentioned in Dutch biographies, his period in Australia was clearly an important stage in that development.
What remains unknown is the extent of Dutch participation in the Southport school. Jan Bakker is currently the only Dutch student positively identified. However, given the close relationship between NEFIS, Camp Columbia and Australian intelligence organisations, it seems likely that other Dutch personnel may also have attended courses there.
Further research may reveal that the School of Military Intelligence at Southport played a wider role in preparing Dutch intelligence officers for service in the closing stages of the war and the turbulent years that followed.
For now, the story of Jan Bakker provides an intriguing glimpse into a little-known wartime institution that linked Southport, Brisbane, Camp Columbia and the Netherlands East Indies in ways that are only now beginning to emerge.
