The Central Bureau was one of two Allied signals intelligence (SIGINT) organisations in the South West Pacific area (SWPA) during World War II. Central Bureau was attached to the headquarters of the Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area, General Douglas MacArthur. The role of the Bureau was to research and decrypt intercepted Imperial Japanese Army traffic and work in close co-operation with other SIGINT centers in the United States, United Kingdom and India. Air activities included both army and navy air forces, as there was no independent Japanese air force.
Plaque at 21 Henry St, Ascot, Queensland
General Colin Simpson (right) with Major General Spencer B. Akin (left), the Chief Signal Officer at GHQ
Directors of the Central Bureau in Brisbane in 1944. Sinkov is second from the left.
21 Henry St, Ascot, Brisbane
Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne
Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne (FRUMEL) was a United States–Australian–British signals intelligence unit, founded in Melbourne, Australia, during World War II. It was one of two major Allied signals intelligence units called Fleet Radio Units in the Pacific theatre, the other being FRUPAC, in Hawaii. FRUMEL was a U.S. Navy organization, reporting directly to CINCPAC in Hawaii and the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C., and hence to the central cryptographic organization. The separate Central Bureau in Melbourne was attached and reported to General Douglas MacArthur's Allied South West Pacific Area command headquarters.
FRUMEL code room