Boots in Bowral: the military occupation of Bowral and its effects on Australian Defence policy

On 13 February 1978, the Governor-General of Australia signed an order to call out Australian Defence Forces (ADF) to the New South Wales (NSW) country town of Bowral, on the advice of the Federal Executive Council. The troops were deployed to secure the town while it hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting (CHOGRM), which had been targeted by a bomb explosion at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney that same day. From the 13th till the 16th of February, troops patrolled the town, legitimised by a call-out order made by the Governor-General that some scholars have determined was likely unconstitutional. As such, most scholarship on the Bowral operation focuses on the legal basis for the use of military forces in domestic operations.

In contrast, this article investigates the historical circumstances for the Bowral call-out of troops by examining recently released archival material; it explores the political and operational reasons that may have influenced the Australian Government's decision to deploy military personnel in a context that, as has been claimed subsequently, was counter to its legislative and constitutional capacities.

In so doing, the article makes four assertions regarding the government's decision in making this legally questionable move; that there was a conscious effort to avoid dissention between various arms of government, an operational concern over the number of police required to secure the approach to Bowral, a deep concern in Canberra regarding the possibility of a terrorist attack, and a pre-existing desire to expand ADF capabilities into the counter-terrorism space. In so doing, the paper concludes by contextualising these decision points against the legislative and policy issues raised by the subsequent investigations into the Bowral operation.