Later we looked up information on the plaque. Z Special Unit – also known as Special Operations Executive  (SOE), Special Operations Australia  (SOA) or the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) - was a joint Allied special forces unit formed during the Second World War to operate behind Japanese lines in South East Asia. Predominantly Australian, Z Special Unit was a specialist reconnaissance and sabotage unit that included British, Dutch, New Zealand, Timorese and Indonesian members, predominantly operating on Borneo and the islands of the former Netherlands East Indies. Much of their training was done here in Refuge Bay.

The unit carried out a total of eighty one covert operations in the South West Pacific theatre, with parties inserted by parachute or submarine to provide intelligence and conduct guerrilla warfare. The best known of these missions were Operation Jaywick and Operation Rimau, both of which involved raids on Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour.

Operation Jaywick [mentioned on the plaque as the most daring and successful seaborne in military history] was an Inter-Allied Services Department operation to infiltrate the Japanese-occupied Singapore Harbour and destroy shipping. On the 2nd of September 1943, the Krait, with a crew of eleven Australian and four British personnel, left Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia. The group, commanded by Ivan Lyon, dyed their skin brown and hair black (the skin dye later caused many skin problems for the members of the team, including irritation and reactions in adverse amounts of sunlight). They also wore sarongs, so that they resembled Indonesian fisherman.

They arrived off Singapore on the 24th of September, that night, six men left the boat and paddled 50 kilometres (31 miles) to a small island near the harbour where a forward base was established in a cave. On the night of the 26th of September, using folboats the party paddled into the harbour and placed limpet mines on several Japanese ships, the limpet mines sank or seriously damaged four Japanese ships, amounting to over 39,000 tons. The raiders waited until the commotion had died down before returning to the Krait. On the 19th of October the Krait arrived back at Exmouth Gulf having achieved a great success.

Operation Rimau sadly resulted in the deaths of twenty three commandos either in action or by execution after capture

Although the unit was disbanded after the war, many of the training techniques and operational procedures employed were later used during the formation of other Australian Army Special Forces units and they remain a model for guerrilla operations to this day.

The Krait was named after the small but deadly Asian snake.

Incredible, selfless bravery.

A few more boats in the bay.