Northern communities rattled after Chinese boat arrivals walked into Australia's unfenced Truscott airbase

The Truscott-Mungalalu Airbase was built in secret during WWII but is now used to transport staff and supplies to offshore oil and gas rigs. (Supplied)

Remote northern residents are demanding more be done to protect the coast after Chinese men walked ashore and entered an Australian airbase without being intercepted.

The men came ashore close to the northern tip of Western Australia in early April, with sources – including one of the Chinese men involved – reporting several of the group entered the unfenced Truscott-Mungalalu Airbase apparently undetected.

That’s despite a document viewed by the ABC showing the Australia Defence Force started aerial activity ‘in support of Operation Sovereign Borders” at the site in December.

Flights records show unmanned military drones patrolling the coast from the privately-operated airbase for hours at a time.

There’s also been a ramping up of surveillance in the area as part of an operation targeting illegal foreign fishing boats.

Matthew Niikkula chairs the North West Defence Alliance, which represents the seven local governments in the area.

“I think the main thought on everyone’s mind is, ‘How on earth did this happen?'” he says.

“If a random boat can arrive and people into an airbase, what else is happening in the north?

“The most vulnerable coastline we have is along the north, so this shows that we need to see a focus of key assets, key infrastructure and a lot more of a defence presence.”

He said while the increase in staffing and surveillance in response to recent boat arrivals was welcome, it is a ‘kneejerk’ reaction that exposed the need for a more permanent presence.

The Australian Border Force (ABF) did not respond to questions about the airbase arrival, but said in a statement it was ‘adequately resourced and prepared’ to respond to security threats.

“A combination of Australian Defence Force and ABF aerial and maritime assets are always postured to detect and intercept maritime people smuggling ventures in Australia’s key maritime threat corridors,” the statement reads.

“In 2023-24, additional assets were deployed to support the posture.

“The ABF does not go into specifics about capability assessments and requirements, other than to say that we are adequately resourced and prepared to address … maritime security threats.”

Visit to the frontline of remote coast patrols

The far north Kimberley has found itself on the frontline of northern border protection efforts in recent months.

7.30 travelled to the remote coastline in the days after the arrival of the Chinese men to see how locals are feeling about the recent increase in foreign boats.

Two of the recent landings occurred close to the Truscott-Mungalalu Airbase, which was built in secret during World War 2 to try and protect the northern coast.

The area has long been recognised as a vulnerable section of coast due to its proximity to Indonesia and minimal population.

Truscott is now privately owned and used primarily by the oil and gas industry.

Recent arrivals 

The first boat dropped a dozen men — believed to be from Pakistan and Bangladesh  — at a beach in November.

According to a government document viewed by the ABC, within several weeks the Australian Defence Force had launched flight activities focused on the area.

“The Australia Defence Force will be conducting flying activities at Truscott Aerodrome and in the nearby coastal and offshore areas in support of Operation Sovereign Borders, from 15 December to an estimated end date of 30 May 2024,” the document states.

“The expected aviation timings … are up to sixteen hours daily.”

Flight records show unmanned military drones doing tight circles over the vast, mangrove-lined coastline.

Despite the ongoing operation, the group of Chinese men were able to come ashore in early April and approach the airbase without being intercepted.

One of the Chinese nationals has told the ABC several of the group walked into the facility and alerted staff, before the remainder were rounded up on the surrounding bush tracks.

A land search got underway to find the tenth member of the group, who WA Police said was found not far from Truscott in ‘relatively good condition’  the following day.

The men are now being held at the Nauru processing facility, from where one of the men has told ABC he came to Australia in the hope of making money, and was now keen to return home.

Journey to Truscott

The area where the two recent boats arrived is sparsely populated, with only a handful of families living on scenic beachfront blocks.

Among them are Lancho and Joy Davey, who run a tourism campground and fishing charters at Honeymoon Bay.

Travelling across the bay, it’s easy to see why the area is appealing to those attempting the late-night deliveries of asylum-seekers and economic migrants.

There is little boat traffic and the mangrove-lined creeks offer plenty of coverage to avoid the unmanned drones and spotter planes that peruse the coast.

“There have always been boats coming from overseas,” Lancho reflects as the boat engine roars across the water.

Lancho says that his grandfather Les French once found a boat of Indonesian men close to the shore.

With the authorities some hours away,  his pop ended up grabbing his 303 shotgun from the house, and kept it levelled at the men until reinforcements arrived.

And at night-time, from their beach-front home, the Davey family sometimes sees movement on the islands offshore.

“We have boats that come and do illegal fishing around Niiwalarra [Island] and they’ll set up on the beach and we’ll find Indonesian wrappers,” Lancho says,

“I think they come regularly because we’ll find fresh stuff, and you might see a fire pop up on the island.

“But usually they’re long gone before anyone knows they’re there.”

The family has noticed an increase in patrol planes in the last month, which they describe as reassuring.

What do locals think?

The nearest major settlement is the Kalumburu community, which is located 35 kilometres south-east of and is home to about 400 people.

Community CEO Madeline Gallagher-Dann says she was shocked to hear the news of the Chinese boat arrival.

“It’s a pretty scary thinking they got this far and made it to land not far from us,” she says.

“[Border protection] could definitely be done a bit better because we’re vulnerable — we’re open and there is no patrols on this side.”

Locals in Kalumburu face daily challenges around overcrowded housing and inflated living costs, so national security is not front of mind for residents.

But Ms Gallagher-Dann says there are legitimate concerns about biosecurity hazards and the possibility of diseases being brought to the Aboriginal community.

“It would be good to be kept more informed,” she says.

“People are wondering what’s going on — we’re a great community but often it feels like we end up ‘out of sight, out of mind’, when it comes to stuff like this.”

‘It’s a big tough job’

Australia’s northern coast is notoriously vast and difficult to patrol, due to its rugged terrain and minimal population.

There are logistical challenges. Each year the wet season rains cut across highway one, and limited mobile phone reception means locals find it difficult to phone through reports of foreign boats to the authorities.

In recent months the Australian Border Force has used the threat of crocodile attack to try to dissuade foreign skippers from entering Australian waters, publicising Indonesian reports of fishermen being mauled at an Island off the Kimberley coast.

Elders like Lancho’s grandfather Les French are philosophical about the latest wave of arrivals.

He points out Indonesian boats were visiting the coast for hundreds of years before the British arrived.

“It’s a big tough job they’ve got,” he said.

“You need someone out there all the time, checking, make sure they don’t come around here.

“I think they could keep in touch with us who live here, because we know the country and we can help watch for people coming from overseas.”

Les was the Kalumburu chairman for almost a decade, and ran the construction crew that sealed the airstrips at Truscott Airbase.

He says it’s the people-smuggling trade that bothers him most, and the grim prospect of groups being dropped too far from settlements to survive.

“It’s very hard to survive on the coastline,” Les says, as he gazes out across the glinting ocean.

“You can’t survive, unless you’ve been born and bred up here and know the coastline, or you go inland.

“The only way they can survive is inland, not out in the mangroves around the coast area, because it’s a dangerous area and they can be picked up by the croc. They don’t know where the crocodiles are.”