Military

As an Australian military history nut, I like to think I know at least something about most of our major military actions since the late 1800s ... So what better opportunity to fill in that missing piece of my history puzzle for myself than to try and explain to you what it was all about? So here we go, the Malayan Emergency.

Lower Clarence residents will hear the sound of Royal Australian Air Force supersonic fighter jets in the skies over the next two months as squadrons conduct training exercises from the Evans Head Air Weapons Range. The training of pilots in the Number 1 Squadron and the Number 2 Operational Conversion Unit involved training flights and air-to-ground bombing training in both F/A -18F Super Hornets and F-35A Lightning II jets during April and May.

Shaun Hollis. A decorated RAAF officer who commissioned a painting to commemorate the moment which inspired his naming of the iconic Boeing E-7A Wedgetail defence force aeroplane said he could not be happier with the result. The painting, by Minlaton artist Mark Short, depicts a wedge-tailed eagle taking flight.

So in the last two articles we’ve covered the role the Royal Australian Navy had played around the periphery of the war, the action in Rabaul right at the start of things, escorting the first convoy, involvement in the Gallipoli campaign and the patrolling undertaken by the HMAS Psyche. But, just as it was on the land, the only real chance of bringing the war to a successful conclusion was to directly target the German forces in Europe.

Peter Jones and Guy Knox. Vice Admiral Ian Knox died in Sydney on 14 January after a long illness. Ian Warren Knox was born in Wilcannia on the Darling River in western NSW on 9 February 1933 ... He was promoted Vice Admiral in July 1987 and became Vice Chief of the Defence Force ... He regularly returned to Wilcannia during his retirement and in 2016 attended its annual Field Fun Day, as one of its famous sons.

Why do both sides of federal politics continue to think we need to have a shipbuilding industry as part of our naval defence sector? Every year we spend billions of dollars trying to build ships in Australia when the most cost effective thing to do is import them off the shelf from our allies.

In 1938, during the Munich Crisis, British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain expressed his distaste for making war preparations over "a quarrel in a faraway land between people of which we know nothing" ... Like Neville Chamberlain, our Prime Minister shows no interest in getting involved in a quarrel between people of whom he has no interest; yet anyone with the slightest awareness of international relations would know that there is no longer such a thing as a faraway land of which we can afford to have no interest ... Yemen is en route for the ships that take our grain and livestock to key markets such as Egypt and Israel.

Just over six months after it was destroyed by a car, the Cambooya War Memorial has been reconstructed and again stands prominently at the end of Eton Street.

Although it does not have an RSL, Westbrook nevertheless ensures that days such as Remembrance Day are honoured. Last Saturday, at 11am on the 11th of November, people gathered at the Westbrook War Memorial, next to the Westbrook Hall, for the annual service.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month marks the anniversary of the Armistice Agreement which ended the First World War. At the Allora Memorial Park on Saturday 11 November service personnel and members of the public paused in silence to remember those men and women who have died or suffered in all wars, conflicts and peace operations.

Kadina Memorial School unveiled its new commemorative tribute to past and present Australian Defence Force service personnel at its Remembrance Day ceremony on Friday, November 10.

Corryong College teacher, Stephen Learmonth ... has undertaken his own project to record the biographies of other servicemen from the region and the Corryong Courier will be printing a selection of these stories in the lead up to Remembrance Day this year on November 11 ... Frank Leslie Butler was born on the 13th of April, 1919 at Tallangatta, Victoria.

Rockhampton Regional Council are pleased to welcome the Singapore Armed Forces to the region for Exercise Wallaby with more than 2000 personnel expected to visit the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens and Zoo ... Exercise Wallaby is a major military activity in the Rockhampton and Shoalwater Bay Area, conducted by the Republic of Singapore.

Residents of Wagga Wagga and surrounds are urged to save the date and head down to the city centre for the Australian Army Band Kapooka’s Freedom of Entry to the City Parade on Sunday 15 October 2023 ... “The Freedom of Entry to the City is a symbolic presentation which represents the highest honour a city can confer on an individual or a Military Unit": Dallas Tout, Mayor of the City of Wagga Wagga.

James Lister. On Friday, in my capacity as Shadow Assistant Minister for Veterans, I attended the Brisbane Vietnam Veterans Day service in ANZAC Square and laid a wreath in honour of the fallen. Vietnam Veterans Day is a unique post on our calendar of military remembrances.

Alison McEwen. Victor Boltak writes from Ukraine: "… And your help (Ukraine Appeal) is valued very highly here. "Recently I donated $275 USD for medicine which was taken yesterday to a so called ‘stabilization point’ – this is the first medical help point close to the battlefield where the wounded are delivered from the front lines and where military doctors try to give the first aid and stabilize the condition of the wounded so they could be further moved to the field hospital.

2023 marks 61 years since the arrival of the Australian Army Training team in South Vietnam on the 3 August 1962 and 51 years since the withdrawal of combat troops in 1972. During the Vietnam War 523 Australians gave their life for their country ... the Warwick and district Vietnam Veterans will honour Lionel James Baxter at the Warwick Cemetery in a Service of Remembrance.

Serena Kirby. Members of the Denmark RSL are calling on locals to help support a new returned veterans’ respite program. Known as Albany At Ease, the initiative is designed to assist Australian Defence Force members and veterans who are experiencing mental and physical health challenges as a result of military service.

Nariel woman, Joy Bennetts, will be one of 30 participants from the region who will participate in the Centenary of Legacy Torch Relay which will travel through the streets of Wodonga and Albury on Saturday 5th August. The local torch bearers all have a connection to Legacy or the Australian Defence Force ... King Charles helped kick off the London leg of the Legacy relay.

Aimee McCartney. On May 5, 2023, Headquarters Air Academy (HQ AirA) personnel gathered at the RAAF East Sale Yarning Circle to celebrate the significant service and diverse career of Wing Commander (WGCDR) Garry McKee ... At 16 years of age, WGCDR McKee, from Charlton in Victoria, enlisted into the Air Force as an apprentice Radio Technician.