Reprinted from the W.A. R.A.O.T.C. News Broadcasts
THIS IS A TRIBUTE TO .. RADIO AMATEUR PIONEER FRED HULL VK6FH
WHO DEVOTED HIS LIFES WORK TO THE SERVICE OF OTHERS WITH THE
ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE OF W.A. -
Acknowledgment to Radio & Amateur Historian, DAVE HANSCOMBE VK6ATEEdited to 64 characters per line for transmission as The W.A. R.A.O.T.C
Amateur Radio Teletype (RTTY) and Computer Packet Radio News file.
(Re-edited by Don Hawksworth VK6DW, for Computer Word Processor, Dec 1995)*** Mr.Fred Hull (VK6FH) who retired in December 1976 after 37 years with the W.A.
Section of the R.F.D.S. was the Radio Operator at its original Port Hedland
Base from 1935 until he was transferred to its Perth Headquarters in 1955,
apart from four years service in the R.A.A.F. during World War 2.***
This is his story of those early days. (Told in Fred's own words)
In 1930, a Japanese ship..Shunsie Maru..ran aground off Point Cloates, near
North West Cape, Lloyds the Insurers sent a salvage party to refloat her and
take the badly holed ship to the nearest dry dock at Surabaya.The salvage party included a young Commercial Radio Operator to get the ship's
Radio Equipment working again & to maintain communications during the voyage.I was the radio operator with the salvage party and it was my first visit to
the Outback. The isolation of the stations in the area with no communication
left me with a desire to help in some way.Hearing of the work of Rev John Flynn and Alf Traeger in solving the outback
communication problem and the establishment of the first Flying Doctor Base at
Cloncurry, I decided that should a Flying Doctor Base be established in W.A.
I would apply for the position of Radio Operator.During 1934 the Australian Aerial Medical Service decided to establish
Australia's second Flying Doctor Base at Port Hedland.In due course Mr W.E.Coxon (VK6AG) the R.F.D.S. Section's Technical Consultant
advertised for a Radio Operator and I was the successful applicant,
Unfortunately I had an accident and was unable to leave Perth, but was very
pleased when Jack Perry with whom I had worked in the Radio Section of the
Western Mining Corporation's first aerial survey of the Eastern Goldfields
some years earlier, took my place.But fate would have it that I should spend the rest of my working life with
the Flying Doctor Service as Jack became seriously ill and had to resign.
Having fully recovered by then, I was re-engaged and arrived at Port Hedland
in November 1935 to take up duty as the W.A. R.F.D.S Radio Operator there.I found Port Hedland to be a small town of about 500 people, with 2 hotels,
a couple of stores, a railway terminal for Marble Bar, a few pearling luggers,
an AIM hospital with 2 AIM Nursing Sisters - plus plenty of sand flies & mosquitoes..The Aerial Medical Service base consisted of 2 small 12x12 ft huts, one
containing a 7HP Lister Diesel engine coupled to a number of generators with a
large bank of car batteries giving 240 volts DC for emergency operation.The other hut housed the Transmitting and Receiving equipment, No accomodation
was provided for the operator, the only place was at the hotels.Dr. Alan Vickers, the Flying Doctor at Cloncurry, had undertaken to establish
the Port Hedland Base which was opened in October 1935.Max Campbell from South Australia had been engaged as Pilot & Engineer for the
Fox Moth aerial ambulance - "John Flynn" (VH-USJ). As Mrs Campbell and family
were not expected for a month or so, Max offered to accommodate me until his family came.After that I slept in the radio hut until I married Rene Cramer one of the
town's 3 single girls... 18 months later We managed to obtain a house and then
Rene operated the radio if I was called away.After Alf Traeger had installed the base equipment, he installed the first
outpost pedal set at Warrawagine Station, north west of Marble Bar and 25OKm
from the Base. Our first medical flight was made here on the day the base
opened. A desert Aboriginal had been badly injured in a fall from a tree
while he was collecting honey. He was carried over rough country by his
people to Warrawagine for medical assistance, which in this instance arrived
in record time.By June 1936, 19 outpost stations were linked with Port Hedland spreading from
Mount House Station in the Kimberley to Mount Augustus in the Murchison.
The Kimberley Stations, Noonkanbah, Mount House etc. were taken over by the
Victorian section base at Wyndham when it opened late in 1936. A total of 20
medical flights were made in the single engined Fox Moth during this period.Owing to the increasing medical and telegram traffic, the base was opened at
6am, with regular sessions throughout the day, closing at 6pm on weekdays
and 12noon on Saturdays. Two further medical sessions were held on Saturday
and four sessions on Sunday.The working hours were long but necessary to give the full A FULL MANTLE OF
SAFETY COVERAGE . Salary was FIVE POUNDS per week later increasing to SIX
POUNDS Leave was allowed every 2 years with no travelling allowance nor any
superannuation. We went on leave by one of the State ships.About the middle of 1936 permission was granted by the licensing authority for
a Sunday Broadcast of music and talks. These Sunday morning broadcasts were
very popular and included reports from many overseas countries.Dr.Vickers, a very fluent and interesting speaker, gave talks on current
topics as well as health care and First Aid. One example of the usefulness of
the pedal sets for speedy communication in cases of emergency is worth noting
....
Perth Radio 6WF sent out an SOS call on a Sunday afternoon asking for a
contractor at Hillside station to be advised of the need for his immediate
return home. Ethel Creek station heard the message and communicated with
Balfour Downs where there was a pedal set. Balfour Downs raised the base
station at Port Hedland. The operator there got in touch with Hillside and
the message was delivered to the contractor who managed to catch the
South- bound mail plane the next day.When it is realized that these stations are over 1100Km from Perth in a direct
line and that certain of them are 32OKm from Port Hedland Wireless station,
the wonderful service rendered by the pedal sets is better appreciated.
This does not mean much in these space-age days of satellite communications
and Television but to those people it was a great step forward.We were most amused by the original name given to the network radio we
installed at the Beagle Bay mission. Told the purpose of the tall aerials
erected at the mission, the Aboriginals there called it :== High fence talk along Port Hedland. ==
When the telegram and medical traffic increased, Max Campbell helped with the
telegram accounts but by the end of 1936 a Bookkeeper became a necessity.Everett Bardwell was appointed Bookkeeper and assistant radio operator.
Everett was an excellent choice for the position as he came from Broome and
was familiar with conditions in the North West. He became very interested in
Radio and later obtained his Commercial Operators License, taking over the
base at Port Hedland, when I enlisted in the R.A.A.F. during the war.During Everett's many years RFDS service, he was in charge of the Port
Hedland, Meekatharra, Carnarvon, and Wyndham bases. He will always be
remembered as one of the most popular and helpful base operators of the
service in Western Australia.In December 1939 Dr. Alan Vickers and his family departed for Perth where he
later took charge of the Hollywood Military Hospital.Dr. Harold Dicks from Marble Bar was appointed to replace him at Port Hedland.
Through the intervention of the war many more changes occurred at the Port
Hedland base. The change of name to Flying Doctor Service and later Royal
Flying Doctor Service:The departure of Max Campbell and myself to join the RAAF with Everett
Bardwell taking over the radio: Dr. Dicks taking over the flying and
maintenance from Max Campbell: Shifting the base to Marble Bar because it was
too Vulnerable on the coast and the establishment of the Meekatharra base was
by Cpl Dunn, seconded from the Army. Today, the WA section is one of three
serving the people of Western AustraliaFred Hull and his Wife Rene now live in the Perth suburb of Claremont though unfortunately, both were not in the best of health at the time of writing this.
Harold Dicks VK6QD became a SK (Silent Key) and died in 1986.
Alf Traeger, the Outback Radio Pioneer, became a SK and died in 1980.Further Information provided to Clem VK6CW by Fred VK6FH via the Amateur Radio
Computer Packet Network - Linking of Computers on the Radio Super Highway.Hullo Clem ... For general information ...
When I was 20 I attended Marconi School of Wireless in Sydney,
and in 1926 obtained a Commercial Operators Certificate of Proficiency.
I was then a ships operator until I was appointed to the
Royal Flying Doctor Service Base in Port Hedland.
Looking forward to next weeks news 73...Fred Hull VK6FH.My thanks to Fred Hull for supplying the above information and giving the W.A.
R.A.O.T. Club Permission to transmit it as a R.T.T.Y. news file. Clem VK6CW.Msg #256 Type:P For:VK6CW From:VK6DW Date:951206 Length:11443
Subject: RFDS - 6FHHi Clem,
I don't want to jump to conclusions, thanks for the script, may I please have
permission to publish on the WIA website under the title - Profile/Obit - VK6FH.Hi Christine, yes by all means go ahead.
I still have the picture taken of Fred and his Nurse on his last trip home prior to him Passing away if you would like to copy it you are welcome to it as well.I just looked through the junk box and found Freds experimental licence dated 20th july 1929 <copy> also his WIA membership certificate number 033 dated 14th December 1985
signed by Bruce Hedland Thomas < President >Fred gave these to me on my last visit to his home, although he did not want to part with his Amateur of the Year Certificate which he treasured immensely.
73 for now de Clem VK6CW.Subject: VK6FH.TXT Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 15:46:34 +0800
From: "Clem Patchett" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>FRED HULL - VK6FH - WESTERN AUSTRALIAN RADIO & R.F.D.S. PIONEER
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The following Biographical Tribute to Fred Hull VK6FH for his significant
contribution to the W.A. Royal Flying Doctor Service, in the vital field of
Outback Radio Communication and also to his Wife Rene for her support was
transmitted on Amateur Radio Licence Frequencies by Clem Patchett VK6CW
for the information of the W.A. Radio Old Timer's Club (RAOTC) and other
interested Radio Amateurs.Following a visit by Clem's Wife to the R.F.D.S, Jandakot Offices, a copy of
this tribute has been made available for their records through Colin Armstrong
of the R.F.D.S and his Uncle Don Hawksworth VK6DW a RAOTC Member.It is of a further tribute to Fred Hull and his Wife Rene that in his retirement years he
had maintained his Radio Communication & Computer Technology skills in that he
made regular contacts via Satellites including the Russian MIR Space Craft.
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