In this continuing series of topics on shortwave callsigns in Australia, we come to the story of the fifth callsign in this sequence, VLE. The earliest origins for the usage of this callsign go back nearly 100 years, not in Australia but rather for New Zealand.
The luxury liner S. S. “Maheno”, which means “Island” in the
Maori language, was built in Scotland for the Union Company of New Zealand, and
it was launched on June 19, 1905. This
400 foot long ship could carry 420 passengers and crew, and its cargo hold
contained refrigeration for the carriage of frozen meats and other consumable
products.
The “Maheno” regularly plied across the Tasman Sea between New
Zealand and Australia, and also occasionally right across the Pacific to
Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada.
The allotted callsign back in its early years was VLE, indicating a
vessel in service under the flag of New Zealand, showing the British Union Jack
and the four stars in the Southern Cross.
During World War 1, the “Moheno” saw service in the
international waters of continental Europe as a hospital ship, and after the
war it was returned to commercial service in the South Pacific.
However in 1935, at the end of 30
years of ocean going service, the ship was no longer viable for its original
purpose, and it was sold to a Japanese shipwrecking company. Another ship, the nearly 50 year old “Oonah”,
which had served as a passenger and cargo ship across Bass Strait between
Tasmania and the Australian mainland, was also sold to the same Japanese
company.
On July 1, 1935, the “Oonah” towed the “Maheno” (minus its propellers)
out of Sydney Harbour at the beginning of what was intended to be its last long
voyage way up north to Japan. However,
six days after leaving port, these two ships encountered a massive cyclone, and
the 900 ft long steel tow rope, 6½ inches thick, snapped, leaving the “Moheno” powerless
in the stormy waters off the east coast of Australia.
Attempts to re-attach the two ships proved
fruitless. The “Oonah” radioed for help and an
airplane flew out to find the “Moheno”, drifting and helpless.
Three days later again, the “Moheno” was found by the search plane
and by this time it was now beached on the eastern shore of Fraser Island, and
the temporary Japanese crew were camped on the beach, in fear of retaliation
from the Aborigines on the island. Attempts were made to refloat the “Moheno”,
but this was unsuccessful; the stranded ship had broken its back.
The “Moheno” was offered for sale but no buyers came forth, so
it was stripped and abandoned. These
days the rusting hulk still lies sulking about midway down the island on the
eastern shore. During World War 2, it
was used as a practice bombing target for the Royal Australian Air Force, and
nowadays it is a major public attraction for half a million tourists who flock
to the island each year.
Fraser Island lies close off the
coast of Queensland, nearby to the regional coastal cities, Maryborough and
Bundaberg. It is 75 miles long and 15
miles wide, and it is the world’s
largest sand island. It has an abundance
of plant life which includes the world’s largest Frond Fern. It contains more than 100 fresh water lakes,
including one that is 330 feet above the nearby sea level.
The 75 mile long and very wide sandy
beach along the eastern seashore is used as an island highway, and also as a landing
airstrip for small planes. A nearby
notice requires motor vehicles to give priority to the movement of
airplanes.
In ancient times, Fraser Island was
home to the Butchulla tribe of Australian Aborigines who sometimes numbered as
many as 3,000. They called the island K’gari, which is pronounced as
Gurri. The name means “Paradise”.
Back in 1836, the small ship “Stirling Castle” was shipwrecked on
the island. While sailing across the
Great Barrier Reef, the underwater coral had ripped a hole in its hull. The elderly and ailing Captain, James Fraser,
and his pregnant wife Eliza both abandoned the ship in a life boat, and before
they struck land, she gave birth to the baby in the lifeboat, though it died soon
afterwards.
The captain also died on the island,
though his wife Eliza survived. She was
rescued six weeks later through the efforts of an escaped convict, John Graham,
who lived in the bush areas and had learned the local Aboriginal language. Originally the island was known as Great Sandy
Island, but it was renamed Fraser Island in honor of Eliza Fraser.
Tree logging was introduced to the
island in 1863 by an experienced American logger, Jack Piggott; and in 1932,
two very high trees rendered two tall masts to support the aerial system at the
new mediumwave station 4MB in neighboring Maryborough. These masts were 127 and 132 feet tall.
Then just five years ago, ACMA the
Australian Communications and Media Authority issued two FM licences for
Eulong, the small tourist town on the east coast of Fraser Island. It was planned that these two FM stations
would relay programing from the network headquarters stations in the Gold
Coast, South of Brisbane. The two new FM
stations for Fraser Island were 4RBL on 97.3 and 4BRZ on 94.9 MHz.
Going back to 1927, we find that new
international radio regulations re-allocated the initial callsign letter V to
Australia and other countries in the British Empire, though no longer to New
Zealand. So, at this stage, the call VLE
could no longer identify the New Zealand luxury passenger/cargo liner “Maheno”, and it appears that the call
was held in limbo for the next thirty or more years.
Eventually, technical developments
at the main Radio Australia shortwave station at Shepparton in Victoria
introduced the need for some additional callsigns. The original 100 kW STC-AWA transmitter VLB
was bifurcated and with the insertion of additional electronic equipment
another 100 kW transmitter was born in early 1961. This new unit acquired the callsign VLE.
However, the callsign VLE as an
individual specific transmitter was in use for only a very short period of
time; in fact for no more than a few months at the very most. At the end of October of the same year
(1961), Radio Australia dropped the usage of transmitter callsigns, and instead
used the calls to identify program feed lines from the Melbourne studios to the
various transmitter bases. Thus from
that time onwards, callsign VLE, or just E, indicated a feed line to a 50 kW
transmitter at Shepparton.
Due to the fact that the callsign
VLE identified specifically the new 100 kW transmitter at Shepparton for no
more than a few months, QSL cards showing that callsign are very rare. The Indianapolis Heritage Collection holds
just one such card dated March 8, 1961, verifying the frequency 15180 kHz as
VLE15. However, the Indianapolis
collection does hold another four QSLs in the style of Form Letters verifying a
50 kW transmitter at Shepparton under the line feed call VLE.
And that’s our story for this occasion; the
story of callsign VLE, first on the New Zealand liner “Maheno”; then as a new
100 kW transmitter at Shepparton in Victoria; and finally as a line feed to a
50 kW transmitter at the same country location in the center of the state of
Victoria.
(AWR WAvescan/NWS 353)