G. S. Carter
Encyclopedia
Major
Gordon Senior 'Toby' Carter DSO
(born 20 April 1910, date of death unknown) was a New Zealand surveyor
and road engineer who worked in Sarawak
, Borneo
prior to World War II for Shell Oil. He enlisted with the British Army
during the war, and served in the Royal Australian Engineers
and later in Z Special Unit
in Borneo, where he was the Officer in Command of the Semut II operation in the Kelabit
Highlands of Sarawak
. In 1962 Carter had the initial idea for and was the driving force behind the establishment of both the Kinabalu National Park and the Kundasang War Memorial and Gardens
near Mount Kinabalu
in Sabah
.
, Auckland
. Described as "a courteous, soft-spoken, long, lean New Zealander" Carter worked for Shell as an oilfield surveyor in Sarawak, and had pre-war experience of the Baram-Tinjar River basin there. Carter avoided internment on the Japanese invasion of the country in December 1941 (it is unclear whether he escaped or was out of the country at the time); he joined the Royal Australian Engineers
in Brisbane in 1942 and saw service in the New Guinea
campaign before joining Z Special Unit and later transferring to the British Army
and the Services Reconnaissance Department
.
Initially in charge of all Semut operations in Borneo, difficulties with the notoriously prickly Major Tom Harrisson
led to the splitting of the operation into several units, Semuts I (led by Harrisson), II (led by Carter), III (led by Major W. Sochon, DSO) and IV. Carter was inserted by parachute drop on 16 April 1945 with seven other members of Z Special Unit to the Baram River
area, near Long Akah. The area was probably chosen as Carter had pre-war experience of it.
As with other Z Special Unit operations, Carter's Semut II unit was involved with intelligence gathering, and the recruitment of and training of local people in the guerilla war against the Japanese. The native intelligence network established by Semut II provided information on Japanese dispositions and troop movements in the Labuan, Miri, Lutong, Kuala Belait and Upper Rejang areas; enemy outposts, hideouts and depots were known, as well as cross-country evacuation routes that the Japanese might use. The 350-strong native guerilla force organised, armed and led by Semut II engaged with skirmished with the enemy. On 6 May 1945 Semut II captured the Japanese wireless station at Long Lama in the Baram. Carter noted that "In all our Guerilla activities we were most fortunate in not having sustained the loss of a single European, and native casualties had been light. On the other hand, casualties inflicted on the enemy had been considerable." In 1947 Carter was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his service in Sarawak. He had originally been recommended for appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Colonel H. A Campbell, Director, Services Reconnaissance Department, but this recommendation was upgraded to the DSO by General Thomas Blamey
. The recommendation remarks:
According to one account, "Carter was assessed as an idealist, his overall actions being motivated by operational orders and a compassion for the goodwill of the natives. Intelligence gathering and guerrilla training were carried out as normal duties, but the Major never lost sight of the long term strategy of fostering goodwill, civil administration where possible for the return of British colonial rule." The local people with whom he worked called him "King Carter".
Carter was withdrawn on surrender day to go to the Batu Lintang prisoner of war and civilian internment camp
in Kuching
, Sarawak in order to assess the civilian internees and assist in their evacuation to Labuan
, where the AIF
had two field hospitals, a casualty clearing station and a reception camp for released POWs and internees. Carter was chosen for this role as he knew many of the Sarawak oil field people and fellow New Zealand surveyors from North Borneo
.
In 1958 Carter was one of the senior Shell managerial staff at Seria
, Brunei
. Despite his wartime difficulties with Harrisson, they remained friends. In his 1959 book, World Within: A Borneo Story, Harrisson noted "Toby Carter and I kept our eye in, recently, by climbing Mt Kinabalu
... we stayed for days in the tiny Pakka Cave, at 10,000 ft. under the summit, looking out over the vast expanses of inside Borneo, once our peculiar empires."
In 1962 Carter initiated and was the driving force behind the establishment of both the Kinabalu National Park and the Kundasang War Memorial and Gardens
near Mount Kinabalu in Sabah
. The Kundasang Memorial and Gardens commemorate the 2,428 Australian and British prisoners who died during World War II
at the Sandakan POW Camp
, and the casualties of the three infamous forced death marches
from Sandakan to Ranau
. It also serves as a tribute to the many local people who risked their lives while aiding the prisoners of war.
Carter married his wife Winifred on 12 November 1936 and they had at least one child, born in 1941. Carter was still alive in the mid-1980s; in his 2001 autobiography Blood on Borneo Jack Wong Sue
refers to Carter as 'the late'.
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Gordon Senior 'Toby' Carter DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
(born 20 April 1910, date of death unknown) was a New Zealand surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
and road engineer who worked in Sarawak
Sarawak
Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...
, Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
prior to World War II for Shell Oil. He enlisted with the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
during the war, and served in the Royal Australian Engineers
Royal Australian Engineers
The Royal Australian Engineers is a corps of the Australian Army . The RAE is ranked fourth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, behind the Staff Cadets, Armoured and Artillery Corps...
and later in Z Special Unit
Z Special Unit
Z Special Unit was a joint Allied special forces unit formed during the Second World War to operate behind Japanese lines in South East Asia...
in Borneo, where he was the Officer in Command of the Semut II operation in the Kelabit
Kelabit
The Kelabit, who have close ties to the Lun Bawang, are an indigenous people of the Sarawak highlands in Borneo with a minority in the neighbouring state of Brunei. The elevation there is slightly over 1,200 meters...
Highlands of Sarawak
Sarawak
Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...
. In 1962 Carter had the initial idea for and was the driving force behind the establishment of both the Kinabalu National Park and the Kundasang War Memorial and Gardens
Kundasang
Kundasang is a village in Sabah, Borneo that lies along the bank of Kundasang Valley. It is located about 6 kilometres away from Kinabalu National Park and is renowned for its vegetable market which is open seven days a week. It is the closest village to Mount Kinabalu and has a panoramic view of...
near Mount Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu is a prominent mountain on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is located in the East Malaysian state of Sabah and is protected as Kinabalu National Park, a World Heritage Site. Kinabalu is the tallest peak in Borneo's Crocker Range and is the tallest mountain in the Malay...
in Sabah
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
.
Life
Carter was educated at Mount Albert Grammar SchoolMount Albert Grammar School
Mount Albert Grammar School, or MAGS, is a co-educational secondary school in Central Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches from year 9 to year 13. Mount Albert Grammar is one of the largest secondary schools in the country...
, Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
. Described as "a courteous, soft-spoken, long, lean New Zealander" Carter worked for Shell as an oilfield surveyor in Sarawak, and had pre-war experience of the Baram-Tinjar River basin there. Carter avoided internment on the Japanese invasion of the country in December 1941 (it is unclear whether he escaped or was out of the country at the time); he joined the Royal Australian Engineers
Royal Australian Engineers
The Royal Australian Engineers is a corps of the Australian Army . The RAE is ranked fourth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, behind the Staff Cadets, Armoured and Artillery Corps...
in Brisbane in 1942 and saw service in the New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
campaign before joining Z Special Unit and later transferring to the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and the Services Reconnaissance Department
Services Reconnaissance Department
The Services Reconnaissance Department , also known as Inter-Allied Services Department , Special Operations Australia and Section A, Allied Intelligence Bureau was an Australian military intelligence and special reconnaissance unit, during World War II.Authorised by General Thomas Blamey in March...
.
Initially in charge of all Semut operations in Borneo, difficulties with the notoriously prickly Major Tom Harrisson
Tom Harrisson
Major Tom Harnett Harrisson DSO OBE was a British polymath. In the course of his life he was an ornithologist, explorer, journalist, broadcaster, soldier, guerrilla, ethnologist, museum curator, archaeologist, documentarian, film-maker, conservationist, and writer...
led to the splitting of the operation into several units, Semuts I (led by Harrisson), II (led by Carter), III (led by Major W. Sochon, DSO) and IV. Carter was inserted by parachute drop on 16 April 1945 with seven other members of Z Special Unit to the Baram River
Baram River
The Baram river is a river in Sarawak, East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. The river originates in the central Iran Mountains and flows westwards through tropical rainforest to the South China Sea....
area, near Long Akah. The area was probably chosen as Carter had pre-war experience of it.
As with other Z Special Unit operations, Carter's Semut II unit was involved with intelligence gathering, and the recruitment of and training of local people in the guerilla war against the Japanese. The native intelligence network established by Semut II provided information on Japanese dispositions and troop movements in the Labuan, Miri, Lutong, Kuala Belait and Upper Rejang areas; enemy outposts, hideouts and depots were known, as well as cross-country evacuation routes that the Japanese might use. The 350-strong native guerilla force organised, armed and led by Semut II engaged with skirmished with the enemy. On 6 May 1945 Semut II captured the Japanese wireless station at Long Lama in the Baram. Carter noted that "In all our Guerilla activities we were most fortunate in not having sustained the loss of a single European, and native casualties had been light. On the other hand, casualties inflicted on the enemy had been considerable." In 1947 Carter was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his service in Sarawak. He had originally been recommended for appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Colonel H. A Campbell, Director, Services Reconnaissance Department, but this recommendation was upgraded to the DSO by General Thomas Blamey
Thomas Blamey
Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED was an Australian general of the First and Second World Wars, and the only Australian to date to attain the rank of field marshal....
. The recommendation remarks:
According to one account, "Carter was assessed as an idealist, his overall actions being motivated by operational orders and a compassion for the goodwill of the natives. Intelligence gathering and guerrilla training were carried out as normal duties, but the Major never lost sight of the long term strategy of fostering goodwill, civil administration where possible for the return of British colonial rule." The local people with whom he worked called him "King Carter".
Carter was withdrawn on surrender day to go to the Batu Lintang prisoner of war and civilian internment camp
Batu Lintang camp
Batu Lintang camp at Kuching, Sarawak on the island of Borneo was a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War. It was unusual in that it housed both Allied prisoners of war and civilian internees...
in Kuching
Kuching
Kuching , officially the City of Kuching, and formerly the City of Sarawak, is the capital and most populous city of the East Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is the largest city on the island of Borneo, and the fourth largest city in Malaysia....
, Sarawak in order to assess the civilian internees and assist in their evacuation to Labuan
Labuan
Labuan is a federal territory in East Malaysia. It is an island off the coast of the state of Sabah. Labuan's capital is Victoria and is best known as an offshore financial centre offering international financial and business services via Labuan IBFC since 1990 as well as being an offshore support...
, where the AIF
Second Australian Imperial Force
The Second Australian Imperial Force was the name given to the volunteer personnel of the Australian Army in World War II. Under the Defence Act , neither the part-time Militia nor the full-time Permanent Military Force could serve outside Australia or its territories unless they volunteered to...
had two field hospitals, a casualty clearing station and a reception camp for released POWs and internees. Carter was chosen for this role as he knew many of the Sarawak oil field people and fellow New Zealand surveyors from North Borneo
North Borneo
North Borneo was a British protectorate under the sovereign North Borneo Chartered Company from 1882 to 1946. After the war it became a crown colony of Great Britain from 1946 to 1963, known in this time as British North Borneo. It is located on the northeastern end of the island of Borneo. It is...
.
In 1958 Carter was one of the senior Shell managerial staff at Seria
Seria
Seria is a town in the Belait District of Brunei Darussalam. Its full name is Pekan Seria in full . Seria was originally known as Padang Berawa which is Wild Pigeon's Field in Malay. The name "Seria" comes from the river located very near where oil was first discovered in the area in 1929...
, Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
. Despite his wartime difficulties with Harrisson, they remained friends. In his 1959 book, World Within: A Borneo Story, Harrisson noted "Toby Carter and I kept our eye in, recently, by climbing Mt Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu is a prominent mountain on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is located in the East Malaysian state of Sabah and is protected as Kinabalu National Park, a World Heritage Site. Kinabalu is the tallest peak in Borneo's Crocker Range and is the tallest mountain in the Malay...
... we stayed for days in the tiny Pakka Cave, at 10,000 ft. under the summit, looking out over the vast expanses of inside Borneo, once our peculiar empires."
In 1962 Carter initiated and was the driving force behind the establishment of both the Kinabalu National Park and the Kundasang War Memorial and Gardens
Kundasang
Kundasang is a village in Sabah, Borneo that lies along the bank of Kundasang Valley. It is located about 6 kilometres away from Kinabalu National Park and is renowned for its vegetable market which is open seven days a week. It is the closest village to Mount Kinabalu and has a panoramic view of...
near Mount Kinabalu in Sabah
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
. The Kundasang Memorial and Gardens commemorate the 2,428 Australian and British prisoners who died during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
at the Sandakan POW Camp
Sandakan
Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the north-eastern coast of Borneo. It is located on the east coast of the island and it is the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo...
, and the casualties of the three infamous forced death marches
Sandakan Death Marches
The Sandakan Death Marches were a series of forced marches in Borneo from Sandakan to Ranau which resulted in the deaths of more than 3,600 Indonesian civilian slave labourers and 2,400 Allied prisoners of war held captive by the Empire of Japan during the Pacific campaign of World War II at prison...
from Sandakan to Ranau
Ranau
Ranau is a district as well as a town in the East Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo and it is situated in the West Coast Division of Sabah...
. It also serves as a tribute to the many local people who risked their lives while aiding the prisoners of war.
Carter married his wife Winifred on 12 November 1936 and they had at least one child, born in 1941. Carter was still alive in the mid-1980s; in his 2001 autobiography Blood on Borneo Jack Wong Sue
Jack Wong Sue
Jack Wong Sue, OAM, DCM, JP also known as Jack Sue was a Chinese Australian from Perth, Western Australia. Wong Sue served as a member of the commando/special reconnaissance section, Z Special Unit....
refers to Carter as 'the late'.