The Tobruk Truth printed on a clapped out duplicator, gave BBC news and occasional local items.

 It rushed out a special edition announcing Hess’s flight.

Its boast, that it “always appears,” was proved by coming out after a 1500lb bomb landed on the building where it was produced.

The only casualties were six persons who received scratches.

The editor and publisher of the Tobruk Truth was Sergt Bill Williams, who prior to enlistment worked for the “Oakleigh Times” in Victoria.

He brought out 243 issues of the Tobruk Truth from February 16, 1941 to October 20, 1941.

Bill recorded by shorthand the daily BBC news and then typed it on to a wax stencil and copies were printed slowly as mentioned on a dilapidated office duplicator.

Copies were issued to units in Tobruk, with their rations, on the basis of one copy to each 50 men.

When the second issue came out they had no paper, so copies were printed on the back of old Italian army forms.  

The Tobruk Truth was so popular with the men that copies reached places, outside Tobruk, as far away as the Egyptian frontier and one base, some 200 miles south of  Benghazi.

The newspaper was produced in one of the shattered buildings that fronted Tobruk harbour. 

Equipment consisted of a typewriter, despite the dust  the typewriter generally worked well with a duplicator, a supply of wax stencils, limited paper and ink. 

The battered duplicator often had to be rejuvenated with old car springs and tied up with string and wire.

Almost all copies of the 243 issues of the Tobruk Truth were exhibited at the “Rats of Tobruk” Display held at the Pandora Gallery, Coolah, on Saturday, October 15, 2011 to Wednesday, November 9, 2011.

I still hold all issues  of the Tobruk Truth and anxious for a volunteer to retype

these issues as some pages have deteriorated overtime.  

When retyped and reprinted copies could be handed onto appropriate organisations.   

Many lads from Mudgee and Coolah s served in the siege of Tobruk and no doubt were ardent readers of the “Truth”.

My uncle Alexander John Cameron of Maclean served in the 2/1st Pioneers Battalion in Tobruk. 

Following is  summary of an officially recorded exploit of three members of the the Battalion.

Murray, Simmons and Cameron were engaged during the siege to proceed beyond the holding defence line, capture a German tank and bring back prisoners.  

They advanced 400 yards into the enemy lines without coming into contact with any German tanks, so they decided to advance another 200 yards.

They then sighted a German tank with its two pounder gun pointing towards Tobruk.  

Around the gun were the tank crew, eight in number, in sleeping positions. 

Simmons sneaked up and prodded one of them in the backside with his bayonet.  

Nothing happed so he prodded a bit harder. 

It soon became apparent to the three Aussies that all the tank crew were dead.

Thus the Aussies had no hope of bringing back German prisoners. 

However, they did manage to get some papers from the dead German officer, plus an anti-tank rifle and all enemy ammunition they could carry.