Hello, Peter!
Peter Mackay here, mortar platoon sergeant, as was back in
the day. Ruth Kassulke rang me last week, and I’ve been
inspired to look up the site, where I’ve spent many happy
hours reading through the newsletters.
“Paul Carr’s still alive!”, my wife exclaimed, on reading a
recent edition. My memories of Paul include amazement that so
much alcohol could be packed inside such a small frame.
He once described returning from town to the flat we shared in
Paddington one night, “I put one hand on the wall to help me
stagger along Roma Street, and when the wall stopped, I’d open
my eyes to see where to go next.”
Somehow he’s survived.
But so many haven’t. I have been saddened to read, on
browsing through the newsletters on the QURA website, that a
few haven’t made it to old age. My old Griffith
University comrade Shane Slipais, for one.
Another recent passing is of someone very close to my heart,
my sister-in-law, Robyn Barter, who, as Robyn Kilmister (later
Bickford), was one of the first women to join the Regiment,
back in 1976. She died after a long and courageous
struggle against cancer in March this year. She was a
cheerful face behind the Q-Store counter for many years,
before joining the Regular Army. She later married a
naval officer, performing superbly as a navy wife in postings
in England and the USA, at ease with people from all levels of
society as her husband’s career progressed through to his
current rank of Commodore. She leaves behind two adult
children and a large network of friends. I think she
managed to keep in regular contact with just about everyone
she ever met, including many old members of the Regiment.
I married Robyn’s sister Kerri, who was also a member of QUR
during the 80s. She later joined the navy as a medical
officer, finishing as a Lieutenant-Commander when our own two
children neared school age, rather than inflict a continuous
series of interstate and international postings on them, and
as a result they have kept the same companions from pre-school
through to university.
Sometimes I wonder where the years went. Here I am,
father of two adult children, nearly twenty-five years of
marriage, within a month of turning fifty, and yet my memories
of those QUR days are fresh and bright. And green.
If I have a shirt pocket with a button, I button it.
When the lights change, I step off on the left foot. But
my old GP boots have long lost their shine, and are mainly
used as protection when I mow the lawn.
I’ve done a lot of things since I left the Regiment in 1983.
Transferred to Canberra as a computer programmer in 1986,
where I ran into Fran Long (now Holbert), who was doing
something on the shady side of Defence. Reading a lot of
Chinese newspapers was how she described her job, but I am
sure that low-cut dresses, seedy Shanghai bars and demure
revolvers featured heavily.
Ran into Peter and Dodie Collett when my wife joined the navy
and we transferred down to HMAS Cerberus. Dodie was another of
the original QUR women, and when she married fellow member
Peter, it may have been the first of many marriages founded in
the Regiment. Pete was a gunnery officer, and very proud
of it.
After returning to Canberra, I took a swing at several
careers, including computer hacker, second-hand book dealer,
political journalist and travel writer. Nowadays I’m a
taxidriver on the night shift, writing murder mysteries
between passengers, and spending my holidays
flying around the world. On one memorable trip last
year, I visited
Hiroshima,
Omaha Beach and Pearl Harbour.
I see David Grimshaw now and again. He works for
Customs down here, and looks every inch the perfect WO2,
carved out of unyielding granite. I’ll bet he makes his
privates tremble.
One of the many things which occupies my copious spare time
is Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia which anyone may edit.
I’ve started an article on
Queensland University Regiment, but it needs the input of
people with more recent experience than mine. Editing
Wikipedia is really easy – just click on the “edit” link and
start writing.
And finally, thanks for putting the newsletters up online.
I have enjoyed reading them, especially the reports of trips
to various battlefields. The Kokoda Track expedition
must have been gruelling, and it sounds like just surviving
was feat enough, let alone hauling weapons and ammunition as
well, fighting the odd battle along the way. I live near
the Australian War Memorial, and one of my annual rituals is
attending the Dawn Service there, at which attendance swells
each year. It is the younger folk who make the numbers
now, and it is heartwarming to know that the familiar stories
of sacrifice and courage, determination and mateship, are
finding willing listeners. Our nation and our world may be
changing, but our deep values remain the same.
Mateship is what I remember most about QUR. Sure, it
was fun to learn how to read maps, run around the scrub with a
rifle, jump out of helicopters and so on, but it was the
people that were important, and my fondest memories are of
time spent in the company of some truly remarkable
Australians.
Yours aye,
Peter
