The strategic Torres Strait and far north of Australia has very much flown under the radar for many defence watchers when compared with issues like the rise of China and increasing great power competition in the South Pacific and wider Indo-Pacific region, but it is certainly an area of vital interest to Australia.
The Torres Strait separates mainland Australia from Papua New Guinea, and measures just 150 km (93 miles) at its narrowest point and is dotted with around 200 islands.
Responsible for Far North Queensland is the Army’s 51st Far North Queensland Regiment. The unit headquartered in Cairns is an Australian Army Regional Force Surveillance Unit (RFSU) whose primary role is to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance tasks in support of border security operations.
The 51st FNQR can trace its roots to the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion from World War 2, which was responsible for defence of the region and is notable as the only Indigenous Australian battalion ever formed by the Australian Army, with almost all its enlisted ranks being Torres Strait Islanders.
Over 880 men eventually served in the battalion during its active years from 1941 to 1946, with almost every military age male on the islands at the time having served in the unit.
Today the 51 FNQR is split into 4 companies, with C Company responsible for the area north of the Cape York Peninsula from the Jardine area up into the Torres Strait islands, known as the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA).
Housed at Sarpeye Barracks on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, C Coy is responsible for the smallest but most active area covered by the regiment according to Officer Commanding Major Chris Freeman, who heads a permanent staff of seven and has over 100 reservists in its ranks.
MAJ Freeman told ADM during a briefing at Sarpeye Barracks that the company has facilities elsewhere on the islands, with joint facilities at two other islands and patrol bases on a further three.
Continuing its tradition from World War 2, over 90 per cent of its complement of reservists are made up of Torres Strait islanders, the largest proportion of indigenous members in any unit. The company has a presence on almost all the inhabited Torres Strait islands.
This is important as it means that C Coy has better Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) presence throughout its area of interest, and enables it to transcend the unique language, dialect or cultural differences between islands.
The primary task of C Coy’s members is to look out and report any suspicious or noteworthy activity on the islands; and report any activity that could warrant further interest to other state or federal agencies such as Queensland Police or the Australian Border Force, many of which have a presence on Thursday Island.
This is similar in nature to that performed by the coastwatchers deployed throughout the Torres Strait and other Pacific islands of World War 2, which MAJ Freeman says that the unit draws its military DNA from.
However, the difference is that the activities the unit is interested is today are those that fall under what is described as an Accelerated Warfare Environment, where an acceleration of convergence of threats and trends develop and change at a rate faster than current systems can keep up with.
In the Torres Strait these include illegal exploitation of maritime resources such as fisheries, narcotics smuggling, unlawful maritime arrivals and biosecurity hazards. These fall mainly under the auspices of the Torres Strait Treaty and Operation Resolute, the latter being Defence’s contribution to the whole-of-government effort to protect Australia's borders and offshore maritime interests.
The Torres Strait Treaty meanwhile established the Torres Strait Protected Zone as well as defining the border between Australia and Papua New Guinea following the latter’s independence in 1975.
The protect zone allows indigenous Torres Strait Islanders and the people of coastal Papua New Guinea to maintain their traditional ways of life, and allows traditional people to move freely within the Protected Zone (without passports or visas) for traditional purposes.
These activities include marriages and fishing, although MAJ Freeman told ADM the challenge of the latter is being able to tell whether any fishery activity comes under traditional or larger scale commercial, or whether the catch will end up in the islands that do not come under the treaty.
In addition to its presence among the population, C Coy also mounts patrols throughout the islands as part of its ISR taskings or under Op Resolute. The unit deploys using its watercraft, which includes a Regional Support Craft, two six-seat Regional Patrol Craft and nine ‘tinnies’.
The newly-delivered 12-metre Regional Support Craft is a foam-filled rigid hull boat powered by three diesel outboard motors that can serve as a command post and provide logistics support, personnel insertion and support tactical operations.
However, MAJ Freeman says the weather in the strait can sometimes pose difficulties to watercraft movement, with the wet season running from November/December to around ANZAC Day, followed by a short calm period which gives way to a windy season from mid-year onwards.
The strait is also home to the Australia’s sole maritime chokepoint. Although classed as a secondary chokepoint that is nowhere near as busy as the Suez Canal or the Strait of Malacca, MAJ Freeman told ADM that the Prince of Wales Channel can still see up to 30 large commercial shipping vessels plying the waters between the Arafura and Coral Seas on a busy day.
The waters are only 22 metres at their deepest point, and a harbour pilot is required to be on board commercial shipping transiting the strait. This requirement does not extend to naval vessels however, and its use by naval vessels made news in April 2022 when a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) task group sailed through the strait after shining a high-powered laser at an RAAF P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol while in the Arafura Sea.
Indeed, the photos of the PLAN Type 052D Luyang III-class guided missile destroyer and Type 071 Yuzhao-class landing platform dock transiting the Strait released by Defence and used in several news outlets were taken by C Company from an observation post on Thursday Island, further serving to underline the strategic importance of the area.