Operation Morris Dance
Encyclopedia
Operation Morris Dance was an Australian military operation conducted in May 1987 in response to the first of the 1987 Fijian coups d'état.
On the morning of 14 May 1987 the Military of Fiji
took control of the country in a bloodless coup d'état
. In response to the coup the Australian Defence Force
(ADF) began preparations to evacuate Australian citizens from Fiji. Five Australian warships (HMA Ships Stalwart
, Sydney
, Parramatta, Success and Tobruk) were deployed to patrol south-west of Fiji. 'B' Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
was added to this force on 23 May, with the soldiers being flown from Townsville to Norfolk Island
and transferred by helicopter to Stalwart,Tobruk and Success. The Australian task force remained off Fiji until 29 May, when the situation in the country had stabilised.
Australia's defence policy shifted from emphasising 'forward defence' by cooperating with Australia's allies to the so-called 'Defence of Australia Policy
'. This involved reorienting the military's capabilities to improve its ability for independent operations in Australia's immediate region. The guidance provided by the government was unclear, however, and retarded the development of an integrated ADF with the force structure
needed to meet the Defence of Australia requirements. The ADF made few deployments in the years after 1972 due to the stable international situation and the focus on the defence of Australia. While the deployments which took place provided useful experience for the units involved, they did not test the ADF's ability to conduct joint operations
.
During the mid-1980s the Australian Government sought to clarify Australia's defence policy. The 'Dibb Report
', which had been commissioned by Minister for Defence
Kim Beazley
to provide information on priorities for defence planning and the ADF's requirements, was released in 1986. This report recommended that the ADF be focused on the defence of Australia but also have a modest ability to deploy forces within Australia's region in support of diplomatic interests and other countries miltitary efforts. This recommendation was accepted by the Government and was incorporated into the Defence white paper
released in 1987.
The Army's main force suited to overseas deployments was the Operational Deployment Force (ODF), which was centred on the 3rd Brigade based at Townsville. The ODF was required to be able to deploy an infantry company
group (designated the Advance Company Group' or ACG) within seven days and the entire 3rd Brigade within 28 days. Responsibility for providing the rapid reaction force was rotated between the brigade's infantry
battalion
s. The ADF's main transport assets were the Royal Australian Air Force's
24 C-130 Hercules
transport aircraft and the Navy's amphibious heavy lift ship HMAS Tobruk.
On 14 May 1982 ten soldiers led by Lieutenant Colonel
Sitiveni Rabuka
, the RFMF's third in command, overthrew the Fijian Government. The coup was supported by most of the RFMF and the traditional Fijian chiefly hierarchy.
At the time of the coup an unusually large number of RAN warships were at or near Fiji on deployments which had been scheduled well in advance. The Adelaide class frigates
HMAS Adelaide and HMAS Sydney arrived at Lautoka
and Suva
respectively on 14 May. Fremantle class patrol boats
HMAS Cessnock and Wollongong also arrived at Lautoka on 15 May. In addition, the RAN's flagship, the destroyer tender
HMAS Stalwart
was 600 miles to the north at Tuvalu
and the River class destroyer escort
HMAS Parramatta was en-route for Pago Pago. Both these ships were diverted to patrol near Fiji's territorial waters. All these ships were maintained at or near Fiji in order to evacuate Australians if the situation worsened.
For the first week after the coup Australia's military response was limited to maintaining the naval vessels at or near Fiji and suspending aid to the RFMF provided under the Defence Cooperation Program. The naval vessels ships provided secure communications between the Australian High Commission in Suva and a means of evacuating Australian nationals if the situation worsened. While the Government did not believe that an evacuation would become necessary, the ship Stalwart docked at Suva and ships Adelaide and Sydney docked at Lautoka. They all remained docked after their diplomatic clearance expired on 18 May, leaving only on 20 May after the Fijian Governor-General's
office ordered then to depart. Stalwart,Adelaide and Sydney subsequently cruised just outside of Fiji's territorial waters.
Planning for the evacuation of the 4,000 to 5,000 Australians estimated to be in Fiji was also conducted. At the time of the coup the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
(1 RAR) was the ODF battalion responsible for responding to emergencies. On 15 May the ODF asked Land Headquarters whether it should bring the ACG to a higher level of readiness. In response, Land Headquarters directed that the ACG's readiness level not be changed in order to prevent rumours that the Australian Government was considering a military intervention. Staff officers at Headquarters Australian Defence Force met in secret on 16 May, however, to consider options for conducting an evacuation. When Defence Minister Beazley, Chief of the Defence Force
General Peter Gration
and secretary of the Department of Defence
Alan Woods returned to Canberra from a trip to Western Australia on 17 May they were briefed on the situation in Fiji and authorised the development of formal options for an evacuation.
Headquarters ADF began work began on evacuation plans on 18 May. This planning resulted in maritime and air evacuation options based around the assumption that the RFMF and Fijian police would be cooperative. An option to deploy Australian troops to open routes to airports and ports was included, however, due to concerns that civil unrest could block the movement of foreign nationals.
Boeing 747
aircraft was hijacked at Nadi International Airport
for six hours, and Prime Minister Hawke is reported to have considered deploying Australian special forces
if requested by Fiji to rescue the aircraft's passengers. The New Zealand Government announced on 20 May that it had placed military forces on alert to evacuate its citizens from Fiji and there was growing speculation in the Australian media about an Australian military intervention.
Preparations for the evacuation of foreign nationals continued on 19 and 20 May. The Chiefs of Staff Committee met on 20 May to consider the situation and evacuation options if they were necessary. The COSC determined that an evacuation coordinated by the Australian embassy in Suva would using chartered civil aircraft was the preferred option and that the readiness of the ODF was not to be changed. The reluctance to bring an infantry unit to a higher level of readiness was related to the political sensitivity of being seen to be preparing to intervene on the same day that Australian ships had been ordered to leave Fijian waters. The first formal orders for what was now designated Operation Morris Dance were issued on 20 May, when the Maritime Commander Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair was assigned full command over the operation and Army landing craft and signalers were assigned to HMAS Tobruk, which was at port in Sydney.
After taking command Sinclair assessed that the companies of the ships off Fiji could not provide sufficient personnel to coordinate an evacuation. He asked Gration to provide troops to bolster his strength, and this was authorised by Cabinet
in a meeting held on 21 May. By this time Australia had received requests from seven countries, including the United States and Japan, to evacuate their citizens from Fiji if required. Despite taking this step, the Australian government believed that it was unlikely that law and order would break down in Fiji, with Foreign Minister Gareth Evans
telling the media that he thought that there was a 20 percent change of this occurring. At no stage was it considered possible that the ODF would be involved with fighting against the RFMF, and it was assumed that the Fijian military would want to help assist the evacuation of foreign nationals from the country.
1 RAR was first instructed to prepare the ACG, which at the time was centred around B Company, on the morning of 21 May. That afternoon the ACG was formally ordered to be ready to deploy at two hours notice. As the company was below its authorised strength, men were posted into it from other parts of 1 RAR. The battalion's officers had been instructed to keep the potential deployment secret, and were not able to inform their men of it until 7pm, which was one and a half hours after Townsville radio stations
had broadcast the Prime Minister's announcement that the ACG had been stand by. A squadron
of the elite Special Air Service Regiment
was also alerted for a possible deployment to Fiji, but did not leave Australia.
On 21 May the ACG was flown from RAAF Base Townsville
to Norfolk Island
where it was to be transferred to HMAS Success and Tobruk. Four RAAF C-130s transported the company group and its equipment that morning, though loading the aircraft took longer than expected due to a shortage of pallets and specialist loading staff. Once at Norfolk Island the company group had to repack its equipment into smaller containers as those originally used could not be carried by the Navy's Wessex
helicopters. These helicopters transferred the Army force onto Tobruk during the night, which was dangerous as they were not equipped for night flying. The soldiers were not familiar with the ship, and the process of unpacking and storing their equipment was also slow.
After the soldiers and their equipment were embarked Success and Tobruk proceeded to Fiji where they joined the RAN force off the island. HMAS Adelaide was withdrawn, however, so that she could attend a pre-planned exercise with the USS Midway
carrier battle group
. By this time Stalwart had been granted permission to dock in Suva Harbour and the Australian High Commission had begun registering Australians and other foreign nationals and designating safe havens for them to move to if order broke down. On 26 May the ACG was transferred from Tobruk to other ships as the heavy lift ship was needed to support the Pacific Forum meeting at Apia in Samoa
. This was conducted by moving the troops using the force's embarked helicopters and was made dangerous by the prevailing high winds. Three helicopters became unserviceable during the transfer operation and a fourth crashed onto Tobruk' s deck. No personnel were injured, however, which was fortunate as the force did not include a surgeon, anesthetist or surgical facilities as Gration had assessed that such a capacity was unnecessary given that any evacuation would be unopposed.
On 29 May the Australian Government decided that the situation in Fiji had stabilised. Accordingly, the ADF force on the island began to be reduced, with Parramatta and the patrol boats Dubbo and Townsville, which had relieved sister ships Woolongong and Cessnock departing for Australia that day. Stalwart left Fiji on 30 May and Sydney and Success followed on 3 June. The ACG returned with the naval ships, and was back in Townsville by 7 June.
Operation Morris Dance was the first operational deployment of an Australian infantry unit since the Vietnam War.
were acquired, but each of these ships can only move a platoon per lift. In June 2007 the Australian Government approved the purchase of two Canberra class Landing Helicopter Dock, each of which will be able to simultaneously operate six helicopters.
On the morning of 14 May 1987 the Military of Fiji
Military of Fiji
The Republic of Fiji Military Forces are the military of the Pacific island nation of Fiji. With a total manpower of 3,500 active soldiers and 6,000 reservists, it is one of the smallest militaries in the world. However, most of its surrounding island nations have no militaries at all...
took control of the country in a bloodless coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
. In response to the coup the Australian Defence Force
Australian Defence Force
The Australian Defence Force is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy , Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force and a number of 'tri-service' units...
(ADF) began preparations to evacuate Australian citizens from Fiji. Five Australian warships (HMA Ships Stalwart
HMAS Stalwart (D 215)
HMAS Stalwart was an Australian-designed and constructed Escort Maintenance ship of the Royal Australian Navy . Commissioned on 9 February 1968 and decommissioned on 9 March 1990, Stalwart served as a destroyer tender, the RAN flagship, and a training vessel during her career...
, Sydney
HMAS Sydney (FFG 03)
HMAS Sydney is an Adelaide class guided missile frigate of the Royal Australian Navy . The frigate one of six modified s ordered from 1977 onwards, and the third of four to be constructed in the United States of America...
, Parramatta, Success and Tobruk) were deployed to patrol south-west of Fiji. 'B' Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment is a regular light infantry battalion of the Australian Army. 1 RAR was first formed as the 65th Australian Infantry Battalion in 1945 and since then has been deployed on active service during the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War...
was added to this force on 23 May, with the soldiers being flown from Townsville to Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
and transferred by helicopter to Stalwart,Tobruk and Success. The Australian task force remained off Fiji until 29 May, when the situation in the country had stabilised.
Background
In the years after the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
Australia's defence policy shifted from emphasising 'forward defence' by cooperating with Australia's allies to the so-called 'Defence of Australia Policy
Defence of Australia Policy
The Defence of Australia Policy was Australia's dominant defence policy between 1972 and 1997. The policy was focused on the defence of continental Australia against external attack...
'. This involved reorienting the military's capabilities to improve its ability for independent operations in Australia's immediate region. The guidance provided by the government was unclear, however, and retarded the development of an integrated ADF with the force structure
Force structure
A Force structure is the combat-capable part of a military organisation which describes how military personnel, and their weapons and equipment, are organised for the operations, missions and tasks expected from them by the particular doctrine of the service or demanded by the environment of the...
needed to meet the Defence of Australia requirements. The ADF made few deployments in the years after 1972 due to the stable international situation and the focus on the defence of Australia. While the deployments which took place provided useful experience for the units involved, they did not test the ADF's ability to conduct joint operations
Joint warfare
Joint warfare is a military doctrine which places priority on the integration of the various service branches of a state's armed forces into one unified command...
.
During the mid-1980s the Australian Government sought to clarify Australia's defence policy. The 'Dibb Report
Dibb Report
The Review of Australia's Defence Capabilities, better known as the Dibb Report, was an influential review of Australia's defence plans. While the report's recommendations were not fully accepted by the Hawke Government, they lead to significant changes in Australia's defence policy, including...
', which had been commissioned by Minister for Defence
Minister for Defence (Australia)
The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.-Ministers for Defence:...
Kim Beazley
Kim Beazley
In the October 1998 election, Labor polled a majority of the two-party vote and received the largest swing to a first-term opposition since 1934. However, due to the uneven nature of the swing, Labor came up eight seats short of making Beazley Prime Minister....
to provide information on priorities for defence planning and the ADF's requirements, was released in 1986. This report recommended that the ADF be focused on the defence of Australia but also have a modest ability to deploy forces within Australia's region in support of diplomatic interests and other countries miltitary efforts. This recommendation was accepted by the Government and was incorporated into the Defence white paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
released in 1987.
The Army's main force suited to overseas deployments was the Operational Deployment Force (ODF), which was centred on the 3rd Brigade based at Townsville. The ODF was required to be able to deploy an infantry company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
group (designated the Advance Company Group' or ACG) within seven days and the entire 3rd Brigade within 28 days. Responsibility for providing the rapid reaction force was rotated between the brigade's infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
s. The ADF's main transport assets were the Royal Australian Air Force's
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
24 C-130 Hercules
C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...
transport aircraft and the Navy's amphibious heavy lift ship HMAS Tobruk.
On 14 May 1982 ten soldiers led by Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Sitiveni Rabuka
Sitiveni Rabuka
Major-General Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, OBE, MSD, OStJ, is best known as the instigator of two military coups that shook Fiji in 1987. He was later democratically elected the third Prime Minister, serving from 1992 to 1999...
, the RFMF's third in command, overthrew the Fijian Government. The coup was supported by most of the RFMF and the traditional Fijian chiefly hierarchy.
Initial military response
While the Australian Government condemned the military takeover, it quickly ruled out interfering in Fiji's political process. The Government also gave some consideration to facilitating the return of the RFMF units stationed in the Middle East to restore democracy under the leadership of the RFMF's commander, who was visiting Australia at the time. This option was rejected due to military government's initial popularity and the risk of civil war.Adelaide class frigate
The Adelaide class is a ship class of six guided missile frigates constructed in Australia and the United States of America for service in the Royal Australian Navy. The class is based on the United States Navy's Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates, but modified for Australian requirements...
HMAS Adelaide and HMAS Sydney arrived at Lautoka
Lautoka
Lautoka is the second largest city of Fiji and the second largest in the South Pacific. It is in the west of the island of Viti Levu, 24 kilometres north of Nadi, and is the second port of entry in Fiji, after Suva. Lying in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane growing region, it is known as the Sugar...
and Suva
Suva
Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...
respectively on 14 May. Fremantle class patrol boats
Fremantle class patrol boat
The Fremantle-class patrol boats were coastal patrol vessels operated by the Royal Australian Navy from 1979 to 2007. Designed by British shipbuilder Brooke Marine and constructed in Australia by North Queensland Engineers and Agents, the Fremantle class were larger, more powerful, and more...
HMAS Cessnock and Wollongong also arrived at Lautoka on 15 May. In addition, the RAN's flagship, the destroyer tender
Destroyer tender
A destroyer tender is a ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. The use of this class has faded from its peak in the first half of the 20th century as the roles of small combatants have evolved .Due to the increased size and automation of...
HMAS Stalwart
HMAS Stalwart (D 215)
HMAS Stalwart was an Australian-designed and constructed Escort Maintenance ship of the Royal Australian Navy . Commissioned on 9 February 1968 and decommissioned on 9 March 1990, Stalwart served as a destroyer tender, the RAN flagship, and a training vessel during her career...
was 600 miles to the north at Tuvalu
Tuvalu
Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
and the River class destroyer escort
River class destroyer escort
The River class was a class of six destroyer escorts operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Plans to acquire four vessels, based on the British Type 12M frigate, began in the 1950s. The first two vessels had some slight modifications to the design, while the next two underwent further changes...
HMAS Parramatta was en-route for Pago Pago. Both these ships were diverted to patrol near Fiji's territorial waters. All these ships were maintained at or near Fiji in order to evacuate Australians if the situation worsened.
For the first week after the coup Australia's military response was limited to maintaining the naval vessels at or near Fiji and suspending aid to the RFMF provided under the Defence Cooperation Program. The naval vessels ships provided secure communications between the Australian High Commission in Suva and a means of evacuating Australian nationals if the situation worsened. While the Government did not believe that an evacuation would become necessary, the ship Stalwart docked at Suva and ships Adelaide and Sydney docked at Lautoka. They all remained docked after their diplomatic clearance expired on 18 May, leaving only on 20 May after the Fijian Governor-General's
Governor-General of Fiji
Fiji became a British Crown Colony in 1874, and an independent dominion in the Commonwealth in 1970. Queen Elizabeth II remained the Head of State, holding the title of Queen of Fiji until 1987, when she formally abdicated following two military coups...
office ordered then to depart. Stalwart,Adelaide and Sydney subsequently cruised just outside of Fiji's territorial waters.
Planning for the evacuation of the 4,000 to 5,000 Australians estimated to be in Fiji was also conducted. At the time of the coup the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment is a regular light infantry battalion of the Australian Army. 1 RAR was first formed as the 65th Australian Infantry Battalion in 1945 and since then has been deployed on active service during the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War...
(1 RAR) was the ODF battalion responsible for responding to emergencies. On 15 May the ODF asked Land Headquarters whether it should bring the ACG to a higher level of readiness. In response, Land Headquarters directed that the ACG's readiness level not be changed in order to prevent rumours that the Australian Government was considering a military intervention. Staff officers at Headquarters Australian Defence Force met in secret on 16 May, however, to consider options for conducting an evacuation. When Defence Minister Beazley, Chief of the Defence Force
Chief of the Defence Force (Australia)
Chief of the Defence Force is the most senior appointment in the Australian Defence Force . The CDF commands the ADF under the direction of the Minister of Defence, in a coequal arrangement with the Secretary of Defence, the most senior public servant in the Department of Defence.The position is a...
General Peter Gration
Peter Gration
General Peter Courtney Gration AC, OBE is an Australian general who served in the positions of Chief of the General Staff and Chief of the Defence Force; the professional head of the Australian Army and Australian Defence Force respectively.-Early life:Gration was born in Richmond, Victoria, on 6...
and secretary of the Department of Defence
Department of Defence (Australia)
The Australian Department of Defence is a Federal Government Department. It forms part of the Australian Defence Organisation along with the Australian Defence Force . The Defence mission is to defend Australia and its national interests...
Alan Woods returned to Canberra from a trip to Western Australia on 17 May they were briefed on the situation in Fiji and authorised the development of formal options for an evacuation.
Headquarters ADF began work began on evacuation plans on 18 May. This planning resulted in maritime and air evacuation options based around the assumption that the RFMF and Fijian police would be cooperative. An option to deploy Australian troops to open routes to airports and ports was included, however, due to concerns that civil unrest could block the movement of foreign nationals.
Troop deployment
During the week of 18 May the Australian Government began to perceive that the situation in Fiji was deteriorating. Media reports highlighted incidents where the RFMF behaved brutally towards protesters, rioting, a bombing and arson. On 19 May an Air New ZealandAir New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited is the national airline and flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 26 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, and is...
Boeing 747
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
aircraft was hijacked at Nadi International Airport
Nadi International Airport
Nadi International Airport is the main international gateway for the islands of Fiji. It serves about 1.2 million people per year, and is the main hub of Air Pacific. The airport is 10km from the city of Nadi. In 2009 it handled 1,220,000 passengers on international and domestic...
for six hours, and Prime Minister Hawke is reported to have considered deploying Australian special forces
Special forces
Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
if requested by Fiji to rescue the aircraft's passengers. The New Zealand Government announced on 20 May that it had placed military forces on alert to evacuate its citizens from Fiji and there was growing speculation in the Australian media about an Australian military intervention.
Preparations for the evacuation of foreign nationals continued on 19 and 20 May. The Chiefs of Staff Committee met on 20 May to consider the situation and evacuation options if they were necessary. The COSC determined that an evacuation coordinated by the Australian embassy in Suva would using chartered civil aircraft was the preferred option and that the readiness of the ODF was not to be changed. The reluctance to bring an infantry unit to a higher level of readiness was related to the political sensitivity of being seen to be preparing to intervene on the same day that Australian ships had been ordered to leave Fijian waters. The first formal orders for what was now designated Operation Morris Dance were issued on 20 May, when the Maritime Commander Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair was assigned full command over the operation and Army landing craft and signalers were assigned to HMAS Tobruk, which was at port in Sydney.
After taking command Sinclair assessed that the companies of the ships off Fiji could not provide sufficient personnel to coordinate an evacuation. He asked Gration to provide troops to bolster his strength, and this was authorised by Cabinet
Cabinet of Australia
The Cabinet of Australia is the council of senior ministers of the Crown, responsible to parliament. The Cabinet is appointed by the Governor-General, on the advice of the Prime Minister the Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, and serves at the former's pleasure. The strictly private...
in a meeting held on 21 May. By this time Australia had received requests from seven countries, including the United States and Japan, to evacuate their citizens from Fiji if required. Despite taking this step, the Australian government believed that it was unlikely that law and order would break down in Fiji, with Foreign Minister Gareth Evans
Gareth Evans (politician)
Gareth John Evans, AO, QC , is a former Australian politician from 1978 to 1999 representing the Australian Labor Party, serving in a number of ministries including Attorney-General and Foreign Minister from 1983 to 1996 in the Hawke and Keating governments. He was president and chief executive...
telling the media that he thought that there was a 20 percent change of this occurring. At no stage was it considered possible that the ODF would be involved with fighting against the RFMF, and it was assumed that the Fijian military would want to help assist the evacuation of foreign nationals from the country.
1 RAR was first instructed to prepare the ACG, which at the time was centred around B Company, on the morning of 21 May. That afternoon the ACG was formally ordered to be ready to deploy at two hours notice. As the company was below its authorised strength, men were posted into it from other parts of 1 RAR. The battalion's officers had been instructed to keep the potential deployment secret, and were not able to inform their men of it until 7pm, which was one and a half hours after Townsville radio stations
Media in Townsville
Townsville is the media centre for North Queensland, with 5 commercial radio stations, North Queensland ABC radio station, 3 commercial television stations, one regional daily newspaper and one community weekly newspaper...
had broadcast the Prime Minister's announcement that the ACG had been stand by. A squadron
Sabre squadron
A sabre squadron in the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps and Household Cavalry is an operational squadron of tanks or other armoured fighting vehicles, as opposed to a headquarters or support squadron....
of the elite Special Air Service Regiment
Australian Special Air Service Regiment
The Special Air Service Regiment, officially abbreviated SASR but commonly known as the SAS, is a special forces unit of the Australian Army...
was also alerted for a possible deployment to Fiji, but did not leave Australia.
On 21 May the ACG was flown from RAAF Base Townsville
RAAF Base Townsville
RAAF Base Townsville is, along with RAAF Base Tindal and RAAF Base Darwin, one of northern Australia's primary defence installations. It is also Headquarters for No...
to Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
where it was to be transferred to HMAS Success and Tobruk. Four RAAF C-130s transported the company group and its equipment that morning, though loading the aircraft took longer than expected due to a shortage of pallets and specialist loading staff. Once at Norfolk Island the company group had to repack its equipment into smaller containers as those originally used could not be carried by the Navy's Wessex
Westland Wessex
The Westland Wessex is a British turbine-powered version of the Sikorsky S-58 "Choctaw", developed under license by Westland Aircraft , initially for the Royal Navy, and later for the Royal Air Force...
helicopters. These helicopters transferred the Army force onto Tobruk during the night, which was dangerous as they were not equipped for night flying. The soldiers were not familiar with the ship, and the process of unpacking and storing their equipment was also slow.
After the soldiers and their equipment were embarked Success and Tobruk proceeded to Fiji where they joined the RAN force off the island. HMAS Adelaide was withdrawn, however, so that she could attend a pre-planned exercise with the USS Midway
USS Midway (CV-41)
USS Midway was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, the lead ship of her class, and the first to be commissioned after the end of World War II...
carrier battle group
Carrier battle group
A carrier battle group consists of an aircraft carrier and its escorts, together composing the group. The first naval task forces built around carriers appeared just prior to and during World War II. The Imperial Japanese Navy was the first to assemble a large number of carriers into a single...
. By this time Stalwart had been granted permission to dock in Suva Harbour and the Australian High Commission had begun registering Australians and other foreign nationals and designating safe havens for them to move to if order broke down. On 26 May the ACG was transferred from Tobruk to other ships as the heavy lift ship was needed to support the Pacific Forum meeting at Apia in Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
. This was conducted by moving the troops using the force's embarked helicopters and was made dangerous by the prevailing high winds. Three helicopters became unserviceable during the transfer operation and a fourth crashed onto Tobruk
On 29 May the Australian Government decided that the situation in Fiji had stabilised. Accordingly, the ADF force on the island began to be reduced, with Parramatta and the patrol boats Dubbo and Townsville, which had relieved sister ships Woolongong and Cessnock departing for Australia that day. Stalwart left Fiji on 30 May and Sydney and Success followed on 3 June. The ACG returned with the naval ships, and was back in Townsville by 7 June.
Operation Morris Dance was the first operational deployment of an Australian infantry unit since the Vietnam War.
Aftermath
Within a year of Operation Morris Dance the Army determined that a capability to move at least a company group from ship to shore in a single helicopter lift was needed. To meet this requirement the Navy would need to be able to launch six helicopters, each carrying 20 soldiers, simultaneously from one or more ships. In the mid-1990s two Kanimbla class landing platform amphibiousKanimbla class landing platform amphibious
The Kanimbla class is a class of amphibious transport ships operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Two ships were purchased by Australia in 1994 and modified...
were acquired, but each of these ships can only move a platoon per lift. In June 2007 the Australian Government approved the purchase of two Canberra class Landing Helicopter Dock, each of which will be able to simultaneously operate six helicopters.