In an era of spy satellites and nuclear submarines Australia's vast northern borders are still being defended by squadrons of soldiers using techniques thousands of years old. The ABC Matt Garrick was granted rare access to embed with Nor-force for a live mission at a secret location in the northern territory top end.
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00:00 The Zodiac comes to life.
00:02 You know, it comes up there, actually.
00:06 And they're off, shooting across the sea
00:11 in some of Australia's most wild and inhospitable country.
00:15 We have to be fully self-sufficient,
00:19 so carrying a lot of water, a lot of food
00:22 and being able to live off the land where possible,
00:24 taking into account that there is a number of flora and fauna threats out there,
00:29 there's obviously saltwater crocodiles within that area,
00:33 which are larger than our Zodiacs, longer than our Zodiacs.
00:36 In a secret location on the Northern Territory coast,
00:40 these North Force soldiers scan the horizon for illegal activity,
00:44 from foreign fishing boats to drug drops,
00:47 as part of a live defence mission named Operation Resolute.
00:51 In times of war, they'd also be searching for invading forces.
00:56 Our job is to look out for vessel that shouldn't be around here without our permit.
01:04 They could be bringing drugs into the community.
01:08 Nor Force's unique strength, its First Nations patrolmen,
01:13 equipped with deep knowledge of this environment
01:16 to survive for days or weeks on a mission,
01:19 at times hunting for food or preventing the squadrons becoming a meal themselves.
01:26 Back at home I've been going out like hunting for turtle.
01:29 So I'm used to seeing turtle trapped from long away,
01:32 but I can tell it's a turtle.
01:33 Many of these patrolmen and women have links to Nor Force lasting generations.
01:38 For Tiwi Islander Bronson Manutope,
01:41 his father was a Nor Force patrolman who died too early,
01:44 and wearing the uniform keeps his memory alive.
01:48 I wanted to follow the footsteps, my dad's footsteps.
01:53 The origins of Nor Force date back to the Second World War.
01:57 Soldiers back in World War II were crossing that same terrain on horseback,
02:00 having to carry all their supplies, going out for months at a time.
02:05 Defence says it prides itself on the relationships built between
02:08 remote NT communities and its Nor Force squadrons,
02:12 but concede there was a period of deep distrust
02:15 after soldiers were sent into the territory
02:18 during John Howard's 2007 federal intervention.
02:21 An attempt to stamp out social issues like alcohol and child abuse.
02:26 It's part of our history that there was a period of turbulence there,
02:32 but I think the key is that the basis of that relationship
02:36 was able to withstand that period.
02:38 On Operation Resolute, these historic fault lines aren't easily visible,
02:48 as these patrolmen and women work together,
02:51 pushing further and further into this hostile but spectacular landscape.
02:57 I'm very happy to be here.
03:00 I'm happy to be part of this team,
03:05 this squadron.
03:08 Maybe I can teach them how to hunt,
03:15 how to make spears,
03:17 or how to get bush medicine or bush tackle.
03:23 As Australia's Defence Force pivots to the north,
03:27 authorities believe this Nor Force squadron is now more pivotal than ever
03:31 in the nation's efforts to protect the northern borders.
03:35 The dynamics of the world are shifting at the moment,
03:41 and it's important that we're just very conscious of the north.
03:45 We need to look at it with a lens that is consistent
03:48 with how people have been looking at this landscape for thousands of years
03:52 and work with it rather than against it.
03:55 Defending against a changing world from a landscape untouched for millennia.
04:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]