Backyard Battlefields is a military history program which explores historical sites throughout Australia and beyond. Backyard Battlefields gives Australia's military history a context by explaining its significance within the grander narrative of world events. Presented by James De Leo. For more information visit backyardbattlefields.com
In Phuoc Tuy province, South Vietnam, a tractor was stolen from the French Courtenay rubber plantation. Intelligence reported that it was being used by Viet Cong guerillas, to transport weapons and ammunition across the Australian area of operations. A patrol from 2 Squadron, Special Air Service Regiment was tasked with its destruction. This episode of Backyard Battlefields features excerpts from an interview with SAS veteran Anthony Bowden, recorded by the Australians At War Film Archive.
10 Jul 2026
Busselton Bomber: Missing Beaufort, 1943
The Beaufort was a twin-engined torpedo bomber, built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. In 1939 the Australian government decided to have them built under licence by the Department of Aircraft Production (DAP) at Fishermans Bend in Melbourne and Mascot, New South Wales. Over 700 were built between 1941-1944 and were extensively used as a medium bomber and for general reconnaisance around Australia and the Pacific theatre of operations.
On the 9th of September 1943, a RAAF Beaufort A9-317 of No.14 Squadron took off from Busselton, Western Australia out into Geographe Bay on a patrol to search for enemy shipping. Carring four crew and one passenger, it was scheduled to land at RAAF base Pearce later that day, but never arrived. The circumstances of the disappaearance, on what should've been a routine patrol, remains an enduring mystery.
3 Jul 2026
Heart of Darkness: The King Leopold Ranges, WA
The Wunaamin-Miliwundi ranges are an elevated feature running through Western Australia's Kimberley region. Between 1879 and 2020 they were called the King Leopold Ranges after King Leopold II of Belgium. Through his private army the Force Publique he oversaw the death, torture and dismemberment of millions of people in the Congo Free State. The horror and depravity which took place were brought to mainstream attention by author Joseph Conrad in his novella 'Heart of Darkness'.
Why was 35,000 square kilomentres of Western Australia named for a blood soaked European monarch?
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