The Wake Diary Entries: A Lost Protocol

 The Lost Protocol, A Typo or What?

We have a dusty diary from 1948. It was sitting in a university archive, the pages yellowed with age. To a casual observer, it’s just a list of names and dates. But to a serious researcher, or a  forensic historian, it’s evidence. What if I told you that the man who wrote it left us a hidden key? A clue perhaps locked in the rigid etiquette of the 1940s military officer...

It’s November 16, 1948. We are in the office of Lieutenant Colonel Bob Wake, the Director of Security Intelligence for Queensland.

Bob was not a man who dealt in guesswork. He dealt in facts. He dealt in precision. And right here, on one page, clustered amongst a list of known Communist backed organisations, he writes a name:

"Gordon Olive"

 "Nothing to see here," say some. "That’s just Wing Commander Charles Gordon Challoner Olive. A local war hero."

Casual? Bob Wake?  The man who survived an inquiry by General Blamey himself?

I can't quite buy that. And maybe you should question it too. Because if you turn the pages of that diary to the transcription, and if you look just a few weeks later to December 5th, Wake gives us a key.

The Pixley Control

According to the very last page of the diary transcription, Wake records a meeting with another local military figure. A man named Pixley. Real name Norman Stuart Pixley

Like Charles Gordon Olive, Pixley was a distinguished officer, and like Charles Gordon Olive, Pixley was retired, having demobilized in 1946.

If Wake was a "casual" man who couldn't be bothered with titles, you’d expect him to write "Norman Pixley," that would be a reasonable assumption wouldn't it?

But he doesn’t.

He writes: "Cdr Pixley."

'Commander' in reality Lieutenant Commander Norman Stewart Pixley. Even for a retired man, Wake follows the rules. He follows the Protocol of Rank:

The Law of the List: Regulation 151

We don't have to guess whether Wake was being polite. In 1948, the addressing of officers wasn't a choice; it was a regulation.

Under Regulation 151 of the Australian Military Regulations and Orders (AMR&O), officers of "Field Rank" (Major/Squadron Leader and above) were not just permitted but legally entitled to retain their rank upon entering the Retired List and should be addressed that way..

This protocol was a formal status granted by the Military Board. To strip a man of that title in an official log wasn't just a slip of the pen, it was a denial of his standing.

When Wake wrote "Cdr Pixley", he was following Regulation 151 to the letter. Pixley was a retired Lieutennt Commander; he kept the title.

When Wake wrote "Gordon Olive" was he really stripping a serving Wing Commander and State Commandant of his rank or was he was writing about a different person or persons?

The Glaring Violation

Now, let’s go back to "Gordon Olive."

If this entry refers to the famous Wing Commander, then Bob Wake has done something extraordinary. Because in 1948, Charles Olive wasn’t just a retired ace. He was the active State Commandant of the Air Training Corps. He was a uniformed commander in the RAAF Reserve and he had other officers under his command.

It's All About Context

The question for you is, do you believe that Colonel Wake, a stickler who meticulously recorded the rank of the retired Commander Pixley, would strip a serving State Commandant of his title? That he would list a fellow senior officer as a civilian, right in the middle of a diary page, an intelligence dossier on the Eureka Youth League, The Coronation Printery and communist agitators like Ivanoff as well as a right wing organisation called the New Guard?

It’s not just rude. In the military world of 1948, it is highly unlikely.

The Verdict

So, what are we looking at?

We are looking at Forensic Proof.

• Fact 1: Wake used ranks for retired officers (Pixley).

• Fact 2: Wake did not use a rank for Gordon Olive.

• Fact 3: Therefore, the name "Gordon Olive" in the diary is highly unlikely to be the Wing Commander.

He or they are civilian/s. A "cleanskin." And the little double-dash symbol ($=$) linking the name to "Olive" isn't a typo. It’s a link to what else is on that page.

The "Lost Protocol" tells us that while the world was hearing about the Somerton Man on a beach in Adelaide, the Spy Chief in Brisbane wasn't having tea with a Wing Commander. He was tracking networks..

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a great deal more about this specific topic which will be revealed in the upcoming book, Somerton Secrets.There's a lot more to it than at first meets the eye