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men, particularly by the personnel of No 12 squadron. On one occasion he initiated the unloading, by shovel, of
coal from a ship stranded by strike action at Darwin’s wharf. His men followed his example while the striking
‘wharfies’ looked on. By mid-1940 the newly constructed RAAF Station was completed and Eaton was appointed
Station Commander at the new Headquarters on 1 June 1940.
In September 1940 the Darwin Defence Co-ordinating Committee was established and Eaton served as the
Air Force member until October when he was posted to Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. The committee was
not without its problems, particularly in inter-Service rivalries. Tension was particularly high between Eaton and
the naval representative, Captain Thomas, who, after a number of incidents wrote to Naval Board in August 1941
sheeting home the blame to Eaton and contending that ‘his judgment is not invariably well balanced due, at least
in part, to a severe Inferiority Complex’. Eaton and the Army representative, Brigadier W Steele, were posted
from Darwin a month later. Wing Commander Eaton’s leadership in establishing RAAF facilities at Darwin was
recognized in the award of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Group Captain Eaton went on to command RAAF Station Ascot Vale in Victoria from 27 April 1942 to
April 1943 when he formed No 72 Wing at Garbutt, Townsville and deployed to Merauke in Dutch New Guinea.
Returning to Australia he was posted as Officer Commanding No 2 Bombing and Gunnery School at Port Pirie in
South Australia.
By late 1943 the air war in northern Australia had changed to offensive operations by the Allies, which included
the United States Army Air Force, the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) Air Force and the RAAF. The Japanese
mounted the last raid on Darwin on 12 November 1943, during which two enemy bombers were downed. Group
Captain Eaton was posted to Batchelor where he formed No 79 Wing RAAF comprising Nos 1 (Beaufort bombers),
2 (Mitchell bombers), 18 NEI-RAAF (Mitchell bombers) and 31 Squadrons (Beaufighter strike aircraft).
Eaton flew on a number of missions against enemy targets in the Netherlands East Indies and Timor, and he
was awarded a Mention in Dispatches by the RAAF and the Cross with Swords of the Order of Orange Nassau by
the Dutch Government as a result.
Group Captain Eaton’s final posting was as Officer Commanding RAAF Southern Area from 16 January 1945
to his retirement from the RAAF on 31 December that year. His career in the RAAF had spanned over 20 years.
In 1946 Eaton was successful in seeking an appointment to the post of Australian Consul to Portuguese East
Timor with the Australian Diplomatic Service in Dili, where he represented Australia until August 1947. It was a
colony with which he was very familiar and he served with the respect of local population.
In February 1947 a career diplomat, B C Ballard, was appointed Australia’s first Consul-General to the
Netherlands East Indies and in August 1947 he was succeeded in Batavia (now Jakarta) by Charles Eaton during a
period of increasing conflict between the Dutch and the Indonesian National Independence Movement. In July the
Dutch had launched a military operation against the Republic of Indonesia and soon seized over half the Republic’s
territory in Java and some of the richest areas in Sumatra.
The Australian government was sympathetic to the nationalist cause and in a bid to save the Republic from a
desperate situation referred the matter to the United Nations. A ceasefire was ordered and a Consular Commission
set up, staffed by Security Council members and charged with observing and reporting on the cease fire.
The Australian government’s keen interest in seeing a swift end to the Dutch aggression in the region saw Prime
Minister Ben Chifley seek a suitable representative in Batavia. Charles Eaton had been that man.
Eaton’s opposition to the police action preceding the founding of the Republic of Indonesia saw the Dutch
Minister in Australia seek his recall through Australia’s External Affairs Minister, Dr H V Evatt, complaining of
Eaton’s impropriety in Batavia—Evatt dismissed the complaint and defended his representative. Eaton remained at
his post and became the first accredited Australian diplomat to an independent Indonesia. Eaton threw himself into
his work and travelled extensively. He and the Australian military observers he took with him in September 1947
drafted a comprehensive report on the military situation in Indonesia and the resultant world focus on the dispute
contributed substantially to the signing of a truce between the Dutch and the Indonesians in January 1948.
Eaton’s bravery was conspicuous during this turbulent period. On one occasion he and the British Consul-General
were being escorted by the Dutch through the Malang area in East Java when they came under fire. All took cover
but Eaton who strolled behind his car saying ‘They are not shooting at me’. Eaton continued to work tirelessly,
particularly in resurrecting a trade agreement whereby the Indonesians would benefit. He was well aware that
the Indonesian Republic would be slowly suffocated unless the blockade of the coast by the Dutch was broken.
He also worked very closely with Australia’s representatives on the United Nations committee and they formed
close relationships with the Indonesian nationalist leaders. This raised intense hostility among the local Dutch
elite.
The Dutch launched a second military action in December 1948 and again Eaton worked toward obtaining
a ceasefire and forcing the Dutch to the negotiating table with the Indonesian nationalists. The Americans were
also applying pressure along with the United Nations and the Dutch finally bowed to the inevitable and granted
independence to the Republic of the United States of Indonesia on 27 December 1949. Eaton was present at the
ceremony in Jakarta in which sovereignty was transferred.
Charles Eaton stayed on in Indonesia as Australia’s Charges d’Affaires until returning to Australia in 1950
where he took up farming at a property at Metung in Victoria. He also served as a company director until retiring
at Frankston near Melbourne.
Charles Eaton completed his life of adventure and achievement when he died on 12 November 1979.
In compliance with his wishes, Charles Eaton’s cremated remains were released over the Tanami Desert from
a RAAF aircraft on 15 April 1981. On 16 August 1995 the medals and awards of the late Charles Eaton were
officially dedicated to the Northern Territory of Australia in a ceremony at the new Parliament House as part