Our Forgotten Winged-Allies

The plaque commemorates the pigeons that saved many soldiers lives in World War One and World War Two. The Historical Museum is the home to the South Pacific Rim`s only war pigeon museum

On Saturday 7th September 2014, Australia Flag Day at the Caboolture Historical museum, Brisbane a unique event happened. All war animals were honoured but a special plaque was opened to honour Australian war pigeons. It is Australia's only war pigeon memorial honouring the deeds and sacrifices of these winged warriors that have save so many Diggers lives over both world wars.

Nigel Allsopp- President of the Australian War Animal Memorial Organization (AWAMO) talked about some of the great achievements that war pigeons have accomplished and how they have saved many lives. The audience of around 1500 people were amazed to hear of two Australian pigeon heroes that won the Dickin Medal for bravery in 1947.

Apart from the Bronze war pigeon memorial plaque AWAMO also provided a war animal plaque for all other animals plus donated several high quality posters for the Pigeon museum for their display.

Pigeons were used in great numbers during World War One. However, as technology, including the radar, wireless and telephone, had greatly advanced since then, by 1939 it was thought that pigeons would no longer be required. Nonetheless, it was soon realised that this equipment could still fail in certain situations and message-carrying pigeons were reinstated as an alternative.

The 8th Australian Pigeon Section was sent to Port Moresby in December 1942 to support operations on the Kokoda Trail. The pigeons were trained to carry a message for up to 120 miles (193 km) at an average speed of 30 miles per hour (48km/hr). They were particularly useful in emergency situations when no other method of communication was available.

The bodies of the two Dickin Medal winners and several other pigeons were returned to Australia for display at the War Memorial. 

Article by Nigel Allsopp AWAMO