Why is the word “Chooks” associated with Royal Australian Signals soldiers

Why is the word Chooks associated with Royal Australian Signals?

Well, I certainly had not heard the word Chooks used much through my career (1970-1993) and didn't really associate it with anything.

There was a time when I posted at 1 Sig Regt in Brisbane that we used to walk down to the 1 Div Sergeants Mess for morno's via the rear of 139 Sig Sqn. 139 had Chooks (Hens and Roosters etc) as unit mascots and they even had a Chooks pedestrian crossing complete with Chooks footprint going across one of the roads near the unit.

It wasn't until after about 20 years service that I was over at SASR doing a job with Project RAVEN. I was having morno's in the SASR Sergeants Mess and was standing at a window overlooking the ovals toward the beach. On the oval was a 11 x 11 tent with a HF radio base station and couple of antenna masts nearby. I was watching the Signallers Chooks) on the oval bobbing up and down picking up antenna bits and pieces and then the SASR RSM said to me, "Look at those bloody Chooks down there doing what they do best".

Then it finally sunk in - Chooks are Signallers and the reason the other corps call us that is because of the bobbing up and down motion of picking up stuff off the ground like Chooks.

A learned friend from the Corps (Dennis (Rabbit) Hare)) did some digging and came up with the following (and probably more accurate) excerpts as follows:

From Lt Col Peter Fitzpatrick, AM (Retired)

...Within the SAS Regiment, the camaraderie that exists between the signallers is quite unique. To start with they proudly respond to the title Chook, the origins of which are clouded in mists of time and the odd can of amber fluid. Over the occasional beer at The House, that place of quiet and at times not so quiet reflection for past and present members of the Regiment, ask any Chook about the origin of the term and there will be as many explanations as there are Chooks present at the time....

...Over the years they become known as the Chooks to such an extent that now many Corps of Signals soldiers in the Army are still referred to as Chooks. When this started, and why is a matter of conjecture and much discussion...

...It was probably during this time that the first reference to the term Chooks was made. This was in contrast to most Corps operators of the era who referred to as Sparks or Sparky, a term originating from World War II....

...Because of the sound of Morse code and the pecking motion of the keys operation, not normally associated with platoon operations (Inf sigs not morse trained) the Corps operators were called chooks in the SAS Coy....

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