Exercise Austral Shield was the largest defence reservist training program to have been organised in the last 30 years on Australian soil

Exercise Austral Shield 2024 has been described as the largest reservist training program to have been organised in the past 30 years on Australian soil. See every photo.

Far North Queensland was host to more than 450 soldiers during Exercise Austral Shield, the largest defence training program to have been organised in 30 years on Australian soil.

The two-week training program on land and sea included exercises with military vehicles, helicopters, watercraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.

A strong focus was placed on rapid and remote deployments, and ensuring preparedness to enhance domestic security and contribute to Indo-Pacific stability.

Captain Misty Evans from Central Queensland said it was an excellent training mission.

“I held the recon sniper grouping, so that means I held the support platoon for the exercise,” she said.

Having joined the army reserves when she was 17 years old, the mother of three said joining the arm was always her dream.

Between balancing her job as a child safety officer and counsellor for the state government she is also an Infantry Captain with the Australian Defence Force.

Captain Evans is based in Rockhampton and is part of 31/42 Royal Queensland Regiment which sits within 11 Brigade. Picture: Supplied.

Australian Army soldiers from 11th Brigade carry a wounded 'enemy' soldier back to cover during a combat training activity at Cowley Beach training area in northern Queensland during Exercise Austral Shield 2024. Picture: Lt Andy Xie

Along with her squad, Captain Evans was placed in various locations around Cairns, Cowley Beach and Tully. She says her her team “demonstrated excellent results” all around.

“Our call sign demonstrated their capability and were very much up there with providing excellent results for what was required,” she said

Along with Navy and Air Force personnel, the Australian Army soldiers from 11th Brigade were also deployed to Far North Queensland focused on practising rapid force deployment across northern Australia.

Commander of the 11 Brigade, Brigadier Richard Peace, said the program had been a “fantastic” training operation.

“Reservists do exercises annually, but this was a large scale one and probably our largest exercise for about 30 years,” he said.

“The soldiers had a great experience and forged fond memories, which is important for providing them with a sense of purpose.”

Royal Australian Navy sailors lower a Bluefin-9 autonomous underwater vehicle into Cairns Inlet near HMAS Cairns as part of Exercise Austral Shield 2024. Picture: CPL Michael Currie.

An Australian Army soldier from 11th Brigade during an assault on an 'enemy' defensive position at Cowley Beach training area in northern Queensland during Exercise Austral Shield 2024. Picture: CPL Michael Currie.

Mr Peace said the training exercise had provided lessons about command and control, communications as well as ideas to help the ADF do better in future training operations.

“We had some real world considerations,” he said.

“This was the beauty of Cairns, we had a civilian population who wanted to go about their day-to-day life as well as HMAS Cairns, an important naval base for the Australian Defence Force and we had to work with real world events like the Cairns International Airport.”

Residents could watch the military personnel with weapons and experienced blank ammunition, pyrotechnics, and simulated battle noise across the two weeks.

An Australian Army soldiers from 11th Brigade prepare to move out and assault an 'enemy' defensive position at Cowley Beach training area in northern Queensland as part of Exercise Austral Shield 2024. Picture: CPL Michael Currie.

Mr Peace said while the program was a close simulation to being in an active war zone, no live ammunition had been used during any of the activities.

“We used simulated battle noise in areas where we would use simulated explosions and there was a taped off safety area with safety control around it to create the effect of an explosion,” he said.

“We have a whole series of treatment drills, we go through the process of how we treat injuries because unfortunately, we did learn that a bit too often in Afghanistan.”

Australian Army soldiers from 11th Brigade prepare to move out from Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle 'Pathfinder' on an 'enemy' defensive position at Cowley Beach training area in northern Queensland as part of Exercise Austral Shield 2024. Picture: CPL Michael Currie.

In addition, Navy personnel were involved throughout the two weeks between July 12 and July 28, supporting the Army’s 11th Brigade, EAS, through the use of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) program.

The program designed to ‘protect’ shipping in Cairns Harbour, was carried out by the Maritime Deployable Robotic Autonomous Systems and Experimentation Unit.

As part of the preparations, the AUV team conducted a sonar confidence check of its Bluefin-9 AUV around HMAS Cairns.

The use of autonomous underwater vehicles like the Bluefin-9 are used to search from the surface to the bottom of the ocean.

Team leader Sub-Lieutenant Aaron Venhuizen said MDREU plays an important role in Defence.

Royal Australian Navy sailors lower a Bluefin-9 autonomous underwater vehicle into Cairns Inlet near HMAS Cairns as part of Exercise Austral Shield 2024. Picture: CPL Michael Currie.

Royal Australian Navy sailor Able Seaman Mary Healy prepares a Bluefin-9 autonomous underwater vehicle for a mission in vicinity HMAS Cairns in support of Exercise Austral Shield 2024. Picture: CPL Michael Currie.

“As Navy decommissions its fleet of Huon-class minehunters, MDREU is bringing online assets that can perform search and detection to protect the fleet,” Sub-Lieutenant Venhuizen said.

Sub-Lieutenant Venhuizen said it had been a good experience.

“Now is a fantastic time to join Defence. We are investing a lot of money into new technology, and my unit is an example of that,” he said.

Australian Defence Force personnel are working side-by-side with state authorities in Western Australia and Queensland from 12 to 28 July 2024 as part of Exercise Austral Shield 2024. Picture: CPL Michael Rogers.

As military convoys returned to Perth and Brisbane, the next phase of the program will be to assess all data gathered by the lessons capture team, and processed through an “after action review” to improve future training programs and procedures.

“Advisers and mentors captured their lessons, then sit down in small groups and through those lesson captured, we can build a bigger picture and an assessment around what worked and what didn’t for next time,” Mr Peace said.

Originally published as Exercise Austral Shield was the largest defence reservist training program to have been organised in the last 30 years on Australian soil