I don't know where the 19 RAAF AP-3Cs actually were, but both patrol squadrons (and the OCU) are based at RAAF Base Edinburgh, which is in South Australia... in the middle of the country on the south coast (not far from Adelaide).
They have permanent detachments at Darwin (centered on the north coast of Australia) and at RMAF Base Butterworth, Malaysia (on the west coast of the peninsula).
I can find no mention of detachments elsewhere... although putting ones in Perth, Hobart (or Melbourne), and Brisbane would be logical to me.
The airliners found the yacht "270 miles off Sydney"... and Sydney is ~720 miles from RAAF Edinburgh and ~ 1,950 miles from Darwin.
I suspect that, with the 330 knot cruising speed of the AP-3C, even if there were some at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, they would have still asked the airliners to look for the yacht, just to confirm its location as fast as possible.
Last edited by GreenKnight121; 18th Oct 2012 at 22:46.