Journey to honour father's war effort

SUB-ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE: Brian Jones is about to return to the Auckland Islands in the footsteps of his father.

A lonely and forgotten corner of New Zealand's war effort in World War II will be celebrated in a special Anzac commemoration attended by a Tauranga man walking in the footsteps of his father.

Brian Jones sails to the isolated sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands next week aboard HMNZS Wellington to represent his 91-year-old dad who served as a coastwatcher on the island in 1943-44 scanning the Southern Ocean for enemy ships.

I feel very honoured. Not everyone gets the opportunity to go down there.

Brian Jones on his trip to the Auckland Islands

His father, John Jones, is the last surviving coastwatcher from the men who served on the Auckland Islands. He was the radio operator for the group of five coastwatchers, sending back weather reports, helping keep watch for enemy ships and cooking meals.

Mr Jones jnr departs Bluff on Thursday, joining volunteer builders, Heritage New Zealand and DoC staff on the voyage to the island that is now a restricted access sanctuary. A highlight of his visit will be taking part in an Anzac service at the Ranui Cove coastwatchers base.

He expects to pitch in and help the builders restore the huts used by the WWII coastwatchers. Although the original accommodation hut is now a special exhibit in Southland Museum, the remaining huts used for storage and other purposes will be repaired and made weather tight.

"I'm there to represent my father but I will be helping them do a few things."

It is Mr Jones' second trip to the Auckland Islands, 465km south of Bluff. The first time was as a passenger of a small cruise ship three years ago when he spent half a day on shore. This time he will not be getting home until April 13.

His father, who lives in Te Awamutu, was only 18 when he joined the army and was posted to the Cape Expedition - the deliberately misleading name for the programme to establish three sub-Antarctic coastwatcher bases - two in the Auckland Islands and one on Campbell Island.

Mr Jones snr told the Bay of Plenty Times he was relieved to be turned down on health grounds from joining HMNZS Wellington for next week's voyage. "Even if they had said I could go, I would have been very hesitant."

He trained as a radio operator with the Post Office in 1942 and arrived at the island aboard the 22m ketch Ranui on New Year's Day, 1943. He served on the island until the end of February 1944, returning again in 1945 to help close the station.

Apart from taking his turn to man the lookout, Mr Jones' biggest task was to radio weather reports back to New Zealand every three hours.

"And in winter, I did most of the cooking," he recalled. Two friendly ships were sighted during his service at the Auckland Islands.

He joined a documentary film crew for a trip back to his old wartime base in 1995 and was recently reunited in Auckland with the historic ketch the MV Ranui that was a vital link for the coastwatchers in WWII. Ranui is now the mainstay for the New Zealand Children's Health and Education Trust.

The Government announced last year that a new research station, named after yachting legend Sir Peter Blake, was proposed for the Auckland Islands. The $3 million Blake Station will be used for climate science research and also by DoC staff.