August 2020
PATRON: Major General B. W. (Hori) Howard AO MC ESM (Ret’d.)
AGM NEWS
The 2020 Annual General Meeting of the PIB-NGIB-HQ-PIR Association was held on Wednesday 12 August at the Geebung-Zillmere RSL Club in Brisbane. The meeting was chaired by our Vice-President, Greg Ivey in place of President Don who was unable to attend. The full meeting Minutes are being circulated by our Secretary, Kev Horton. The material that follows will consist of photos and statements about some issues that members might find particularly interesting.
1. OFFICE BEARERS FOR 2020-2021
Patron: Major General ‘Hori’ Howard
President: D. Graham
Vice-President: G. Ivey
Secretary: K. Horton
Treasurer: F. Maclean
Assistant Secretary: G. Farr
Newsletter Editor: I. Ogston
Website Managers: K. Smith, F. Cordingley
History Officer: P. Jesser
Medals Officer: R. Wade
Membership Officer: K. Smith
Brisbane Officer: P. Adam
Regional Queensland Representative: G. Carnes
NSW & ACT Representative: G. Screen
WA Representative: G. Johnson
Victoria Representative: (Vacant)
Our thanks go to all of these members who have accepted these positions. Their willingness and enthusiasm bodes well for the future of the Association.>/p>
2. PHOTO REPORT:
The meeting was followed by a jolly fine (if socially distant) Lunch at the dining area of the Club. Thanks to Greg Farr for his organisation of the venue.
ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM THE AGM
1. DUPLICATE BANNER:
A replica of our Banner (pictured below) will soon be permanently displayed at Kokoda Barracks (Land Warfare Centre) at Canungra, Qld. This historical acknowledgement and honour is a result of the efforts of our President and Committee as well as the Australian Army officers at Canungra, especially Major George Friend. A replica of the 39th Bn banner will also be displayed.
2. ASSOCIATION STICKERS:
Secretary, Kev Horton has ordered more Association stickers to be printed and made available for members (only $3 each). By placing one of these stickers on your vehicle or caravan, it raises the profile of our organisation. The one on my vehicle has led to more than one comment and question about the Association – including a detailed interrogation by a backpacker (from Germany) in the beautiful, tropical beach-side park area in Cardwell, North Qld.
Anyone interested can email the Secretary to order a Sticker(s) – kevhorton49@gmail.com ($3 includes postage within Australia.)
TPNG in the era of Self-Government
Greg Farr has brought to our attention an interesting book written about Papua New Guinea in the early 1960s. The author, Keith Willey, was a journalist posted to the then Territory. The particular interest for us is that, for a journalist, he gives a detailed assessment of the geopolitical situation in the region which led later to the rapid build-up of military installations and personnel in the mid to late 1960s when many of us enjoyed serving in TPNG.
As well, Willey accompanied a PIR patrol out of Vanimo, an Out Post occupied by one PIR Company (and Spooks) on rotation since the 1950s. Originally occupied by PIR from Taurama Barracks for 6 months at a time, it was later occupied by 2 PIR from Moem Barracks for 3-month periods. (Most Australian Servicemen retain positive memories of Vanimo, especially the Nashos, even though they were separated from their partners.)
Willey gives a vivid description of the Patrol experience. I have included below a few brief excerpts from Chapter 11 to give a taste of what it was like for him slogging through the challenging jungle adjacent to the Indonesian border.
“Each soldier carried seven days rations, a rifle or automatic weapon with ammunition, a hand grenade, bedding equipment, entrenching tool, rope and two water bottles – a load of 60 lbs.”
We slogged up and down ridges and through short, rushing streams. The climbing became a weary agony of putting one foot after the other, slipping in mud with every second step, thinking no further ahead than the ten-minute rest included in every hour. Now and then, there would be a curse and the clatter of equipment as a soldier fell from one of the slippery bridges. Our feet were permanently wet and within forty-eight hours the soles had begun to rot off the rubber patrol boots. On the third day … we descended into the great sago swamp which extends over hundreds of square miles on both sides of the border.”
“The green of the equipment blended into the jungle as cicadas, flying beetles the size of a button, began their chorus. First, one starts up, then another and another, buzzing and cheeping, until hundreds have combined to produce a deafening cacophony.
Many of us who do not know, imagine a jungle to be a silent place, yet it is filled with life and sound. As the patrol moves forward in single file, the soft squelch of mud underfoot and the creak of harness are enough to stir the wild creatures. Off to the right, we hear a pig grunting as it hustles its litter into the undergrowth; and the thud-thud of mighty feet where a cassowary has taken fright. From the treetops comes the squalling of cockatoos, the woo-woo-woo of the fat guria pigeon, the weird cry and flapping wings of a disturbed hornbill. Butterflies the size of dinner plates flit among the trees in flashes of blue or yellow.
We travel no more than six or seven miles a day, representing six or eight hours walking.”
“Black squirming leeches, bloated with blood, crawl on to your boots, through your clothes, even over your face and in your hair… Often they cling so tenaciously they have to be burned off, leaving blood running from a wound which, untreated, can quickly become a tropical ulcer.”
(Greg Farr has been able to ascertain that this book is still available through websites that deal in second-hand books – and there is no shortage of them!!)
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Editors: Ian Ogston (ozoggies2@gmail.com) and Greg Ivey (iveygj@gmail.com)
