sentences:  After a period as a base for consultants operating in the South Pacific for the Australian Development Assistance Bureau, it closed in late 1997.In 1943, the Australian Army’s Colonel Alfred Conlon, who had previously chaired Prime Minister John Curtin's committee on national morale, was assigned to the staff of the Army’s commander-in-chief, General Sir Thomas Blamey.Alf Conlon believed the Army needed a research section to tackle major strategic contingencies, such as what to do if Japan invaded Australia, and persuaded Blamey to establish a Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs.