Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 31
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[Page 31]
Sep 4th [1914] The "Australia" and "Melbourne" took their departure from Suva at 9 A.M. There was a heavy sea and high wind blowing at the time, and the inclement weather was of such a nature as to cause us to prepare for an uncomfortable voyage, - and very soon after we left the harbour, we were diverted from the flagships course as the "Australia was to proceed to her rendezvous at Palm Island, whilst we were ordered to proceed to "Nauru" or otherwise Pleasant Island approximately distant north 1280 miles and situated almost on the Equator; - our duty on arrival there was to destroy the powerful German wireless station one of a wireless chain which was invaluable help to the enemy ships that were operating in the Pacific, and wireless messages were constantly being sent out from this station and causing very considerable annoyance, as it had power to transmit somewhere about a 3000 mile radius, and H.M.S. Hampshire had been known to have earlier destroyed the