The Navy Office at Townsville, released the information recently that all openings in the Great Barrier Reef, from just south of Cairns to the New Guinea coast, had been mined.
Two minefields were also laid well off Thursday Island.
The mined areas extend for almost half the length of the Reef—a distance of approximately 600 miles.
Warning to Shipping
The Barrier Reef, which is the world’s biggest coral reef, is notoriously dangerous. A great number of its channels still remain uncharted.
Navigation of the channel between Cooktown and Thursday Island is so difficult that it can only be made by day with the assistance of a pilot.
The Navy Office had already warned shipping on September 13, that the mines had been laid, therefore this move had nothing to do with Japan being granted an airline to Timor 475 miles north of Darwin.
Army News, Darwin, Northern Territories, Australia, October 26, 1941