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Volunteer Coastal Patrol material collected by Frank MacDonald

Date1940-1960

Object numberANMS1292

NameArchive series

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Frank McDonald

Terms

Australian Naval History

DescriptionThis collection is comprised of material collected by Frank McDonald relating to the Volunteer Coastal Patrol (VCP), the oldest voluntary sea rescue organisation in Australia. Included are photos, typed documents, handwritten notes, magazine article, a woodwork plan and a signals page.HistoryFrank McDonald was enrolled in the Volunteer Coastal Patrol Signals class and was a member of the patrol during World War II. The Volunteer Coastal Patrol, the oldest voluntary sea rescue organisation in Australia, was established on 27 March 1937. The VCPs objectives were to bring together yachtsmen and those interested in small ships and encourage them to undergo a course of training so that their services would be of value to the authorities in rescue situations, and to train and educate these yachtsmen so that Australia's waterways could be made safer for those who ventured upon them in small craft. When World War II was declared in 1939, members of the patrol affirmed their desire to serve their country as a volunteer service, assisting the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, Water Police and Maritime Services Board in the vital defence of Sydney Harbour. Oil depots, wharves, troopships, dockyards, the State ammunition dump in Bantry Bay and flying-boat base in Rose Bay were all patrolled by the VCP until war's end. In 1940 the patrol had some 500 vessels and 2,000 members on its register. On 12 June 1941 the RAN established the voluntary Naval Auxiliary Patrol along the lines of the VCP. Through control of this body, the RAN took over all the autonomous coastal divisions of the VCP, with a view to doing the same with the Port of Sydney division. In 1942, after much bitter debate with the RAN, then Commanding Officer Arthur Morgan and his skippers refused the RANs terms and conditions for amalgamation, and the VCP ceased its relationship with the Navy and Army. However it maintained its patrol function with the Water Police and was absorbed as an auxiliary to the National Emergency Service Organisation (NES). The VCP continued to operate in the post-war period in a purely voluntary capacity, constituting an important element in national security. Its objectives were rewritten to make the organisation of value to the country in times of emergency as well as peace, by making waterways safer for yachtsmen and by setting an example to all those on the water. In 1974 Her Majesty the Queen bestowed the 'Royal' prefix to the Volunteer Coastal Patrol. While the VCP was originally designed to use properly equipped privately owned vessels, in the 1980s this became unfeasible and the patrol now owns some 50 vessels. SignificanceThis collection provides valuable insight into the development and activities of the Volunteer Coastal Patrol, in particular the use of signalling. The Atlantic Magazine article titled 'Vigilantes of the Waterways' is one of the few documents in the collection relating to the Volunteer Coastal Patrol that was not written or produced by a patrol member, and as a result provides a glimpse into the way the patrol was portrayed by the media.