President's Report

Some of our members are busy training and preparing to walk the Kokoda Track in the middle of this year. They have promised to write an article for us and to take many photos. We look forward eagerly to their contribution.

We also look forward to a contribution from a group of members for the Transport Platoon over the years. Yes they even promise to tell us all the stories.

Why don’t you also write something for us………
 

Association member Chris Goodhew forwarded the following email that I'm sure expresses the views of most members of the Association.

To:- john.howles@lancers.net.au
 

Subject:-  Role of the Reserves

I was reading with interest your piece about The Annual Cambrai Dinner in the Feb 2006 Lancer’s Despatch.

You accurately observed the loss of the secondary role of University regiments, that is, to provide basic military training to undergraduates.

I enlisted in 1979.  I was a beneficiary of the reserves in that I could, at my option, remain in service for 6 years in the Queensland University Regiment without pursuing a commission.  I had graduated after 3 years and was in the public service thereafter.  I left the ARES only when joined the patent attorney profession, which demanded so much more of my time.  My role in QUR was a driver and as part of that role we ran two driver’s courses a year, on which I instructed.  I was available to support 7 Brigade in other areas such as 1 Trg Gp recruit courses (providing transport support).  I wouldn’t have missed my time in the reserves.

The point is that, to maintain a reasonable battalion structure for providing basic military training, we had a posted strength of hundreds.  A Coy was the IET (Infantry), B Coy was Sub 2 (Corporal), there was the Sub 1 (Corporal) group (not really a company structure), and the Officer Training group.  Supporting was Assault Pioneers, Mortars, Transport, RAP, QMS, Cooks, Clerks etc.  Whatever net present “value” this had in terms of Australia’s military preparedness, there is one observation that is indisputable.  These diggers, whether on the path to Commission or not, were all in tertiary education.  In an increasingly white-collar and tertiary-educated society, these people were the future employers of today’s reservists.  As employers they are sympathetic to service in the militia, and if they have the choice they will provide time for employees to serve in the Army Reserve (or Navy, Air Force, SES or VFS for that matter).

The current paradigm of University regiments being “officer factories” (as you put it), having posted strengths built about a core of 12 to 20 Officer Cadets, twice a year, cannot conceivably engender the same degree of goodwill in the community, at the level of employers, as the former system did.  In 1980 QUR had a posted strength of over 600.

Australian Militia have contributed greatly to bridging the gap between military need and regular force preparedness, on several occasions.  I fear that Australia has deliberately chosen to remove the mere possibility of going to the well again, at least insofar as graduates (and potential officers) with basic military training are concerned.  If the time comes where it is deemed expedient to build up rapidly, Australia may find itself in the position of having eliminated volunteerism from its universities.


Regards

Chris Goodhew

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Executive Member Bruce Davis is currently on full time duty in Canberra - Just to get out of being QURA secretary!!

To: LUTTRELL, Trevor
Subject: RE: UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Trevor,

Two pictures of me.  (The real Bruce Davis is on the left - Ed.)
 

The C17 was at Fairbairn RAAF Base recently. It's the same as the 4 Defence is acquiring. Inside was also a General's caravan - like the old stainless steel caravans one used to see but without the wheeels. Just shackled down and with a communications mini-container also shackled down so he could talk securely to anywhere in the world!

Regards,

Bruce
 

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Received the following emails from Leslie Pyecroft
 

To:- peteramorton@bigpond.com.au
 

Subject:-  Renewing Membership

Hi there Peter,

Was looking through the memberships, current and noncurrent for the association and noticed that I was listed under Captain Meredith and Captain Pyecroft, address unknown and email unknown. (Pyecroft being the correct title(back using my maiden name).  Would like to renew my membership which seems to have gone astray since moving to Norfolk Island and then New Zealand. ( Quite surprised to see my photo on the site with Gary Symons! )

My association with QUR will always remain one of the major parts of my life and my army career was an extremely important part of my life.

I never want to let the connections and friendships discontinue. Could you let me know the process of becoming a financial member again please, and you never know ,I may even get the chance to cross over the waters and visit!
Anyway hope you are well and would love to hear from you.

Cheers for now

Lesley Pyecroft
 

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To:- peteramorton@bigpond.com.au
 

Subject:-  Catch up with the Regiment

 You asked Peter ,in your last email for me to jot down a few things for the newsletter.

I ventured off to Norfolk Island in 2002 to takeover as the Registered Nurse and Midwife in charge of the hospital on Night duty.
Whilst I was on Norfolk I did a few other jobs as well which included being the Training Officer for the Norfolk Island Cadet Unit which let me participate in the annual Cadet Camp in Sydney. We took over 16 cadets from Norfolk Island. Had a great time and met up with many army friends and mates that I hadn't seen for years.

I also worked part time at the airport in security checking passengers luggage and checking them through the departure lounge onto the aircraft and I also had a position in the Norfolk Island Volunteer Rescue Squad.

Norfolk was not a happy place to be on as it was trying to cope with the first murder in 100 years and so it was very hard to settle down.  The murderer has since been found so perhaps now Norfolk will settle down.  It is a very hard place to settle if you are not a true Norfolk Islander.  I stayed on Norfolk Island for 9 months and during this time met a Kiwi (ex police) who encouraged me not to go back to Aussie but be adventurous and see NZ.

I retired from military service in 2003., even though the Hauraki Regiment here in Tauranga were very keen for me to rejoin the Army!   They tried hard they even took me out on two exercises with them trying to convince me I should try the Kiwi Army.  I decided that I had done enough time and enjoyed the home comforts! Camping out over here is a wee bit different to the warm weather that we get used to over there.

Mark is retired from the police and has his own Avocado Contract Picking Business, we live in Katikati , in the Bay of Plenty on his orchard where we grow Avocados, Kiwi fruit and Tamarillos.

Its a great life, I still nurse part time, and enjoy pottering around the orchard.

Would love to see anyone who is visiting NZ and they need a stopover.

The address over here is 14 Tetley Road, RD2 Katikati Bay of Plenty phone 07 549 1881

I hope that I haven't waffled on too much but now you know where I am and what I am up too.

Nice to catch up.
Cheers ,
Lesley Pyecroft
 

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To:- peteramorton@bigpond.com.au
 

Subject:-  QURA

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your email re QURA - I will be very honoured to join the association and will forward my membership fees plus completed form etc shortly.  Hopefully I can get a couple of reprobates of poor judgement to propose and second me!

I have just spent an hour perusing the website and have to congratulate you and the committee on your work - but to see how QUR has shrunken since 1981-6 is just appalling.  That is not meant to criticise those still there and active, but a unit of just 123...?

Well, times change I suppose.   Anyway, I look forward to seeing you again and catching up with so many of the familiar and well remembered faces.  Strangely, I caught up with Garry Chandler for lunch a couple of years ago after
not having seen him since he was Maj Chandler, newly promoted.  It was a great lunch and well enjoyed....

Speaking of memorabilia (although perhaps not historic), I still keep handy my CSR Sword of Honour - it suffered badly from water and rust while in storage when my wife and I were living in Ethiopia (1989-90), but remains a most reasured possession and momento of QUR.  No doubt these few memories of mine pale beside yours!

Talk soon

Joe Barnewall
LT B SQN 2/14 LH (QMI)... formerly

 

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Members will recall the colourful emails that we published last year from BJ Price re his trip through Europe.  Sadly received another email for BJ detailing the trauma he has gone through following Cyclone Larry earlier this year.  I am sure all members of the Association extend their best wishes to BJ in overcoming the hardships that he has now to endure.

To:- peteramorton@bigpond.com.au
 

Subject:-  Cyclone Karry

Well cobbers here we are nearly a month down the track after Cyclone Larry blew away 16 years of hard yakka and dreams on March 20 2006.  You will see from the few pics I've attached that we have pretty much wiped out along with our income and are currently getting back some of our years of taxes by becoming bona fide dole bludgers. 
We have spent these past four weeks doing our best to try and clear away the huge mess and salvage what we can from the nursery but we still have a long way to go and I've had to lay off one of the boys so I'm down to two men and even that we cannot afford for long.

Nearly all of our nursery stock is unsaleable and it'll be at least a year before we can start to have a reasonable income again but obviously the financial after effects will haunt us for quite some years.  It's a real pity because we had just gotten used to seeing all our years of toil paying off with a comfortable lifestyle and a sweet future.  But Mother Nature can be a heartless bitch sometimes and she sure came gunning of us from 1500kms away.  Never deviating like most cyclones, but steering a relentless course due West and straight into our lives.

 
Such are the breaks.

We live in the tropics where cyclones do happen and we've weathered a few over the years.  But I don't think anyone ever expected to see a Category 5 cyclone hit old Oz, let alone in a populated area, let a-bloody-lone hit us right smack in the face.  But we were wrong and Larry took us down big time.  Shame he didn't have a scarier sounding name.  I mean Larry's coming run for your lives just doesn't quite seem appropriate for such a destructive monster.  Now Cyclone Adolf, there's a name to inspire fear!

Of course things could have always been worse.  Our house withstood the 300km/hr winds and none of us were injured or worse.  But our lives will always now be pre and post cyclone Larry.  For those of you who never got to visit our plantation pre-cyclone that's a real pity because it will clearly never again be the same.  But we'll box on, one day at a time trying to see a silver lining that as yet elludes me. 

But we did survive that eleven and half hour ordeal.  Those of you who know me best know that there is little that walks, crawls or swims on this great Earth that scares me; but by Christ Larry did.  He howled and shuddered and screamed like a wraith intent on clawing down our walls and claiming our souls. 
 

As we hunkered down in our small ensuite with the four kids huddled under mattresses for four and a half hours during the worst of the cyclone I feared for our very lives.  When it was announced on our tiny radio that just an hour before he was due to make landfall that he'd been upgraded to a Category 5 my blood ran cold.  I knew that cyclone Tracey which flattened Darwin in 1974 and killed so many people was only Category 4 and the mental images that ran through my mind at that time were frightful worst case scenarios.  I sweated out those long terrifying hours expecting at any moment for the roof to be torn from the house and dreading the consequences that might follow with four wee girls and Robyn caught in that maelstrom. 

I seriously believed that a Category 5 would simply annihilate everything in its path but Larrys one saving grace was that he moved fast, ridiculously fast for a cyclone.  A steady 25km/hr speeding up to 30km/hr when he made landfall and then instead of slowing down as cyclone normally do he sped up to 40km/hr as he tore through the rainforest clad mountains and continued to wreak havoc up on the Tablelands.  His speed saved us from even greater carnage so as I said things could have been worse.
So my dear friends please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we need all the support we can get.  I'm aware that it is a crisis that brings out the best in a man and I fear that I have come up short.  For the first time in my life I feel a terrible darkness and weight on my heart that I cannot as yet seem to shake.  My life's work is literally in pieces and it is hard to be far sighted when your vision is impaired by the detritus of your dreams.
 

Nonetheless we move on with one shaky step at a time.  My special thanks go to those who have offered their help and prayers and kind words.  You have truly helped sustain us as we try and maintain our sanity and dignity through this whole bastardly business.

God love you all my dear mates.

BJ
Dole Bludger and whinger extraordinaire.

 

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QUR REGIMENTAL DINNER - 6 May 2006

( Following collage of pictures taken by phantom photographer Trevor Luttrell )

 

Rhys Thomas (left), Brian Venz and Trevor Luttrell (right) in smiling form before the dinner
	George Fryberg (right) passing judgement while Terry Gygar happily looks on
Garry Collins (left) and Rob Byrne caught in a somewhat serious discussion
	QUR Commanding Officer  LtCol Nan Bahr with QUR Honorary Colonel Maj Gen John Pearn (left) and Dave Woodrow
Graeme Kinnear (left) , Ross Williamson and Peter Jeffrey discussing old times at QUR
	Wayne Barclay (left) and Michael Bond enjoying a drink before the Regimental Dinner
Bruce Maughan closing his eyes to Gina Privitera's high jinks

	Peter Morton (left) and Peter Sharwood chatting over pre dinner drinks
John Dowsett (left) catching up with QURA stalwart Sam Harrison
	Pat Shanahan (left) and John Byrne judging the pre dinner drinks with Col Lesley Woodruffe looking on