In 1946, Cousens was charged under the Treason Act 1351 - the first Australian to face the charge.[1][2] Despite being committed for trial in August 1946, the charge was dropped in December 1946.[1] However, his commission was stripped by military authorities in January 1947.[3]
Cousens always maintained he delivered the propaganda broadcasts because he had been threatened by the Japanese with torture and death.[1] Despite this, his work during the war has continued to be the subject of much discussion and speculation.[4][5][6][7][8]
After arriving in Australia, Cousens looked for work and found a job as a wharfie while also earning some money as an amateur boxer. His media career began when he commenced working in newspaper advertising.[1]
After reading some advertising copy on the air at Sydney radio station 2GB, he came to the attention of station management who were impressed with the quality of his voice and his easy going personality. At 2GB, he hosted a range of radio shows including the educational program Radio Newspaper of the Air as well as a number of anti-communist broadcasts.[1]
Cousens was part of a special Armistice Day broadcast on 2GB in 1933, one of the station's "soldier announcers" who spoke about their previous war experience.[9]
He continued working at 2GB until 1940, after the start of World War II.[10]
After recovering from burns he sustained while demolishing a village, Cousens rejoined his battalion on Singapore Island. His commanding officer commended his leadership and Cousens was promoted to temporary major in February 1942.[1]
Soon after, Cousens was captured as a prisoner of war during the Fall of Singapore and was imprisoned in Changi Prison. Following the AIF inadvertently revealing to the Japanese that Cousens was a radio announcer, he was transported to Japan from a prison camp in Burma. In Japan, Cousens wrote propaganda scripts for the Japanese and delivered shortwave radio broadcasts for Radio Tokyo while also coaching English-speaking Japanese announcers.[1]
He also worked on the propaganda program The Zero Hour where he chose Iva Toguri, an American woman with Japanese heritage, who he reportedly colluded with to undermine the broadcasts.[1]
Following military investigations, Australian federal minister for information Senator Bill Ashley confirmed that the voice heard on Radio Tokyo broadcasts had been identified as belonging to Charles Cousens and that the broadcasts were live.[11] Cousens' wife Winifred Cousens said that she was disheartened to hear her husband talk against the British.[11]
2GB station manager Harold Gordon Horner said he agreed that the voice sounded like Cousens but described it as being "lifeless", stating: "If it is Cousens, he is clearly letting us know that he is being compelled to say these things."[11]
After receiving a letter from her husband in July 1945, Winifred Cousens again reiterated that Cousens was not making the broadcasts willingly.[12] In the letter, Cousens described the morale of the Australian prisoners as "wonderful" and that Australia could be proud of them.[12]
Prosecution
After the Japanese surrendered, Cousens's arrest was ordered by General Douglas MacArthur and he was brought back to Australia on a British aircraft carrier.[13] In November 1945, the Australian Army transported him from Brisbane to Sydney while attempting to keep his arrival secret.[14] After his arrival in Sydney, his wife complained of not being permitted to see him despite being told they she would be able to, stating: "My husband sent me a telegram telling me he expected to arrive on Wednesday and that he would telephone me as soon as he was here. I was not prepared for his arrival a day earlier. It is terrible, after five years, to know he is here and not to see him. His six-year-old son Robert had also been counting on him to arrive on Wednesday."[14]
After his arrival in Sydney, Cousens was admitted to the Yaralla Military Hospital, while placed under close arrest, to undergo routine treatment as a recovered prisoner of war.[15] It was discovered that he had developed a heart condition due to starvation.[16] He was subsequently placed under open arrest and was allowed to visit his wife's family at Mosman.[16]
In May 1946, Cousens' case was referred to New South Wales Minister for Justice Reg Downing after it had been considered by the Commonwealth Crown Law Department.[17]
He was then charged with high treason in New South Wales under the Treason Act 1351.[2]
A magistrates inquiry commenced on 20 August 1946 at the Central Police Court. He was committed to stand trial. However, the New South Wales attorney-general Clarrie Martin dropped the charge in November 1946.[18] Speaking afterwards, Cousens expressed his happiness at the decision and thanked people for their kindness.[18] He also credited 2GB for the support the station had shown him, stating: "2GB have been extraordinarily good to me and I have been given to understand that my job is still there for me. If all goes well, I shall be happy to go back and pick up the threads again."[18]
Legal and military authorities had intended to court martial Cousens but instead they waited until after the magistrate's inquiry to strip him of his commission in January 1947.[3]
According to an army spokesman, at the cancellation of his commission Cousens reverted to being a civilian and was no longer entitled to refer to himself by his former rank as he was now considered "plain Mr. Cousens".[19] However, if he desired, could refer to himself as "ex-Major Cousens".[19]
Cousins consistently maintained that he made the propaganda broadcasts after being threatened by the Japanese with torture and death and said that his radio broadcasts were of minimal use to the Japanese as he frequently sabotaged them by subtly inserting information which was useful to the allies.[1] He and Toguri would often ridicule the Japanese with officials not understanding the nuance or double entendres contained within the broadcasts.[1]
In April 1947, the men of the 2nd/19th battalion selected Cousens to lead them in Sydney's Anzac Day parade in the absence of their commanding officer.[20] However, because Cousens had been stripped of his commission, he was not permitted to wear his service ribbons but he defiantly wore a sprig of rosemary as well as a Legion of Ex-Serviceman badge.[20]
In August 1949, he was a defence witness for Toguri before she was sentenced to ten years jail after a jury found her guilty of one charge of making treasonable broadcasts to American troops.[21][22]
In June 1950, Cousens denied allegations made by Japanese army major Hiroshi Itsui during the war crimes trials that Cousens had been the guest of honour at a farewell party after eight Australians were executed.[23]
Later career
He returned to work at 2GB in February 1947.[24] After his return, Cousens hosted Quality Corner and Reflections in a Wine Glass.[25][26]
In April 1950, Cousens gave evidence before the Federal Conciliation Commissioner to support a claim by the Announcers and Actors' Equity for a new award.[28]
He resigned from 2GB in August 1953 to join a Sydney business firm.[29] He returned to 2GB in 1955 where he hosted Melody on Wheels, Shopping Service and Musical Magazine.[30][31][32]
He married advertising representative Dorothy May Allen on 20 May 1929 at St John's Anglican Church in Darlinghurst.[1] After having one daughter together, Cousens divorced Allen and married divorcee Winifred Grace James née Dettman on 23 December 1938 in the registrar-general's office in Sydney with whom he had one son.[1]
At the time of his death, Cousens' stepdaughter (Winifred's daughter from her previous marriage) Judy-Ann Everingham (née James) was a television presenter at ABC TV in Sydney where she hosted Woman's World and anchored special telecasts.[37][38][39]
Cousens died on 9 May 1964 after suffering a heart attack.[37] His funeral was held on 12 May 1964 at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium, which followed a memorial service in a chapel at Allan Walsh Pty Ltd in Chatswood.[40]
Chapman, Ivan (1990). Tokyo Calling: The Charles Cousens Case. Sydney, NSW, Australia. Hale & Ironmonger. ISBN 0868063673
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↑ "2GB broadcasting programs - next week's special features". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 November 1933. p.2. Retrieved 18 March 2023. 6.40 - 9.45, Radio Cavalcade by soldier announcers (Uncle George, Charles Cousens, Richard Hughes, Cyril James, Eric Colman, Jack Lumsdaine, describing war incidents)
↑ "'Vital words' drama at war trial". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 June 1950. p.3. Retrieved 18 March 2023. It was only an evening meal. I was taken there under escort and was amazed when I was placed among eight Japanese officers having dinner. It was certainly not a farewell party.
↑ "Studio News Brevities". The Age. 3 September 1953. p.17. Retrieved 18 March 2023. Well known announcer, Charles Cousens has resigned from 2GB Sydney to join a Sydney business firm
↑ "Radio programmes for today". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 May 1956. p.6. Retrieved 18 March 2023. 2GB: Shopping Service, 9.30, Charles Cousens
↑ "Advertisement: Paint It Yourself". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 February 1957. p.8. Retrieved 18 March 2023. Charles Cousens' "Musical Magazine" is now heard at 10am
↑ "Art of news reading". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 July 1958. p.11. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
↑ "Television details: 4 November 1957". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 November 1957. Retrieved 18 March 2023. ATN, Channel 7... 6.45: ATN News and Weather. From "The Sydney Morning Herald", "The Sun" and ATN news sources. Newsreader: Charles Cousens
↑ "Sunday viewing extended". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 December 1958. p.9. Retrieved 18 March 2023. This will be followed at 12.30 with a new musical program "The Commonwealth Bank Hour of Music"... Compared by Charles Cousens, the program will feature Thomas Tycho and the ATN-7 orchestra and leading Australian artists.
↑ "New program of music". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 December 1958. p.15. Retrieved 18 March 2023. The program will be presented in both Sydney and Melbourne, the Melbourne station being GTV-9. The show will come from ATN-7...
1 2 "Former TV man dead". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 May 1964. p.13. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
↑ "Student prince". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 May 1961. p.15. Retrieved 18 March 2023. Musical comedy star John Larsen will by interviewed by Judy Ann James on Woman's World on ABN-2 between 2 o'clock and 2.30 this afternoon.
↑ "Ball telecast". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 April 1961. p.17. Retrieved 18 March 2023. The Opera House Ball will be telecast direct from the Sydney Town Hall... James Dibble and Judy Ann James will interview personalities attending the ball and comment on the fashions.
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