2/2 COMMANDO

COURIER(Registered at the G.P~O. Perth, for transmission by post as a periodical)

I 01. 8. No. 95. MAY, 1955 Price Ld.

HONOUR AVENUE

The germinalion of couch grasseed sown al th e last busy bee jquile gooel aithcu gh there is verylillie not iceable growth. Sprinklerare in pretty good shape eventhou gh cars run over them whenparking oIT the road.Brisbane Wunderlich have tolel

us that we can have some pipes toplace over th ern and protect t hem.These pipes are to be donated

SWEEPThe Unique Backward Sweep was

drawn after the Anzac March. Theresu lt in respect to money received'was Quite good and will help theAssociation to remain solvent.Ilere is the result of the draw:1St: Absolu tety Nolhing: Jim

filz, c/- Joe Poyn ton.2nd: 1 doz Emu Labels: Archampbell.3 I'd: 2 doz. Swan Labels: T, Nis-

hell.4lh: 1 Bottle Beer: Peter Pan,

c/- Mercantile Club, Geraidlon.5lh: 2 Bottles Beer: V. King, wu.

Ired-r d., Canningvale.6lh: 3 Bottles Beer: E. Thorn-

ander, 8 Venn-st., Collie.7lh: 6 Bottles Beer: J. Hasson,

fl:lliidu.8lh: 12 Botlies Beer: Lor et ta

Keast, c/- Govt. Print.lh: 2~ Bottles Beer: R. Bart-

lett, c/- R. Spril1;g, Albany.10lh: '18 Boltles [leer: 2 Pair,

Ifollywood Hospi tal, c/- J. Harding.All other ticket buyers shared

quallv in the first prize. We thankyou all vinc erely and conaratu late

many on sharing First Prize,

MARCH MEETINGAt the March meeting Sam Ful-

brook gave a very interesling dis-course on his profession as a port-rait and landscape painter and alsohis experiences whilst living withthe natives "n the Australian oul-back. It is not often we find aspeaker who/approaChes his subjectwith such :1 vast funel of informa-tion and anecdotes that Sam waable to imps rt to LIS. [lis easycare free style was carried to hiaudience thereby making the sub-ject doubly interesting. We thankyou, Sam, for a very inter estinevening,During Sam's tale the usual dropf the dotn's was passed around.

The boys (Quite a number of them)voted it a grand night.

ANZAC DAY MARCH

nee again we hael a good attend-ance for the march with the usualfew fr0111 the tall timbers.The day was cool but with plen-

ty of sunshine.After the march past we adjourn-

ed to the Year of the 16th Batt.Drill IlalJ and had a little refresh-ment ancl SOl \ething to Cal.This year Geoff Laidlaw led the

2/2nd, whilst· Mick Morgan carriedthe Unit na~

REMINDERS

1I0w are vuu situ at cd in regards(0 your subscription? Are youfinanr ial> If you are not sure COIl-tact your treasurer Or COlin DOi!,(anti rectify the matter. We don-twant to have to r emin d you of ~dulv you owe 10 your Associatlnn.

P1~e ·_I'_w_o _

OBITUARYMAY

Sgl. D. Lilya, killedTimor, 17lh May, 1945,

in action,Age 21.

SOMEBODY'S ERRORrdon Rowley sends in this Cut-

ting from the Dec. 30 issue of the"Aust ralian Post". It would appearlh a l on e Des San los Ri cardo is avery sadly misluf'o rmed gent."I read wilh interest Hugh Bug-

gy's article about the Timor cam-paign (Post, Oct. 28) but thinkit was unfair that no praise or men-tion was made of +he greal work thePortuguese did ill taking Austra-lians into their homes and helpingthem escape the Japanese. I wane of the Portuguese who lived inlhe hills for 18 months."The wireless in the article (u,-

d to contact Darwin) was stolenfrom the Japs by a Portuguese,Julio Madeira. Il W'\S not put to-geth er by Signaller Lo/Veless as stat-ed in the arl icle, -Dqs Santos Ric-ardo, Car namah (W.A,),"

OLYMPIC GAMES fHARCESFollowing llUl11erOll{ requests re

admittance rh,rges 1'0 each sessionf the various events at the games,

a complete list is hereunder COI11-piled.Main Stndium (Opening cere-

mony, athletics, soccer final andlosing ceremony) . £3/4/-, £2/3/-11:1/'11/-, £1/1/-, 16/-, 11/-, 9/-(reserved), 11/-, 9/-, 0/7.CYCling (Olympic Park): £1/2/-

13/6 (reserved). 6/7 (unreserv-ed) .

Road Cycling (Broadmeadows ) :11/- (unreserved).Boxing (venue undecided): £5-

1/" £3/4/-, £2/3/-, ,1:1/2/-, (re-served), 11/- (LI n reserved) .Swlmmin g (Olympic Park): £3-

4/-, £2/3/-, £1/2/-, 11/-, (reserv-ed) .Wrestling (Exh ibit ion Building):

16/-, 11/-, 5/4.Weightlifllng (Ex.rihiticn .Build ..

ing): 16/.-, 11/-, 5/!.Basketball (Glaciar ,1111): £1/2/-,!1/-.Gvmnas tics (Glaciarium): £1/2/-

11/- ..Fencing (St. Kilda TOwn Hall):

5/4,l'l.owing (Ballarat}: £1/1/-, 11/-,

5/'1.Canoeing (Ballarat): 11/-.

MMANDO COURIER

ccer Prel imi n aries (Oly rnp icPark): £1/2/-, 11/- (reserved),6/7 (stanrti ng ) .Hockey Preliminaries (Olympic

Park): 11/- (reserved), 6/7 (standing ) .Soccer Semi Finals (Main Stadi-

um): £1/2/-, 11/-, 6/7.Hockey Semi Finals (Main Stadi-

um): £1/2/-, 11/-, 6/7.Rifle Shooting (William sto w n

Range): 11/-. .Clay Pigeon Shooling (Laver ton)

11</-.Modern Pen tat h Ion (var iou surses) . Riding, 11/-; swimming,

5/4; fencing, 5/4; shooting, 5/4;running, 110 charge,Yachting (Port Phillip Bay): No

charge.

Pel'jonahtiejThe Bill Willis ClanIlave moved out lo Manning

Park. They do not intend to makethis their permanent residence butwe hope you are COmfortable there.

Fred GriffithI las left the Geralclton area and

come to Perth where he is weldingfor a living. Fred was in nartne r-hip in a lead mine but gave thejob away as it wasn't much fun withhis family in Perth.

Alby and Daphne Friend[lad an evening al lheir home re-

cenlly and Quite a few of the boysand their wives were present. Itwas a great nighl and a swell timwas had by all. One of the high-lighls of the evening was the show-ing of some films taken by amat-eurs. Of special lnt er est was oneOn New Guinea and brought back.quite a few memories. Early in theevening darts and table tennisamused the men whilst the women-folk had lheir usual little chin wagand swopped ideas about whattime their respective husbands ar-rive home frOI11 the Unit meetings.Later in the evening a surnptuouupper was served after which thecarpet was rolled back and dancingwas the order. Il was those smallhours in the morning that saw thlast of the guests leave. Amongthose present were: the Ping An-dersons, Mick Morgans, JeJT Laid-laws, Johnnie Bur rldges, Keithl'layes, Per cy McPhees, OwenF\ienCIS, Arthur Smiths, Percy

COMMANDO COURIER Page Three,

Hancocks, Joe Poyntons, WilfM;lrchs, E. Quinn, Curly [lowden,Doc Dunkley, Jack Carey, Mrs,Merv Ryan, Mick Calcutt. By theway, if any of you folk men tionedabove left a plate at the Friend'home, please contact Alby as therewere a few lefl by mistake.

Bob SmythTurned up [or the Anzac march.

Don't see very much of Bob as henends most of his lime trippingaround places far removed fromPerth. It is always good lo seesomeone turn up at these occasionswhen they have the chance.

George BoylandWas a notabl e absentee from the

March this year, but there was agood excuse for George as his legis far from being right and it wouldhave been Quite a job for him tomarch,

Ajax HarrisonThat versatile type, came to the

rescue when the refreshment ranout after the Anzac Day March. Bymethods of cajolery known onlylo the sacred few, he managed tspirit away a ten gallon keg froma nearby hostelry. The inevitabletar naulln muster took place lo re-imburse him for its cost.

Northern(Editor apologises for these Marchnotes not being included in theMarch Courier but that issue wasentirely connected with the forth-

coming Olympic Re-union.)

MARCH DOINGS

(By Jack Denman)

Weather has been very trying-following heavy February rains themercury has frequenlly been abovethe century and the southerlybreezes, normally reliable and wel-come, have not been forthcoming,

Far rner s are busy hand feeding andgenerally there is much speculationas to whether it will be an earlyseason or otherwise.

The Abrolhos cray fishing seasonhas just opened and everythinqpoints to a record season. 1954catch from this area was app roxim-al ely three million tbs, live weightor one million lbs, of processedtaits. This industry is becomingquite a big dollar car ner for thetate.The River came down at Carnar-

von and that is all the banana plan-ters ask for. Carnarvon's annualrainfall is only about eight inchesyet the banana yield per acre is thehighest known, Irrigation is bywater 11l1111[1etlfrom the river sandsat a rough estimate of two Or Ihreemillion ~allons PCI' hour. Waterhas to be of a very low salt content.

TopicsPersonali ties

Visitors to Geraldton: John Chat-well and wife with two 01 theirthree kiddies, are holidaying at theWest-End. John operates a milkround in the met ropolitan area andfinds it very d iflicul t to get away,lie is Ior t u na.e at present in havinghis brother look alter il during hisabsence. John is not seen muchin Association matters but one ofthese days I hope that is rectified.In the meantime John, best wishesand good heallh to the Ch alwells.

Local. Joe and Mary Brandskeep well. Saw Joe in Ger aldtonrecenlly and whilst Mary was doingher shopping we knocked over acouple of lemonades. Like mostother Iarrners the recent heavy rainhas adversely atf'ected Joe's opera-lions and instead of being able tosit hack for a bit of a spell he'skept busy with his sheep,I h avent seen much of Nip Cun-

ningham in recent weeks, Occa-ionally [ sight him either comingor goin~ to work hut Nip is k ep tpretty busy al the Ml!rcantile Club.I'm sure if any of the boys arevisiting here Nip will arrange ac-cess to the Club.Bill Drage was one of Only two

Northernites to rn ak e the AnnualRe-u nion and voted it an excellentshow. Bill and Glad were in Ger-aldton recently for the big tennisattraction, i\\cGregor and Pails, butI'm not too sure whether [Jill satit out-prior to the exhibition he

come one at a time. Young Philipis in hospital, removal of apprendix,and Terry has had to lake overtemporarily from the Northern Dis-tricts Clinic Sister. I[owe vel' Erictill finds lime fo r ] yachting butjuclging by Ihe last occasion I sawhim put out the spinnaker (earlyMarch) he's not as good as he usedto be or he was su Ifer ing' badlyfrom a Saturday night hangover.Saw lIerb Thomas recently, the

first lime in many years. Herb hanot changed much since Timor claysa bit longer in the tooth of course.His foot still gives him a bit oftrouble, but from all accounts docsnot prevent him turning Out SOmegood horses. [believe Herb waleading trainer and rider in Car-narvon for a couple of seasons-hope 'you can do likewise in Gerald-ton Ilerb t Best of luck:T'he Denman household keeps

well. Kerry Lynette is the latestaddition-born Jan. 20. YOursf ru ly has been elected Presiden t ofthe local Sub-Branch of the R.S.L.and looks like having a busy year.I was pleased to meel a few of theboys du rin g my holidays. ,Mervash's address by the way is Wil-cock Street, Cannington. Bestwishes to all.

Page Four. COMMANDO COURIER

was heard to ask wh et he r it wasp ermissahle to barrack. Bill's backslill causes him a great deal oftrouble but ulherwise he looks welland 100 per cenl fi l , even thoughperhaps, a few stone overweight.Brush Fagg has again taken on

the secretaryship of the Northamp-ton Sub-Branch R.S.L. Brush :tp,pears to keep reasonably well andcan always raise a smile despite hotbeer and trying weather. lie also,f course, has to look after Bill ande and keep them in order.Bernie Giles and wife were back

in Geraldton recenlly on a weekendvisit. Bernie has been employedfor SOme months 011 the new hpital at Meekatharra and looks veryfit. When I saw him he was loadedup wilh parcels and I'm sure Mrs.Giles had plans of loading him fur-I ther.

Gordon Ilisiop was absent fromarnarvan at my last visit. lie

cantains the local cricket team andwas in Perth for Country Week,Gordon serves good ale at the Car-n amah hostelry, so anyone passingthrough can be Sure of a welcome.Have not seen fred Griffiths for

ome time but understand that tem-porarily at least he has returned tthe metropolitan area. Fr cd hasbeen lead mining in this districtand may be consldertng returningto Onslow area now that the winteris approaching and lead is a reason-able price,Irish Ho pk ins is still at Shep-

heard's Club Hotel. It's amazinghow quickly Irish becomes knownto everyone-l don't suppose therwou Ie! be many men fr0111 Port I led-land to Geraldton who have notmade the acquaintance of the in-dorn nibl e Patrick Hopkins. Don'tforget Irish, the second Friday inevery month for Geraldton R.S.L.!lave not seen much Of Dick Pep-

per 'lately but believe he has notbeen enjoying the best of h ealt h.Temporarily at least Dick has left[he store at MOOllyoonooka but anycorres nondence addressed to thatcentre would slill find him.Eric Smyth was the other North-

erner to answer the roll call at theAnnual Re-union and reported itone of the best shows to elate. Be-fore I forget, Eric and Bill Dragewere both very much impressedwith the King's Park Service. Erichas be en extra busy of late movingoffice to Eleanor-st. Troubles never

APRIL NEWS

(By Bill Drage)

Well here goes and any rude re-marks and head over turkey some-ne will go, and il won't be me.lIad a day in Ger aldt on a couplef weeks ago and of course, had tocall in and see. the old Irish who,as usual was in good form. Wehacl a few beers and a bit of a nat-tel'. Irish introduced me to a chapnamed Daley who worked at thearne place as Jack Carey, ofcourse he gave us the low downon all Jack's goin!( ons, All in allwe had a couple of enjoyable hours.

There was an R.S. L. re-u nion atNebairah a few weeks ago, the Den-man arrived there wilh a car loadfrom Garaldto n. I took .1 car loadvel' inclucling Bruss FaKg. Anenjoyable time was had by all. Theonly trouble was geltin!( home af-Ier. We had a few bottles for theroad, which we stopped to drink,then the game was on-who wonthe ruddy war. As you might

OMi\1ANI)O C()UlUEI~ Page Five

guess old Bruss anci myself were toomany for the rest. We managedto make the cot by 4 o'clock.

A few 'of my mates and myself'decided to go fishing last weekend.Port Gregory was the beach chosenWe invited Jack Denman along withus, boy oh boy what a tri p, Afew bot lies, a hell of a lot of fishand very litlle sleep, We caught490 fish in one haul and that's nlie, then of course the game waon. We had to have a bollie ortwo to cerebrate. Don't get theidea that we folks in the Country g

for this hot grog. We have a bigice box which will hold two hun-dred weight of ice, so you can seewe had real cold grog. As we weren our way lip to go fishing wepassed the ole! Joe Brand and a fewof his mates on the way back andthey had caught themselves a verynice haul of fish.The season so far is very dry,

could do with some rain, here's hoping. Well this is a petty long let-ter for me so will close, llopingto see most of you in the nearfuture or some time.

LORD'S PRAYER

lIere is a New Guinea Fuzzy Wuzzy's translation of the Lord's Prayersent in by a correspondent. The quaint way of expressing them-

selves certainly impresses indelibly on the mind, doesn't it?

Poppa belong m ef'ell a 'e stop on top,(Our Father Who art in heaven)

Name belong You 'e good fella turnus,(Hallowed be Thy name)

You catchim place belong You, suppose YOu like mcf'ella can doornething, mefella can do 'im down below allee same on top(Thy Kingclom come, Thy will be done On earth as it is in heave n )

You givu: mefella kai-kai ~Iong today(Give us this day our daily bread)

An suppose mefella makim something no good, rnaski You cr(Anel forgive us our trespassers)

Allee same mefella no cross, time alegeda 'e do something no goodalon g mefella \(As we forgive those who trespass against US)

Suppose mefella like rnakim somelhing no good you fasin me(Lead us not into temptation)

An loosin al elsomething 'e no good(And deliver us from evil)

'Cos alegeda place belong You, You strong fella tu mus, You .savvy bla(For thine is the Kingdom of Ileaven, the power and the glory)

Alleline finis.(For ever and ever - Amen.)

lie: "Why wait until we get homebefore you tell me if you'll marryme or nol?"She: "I'm scared. This is the

very spot where my father propos-1 to my mother."lie: "So what?"She: "Well, on the way home

the horses ran away and father waskilled,"An inspector boarded

and was astonished to seeducto r sitting at his ease

a tramthe COn-enjoyin g

a cigarette, while one of the pas-sen gel's was collecting fares."What does this mean?" demand

ccl the Inspector. "YOu have noright to allow a passenger to' col-lect fares. That's what you'res IIpposed to do.""That's all right, Dig," replied

the conductor cheerily. "IIe's:tstowaway I found on board. liecouldn't pay his fare, so I'm mak-ing hi111 work his passage,"

(Printed for the publisher hy "Thewan Express", 10 Helena Street,

"v1icllan!l Junction, W.A)

Page Six. COMMANDO COUI{IEI?

ohnny Roberts was along to ourlast Committee meeting and as aresult we are hopeful of having ourHonour Roll completed by AnzaDay. We need a suitable piece 01tirnber for mounting purposes, andwhat rnore suitable titan a piece of'curly j arrah', sjralght Irorn thWest! Gerry McKenzie thinks Itlikely th al Tony Bowers could fillu r needs here, and Jack Servan te ,

on a business trip lo Gro pe r land,has been commissioned to pass ontil' request, The size of the piecewe want is th ree feet by l wo feel,and we WOuld be gra.teful if it COuldbe freightecl over quick smart.A couple of remintlers for Victor-

ians. Do your best to return theIYIll pic Games screeds as SOOn as

possible. This is most important.I leave the balance of th i

month's column to Toby.A few items of personal news

came in last November when Ourchaps, parti cu'l arly the country m ernhers, were sending back their sweepbutts and money. Sorry I haven'tpassed them On sooner but theymay still be of some interest andmighl help to fill up a little space.Pat Moodielias changed his address and in

rder that proper amendments canbe made lo address lists the newne is as follows: W. P. Moodie,Pine Lodge North, via Shepparton,Vic. Pat has 450 acres with someirrigation and is running cows andsheep.Lionel NewtonWas wo rkin g shift work on his

iob at the mines at Broken Hill.This enabled him to spend quite abit of time on his home bu ilding,with particular emphasis on the er-ection of an eight foot verandahri~ht around his house. Sends re-gards to all.Alf HarperApologtses for not making anytil' get-toge thers recently. Alfhas been r u nn in g; about 1,200 fowlsas it sidelin e and these have kepthim pretty well tied down withoutproving very profitable. Family ismade up of a wife and two kiddies,Alf sends regards.Wally KerrOf the First Company sent back

butts and money and advised ofthe necessity of sp litt in e' sales he-

lween Ours and tickets for hiR..S.L. and his cricket Club. Stoutff'ort anyway, wat, Wally is a(tough-pusher and this prevents hisattendance at some of our Iu nct icusnob SnowdonAdvised that it wasn'l exactly a

bumper season with a low rainfallat that time. IIowever Bob saidhe was a I)il Io rtu natc in being Ona river flats farm with the RiverMurray running past the door.(Hope you haven'! Since been washC(d away. ) Bob drove strai'ghthome after the last re-union, gettingback at Wodonga about 3.30 a.m.without falling asleep.Terry PaullWas head cook and bottle washerf the Paull household. It is to behoped that Mrs. Paull is now bav-ing a better spin-she was justcongratulating herself on gettingu t of hospital when she trippedand fractured her jaw.Ivan BrownFrom I loba r t, advised thal Joe

Loveless was going On a trip tNorth East Tasmania to sel up someP.M.G. equipment to contact Wil-n's Promontory-some per man-

enl radio-telephone gear, it was be-'lievcd.

Among the country chaps whent brief notes and their greetingsto all were Dick Adams, of YarraGlen; Bill Petersen, 0'[ PovertyRidge; Blu ey Bone, of Car lisle Riv-er; Stan Weppner, of Colbtnabbln :andy McNab (2/1), of At hlone,and W. L. (Robbie) Roberts, ofTraral gon.Drop HilliardHad been laid up at Broken I-Iii I

with torn shoulder muscles. Thatwas not so good as you dou't re-ceive the lead bonus when you aren corn po. Hope by now all is. K. again, Drop, and you are coin-

ing the big dough. What aboutputting your head together withLionel Newton's and the two of youcoming down to Melbourne Oneday?Neal BrayIs now radio manager of War-

wick Adve r tlstng Service in Sydney.He is a keen rifleman these daysbut recently was suHel"ing from aprained ankle which he collectedon the rifle range, .

,,;Ui\\MANDO COURIER

Ken Doak, of 10 Katoomba-st. Al-bany, writes::nclosing sweep butts and a trifle

towards the Kings Park Scheme. Ifeci very much at fault for nothaving previously made some sortof an eflor t in that respect, and If'e ar the only excuse I can make isthat I have five very hungry mouthto provide for, p l us the batt!e tcom ptete a home for the ownerof the mouths. The salary of alesser puhlic servant is not over-generous, Nevertheless that makea mighty poor excuse when a mat-t er such as your scheme is con-cerned, and if I weren't so sadlyconscious that there must be manyothers like myself, who are inclinedto just let things ride on the oth crchap's back, I WOuld be amazedthat the call for funds did nol meetwith an immediate and full response

Regarding' this sweep: Should aticket or mine d r aw one of themajor prtzes-c--this in itself wouldbe a miracle-perhaps you couldsell or auction it and use the pro-ceeds as you lhink best.Another matter which I have

been a long time in expressing myappreciation of, is that of the:hildren's Xmas parcels. Thesewere a very happy surprise, notnly to tbe nips, but also lo th

wife and myself. You chaps certainly don't believe in doin~ things byhalves, do you? And the year be-(ore, when in Katanning, we re-ccived a couple of parcels for theyoungsters but there W~IS no clueas to where they came from. Theselatter remained a bit of a mysteryuntil this Xmas when we saw the'light. To realise Just how muchthese Xmas gifts are appreciatedneeds to see the kiddies wilh them,especiauy first thing Xmas morn-ing.I'm afraid there is little ill the

way of news that I can pass 011 toyou from clown here, Ivor Good-·,:tll is the only eX-2/2 chap I everie and flllfillill~ his job of Tram'l'lspector apparently keeps himj,Iusy, He does a rea'lly good johhere, but of course is more appre-ciated by visitors to the Port thanhy the majority of the Portites. Itis a most comforting sight to seehim every week day marshallingscores of infants, and getting them

afely across the highway to andfrom their class-rooms. (Just oneof his jobs.)I set: frOI11 recent 'Couriers' that

the old Boyland has been havingrather a stiff trot. Jle is by now, Itrust, on lop again. Does he stilikeep the keg running till foul' inthe morning after meeting nights?You have a truly grand Associa-

lion, and believe me I'm reallyproud to have been permitted tobecome a member.All the best to the boys.

K. McEachern, of 56 Larngle..-at.East Victoria Park, writes:Just a short note to let you know

that I am still kicking, and againliving in the city. If anybody evergets me to go to the counlry again,well, you know what they can do.

Am enclosing a money orrter for1. 10/- being for the sweep tick-

et s, and 10/- for my subscriplionwhich I fear must be a bit overdue.I haven't been to any of the meet-ings as yet as I have been havingspine trouble which makes me abit of a stop at home.I had trouble with my back whencame out of the army and the

doctors said it was fibrositis, andwere treating me for such Io r along time, but as it got worse Iinsisted on another X-ray, and. theythen found that I had lwo crackeddies ill the lower part of the spine,which they kindly told me wouldget worse and that there was no-thing they could do about it.I got a pension Out of them and

a clerical job in the Telephone In-tallation Branch, so let me know ifany of Our chaps want a phone 011and I might be able to speed thingsup a little.Well Col., thai is enough moan-

ing. I will certainly make an ef-fort to get along to a meeting soon.I am getting my holidays in May

and hope to go down to Augustaand do a spot ot fishing if theweather is favourable.All the best .to the boys.

Col Criddle, of 124 Monson-at.,Wembley, writes:A short note along with Illy tick-

et butts, with two 10/- postal notescovering same, and also 10/- formy sub.

Pa)(t! Eight. OURIER

l lope with all sincerity to join inthe march on Anzac day this year,for as it is at work these days, withmore work than we can handle, andwith another four new trucks com-mg in the yard this 1110nlh, makingmore work. I may be given fiveminutes to get ready and shoot ah uck through to Ge r ald ton, andconnect a truck coming in froma rn arvon with bananas, and being

on th e phone I get called out at anytime, even early hours of the morn-in g on break downs.

So you see I can't make anyplans on my social sphere,Best regards to all the boys.

Arthur Marsh, of 7 Peet-st, Har-vey, writes:Thought I had better drop a few

lines with the butts, though writingand me never did get along verywell. I've been kept pretty busylately. What with helping shift28.000 tons of wheat at Bunbu ry,and still doing a bit of baling onir ri qat ion country. and filling anodd semi ioad of lime or timber todifferent places down south. Theredoesn'l seem to be much lime leftove r for cricket. Wifh winterollling on now though I should beable lo get through a fail' bit ofreadin u, If it is like last year Ihouldn'l do anything hetween Mayand September. I saw Bluey Wilkesthe other day. lie was driving anew l lolden van and he had thathil, grin all over his face.

P. Campbell, of Southern Hill-at.,Norseman, writes:Pncloseu £1 for sweep tickets.

One hook filled up. Fill up an-other for the 2/2nd Association andjf it gets a prize have a beer On me,A good season lin here so far.

Water everywhere. What a differ-ence it can make.. Ilope to he able to make theRe union someday The very heslto all who make the 'Courier' auccess, and enjoy it.

Bert Burgess , of 'Bur lands' , Broomehill, writes:Received a book of tickets in a

sweep in aid of water scheme fundsbut apparently the book was putaway too carefully and cannot belocated. lIowever the 10/- en-closed will compensate and if thehook of t ick ets can be found willene lose ill this.

Also regret that I have not re-plied to the Melbourne Re-unionquest ionaire. We are both verymuch hoping to make the trip andafraid that is as definite as I can beat present. Il is a difficult time ofthe year lor land types which meansthe slower transport facilities willbe ou t.Even provided the (james are

held in Melbourne, which seemsdoubtful, they will be of little in-tcrest to me except the openingceremony. Accommodation inMelboul'l1e will not be required.Met Alf Hillman recently fromwhom I learned of the overland su ggeslions-could be alright.lIave had a wet Easler here too,

but we are very jubilanl as twoinches of rain has been recorded todate and it is really wonderful howthe feed that was dying oIT has re-ponded.Cheerio, regards to all.

Ken Mackintosh, of Bridgetown,writes:Enclosed are butts for the raf-

fl e which you intend conducting,together with my cheque for £1-0/6d. and it would be appreciatedif you WOuld take out a secondbook in my name.Should I be successful in winning

any of the prizes listed, please dis-pose of this to the best advantageand add the money to the Associa-tion finances.

Stan King, of Pin garing, via LakeGrace, writes:Just a short note to return lhe

sweep bulls and dough Thingsaren't too bad around these partJlOW, after the five inches of rainwe got in February, We have justhad another 70 points and most ofus arc nat out working the tallowup. The feed is coming alonl{nicely, so it look s like being a goodyear, We can just about do withit too, after the poor season lastyear. Sorry I couldn't make tit'Do' this year, I was in Perth onthe day but had to attend the mate'swedding ann reception, etc" thenhome again on the Sunday. A verysmart trip. Ilael a barbecue hereyesterday. the local P. & C. afterfunds, and managed to get lhrough28 gals. of the best and numerouslhs. of steak. A good time was hadhy all.Hegards to the 1110b.

COMMANDO COURIER

Mrs. Alf Blundy, of Smith-st., Bev-'er ley , writes:Please filld enclosed 10/- ralTl

money. 1 am sending it down forAlf as he doesn't get much timethese days. lie's busy crutching atp resent. Leaves before seven of amorning and not home till alterseven at night so it's a 101lg day.It's usually tea when he gets home,t h cn by the time he has a bath itsto ned with the paper.

hope the raff'le is a success.

Alf Hillman, of Broomehill, writes:I told Bert Burges a lot tni gh t ag

that I would get this oIl' bul owingto a rather unseasonal burst of ac-tivity required have taken longerthan expected lo get clown to it.

I met Rert first al the Statel lar dcou rt Tennis in Katunnin g.The wife and I had entered togethtrbut met some of the Perth lops, soII ever got very far.At our annual general meeting

RS,L. we landed Bert with the jobul treasurer for the year. I myselfescaped Io r this year.The rains in February made

things a bit messy round here.woke at daylight to find water run-ning over my back vernndah whichforlunate'ly is six inches below thelevel of the rest of the house. Wa-ter finally rose to four inches be-low floor level and then dropped.At its highest we were surroundedby water 200 yards -at fronl wheremain creek runs and 800 yards tilother over nat country. We lostthree miles of fencing but no stockthough n neighbour lost 200 sheepover a mile Ir orn creek.Grass g'erm i nat ed beau ti fu Ily and

grew well, so that for a while wehad more feed than at any timelast year. llowever it is now dy-ing raidly and unless we get rainSOon look like having the worstseason in history as with no seed-ing last year there can be very lit-lie left to grow again if presentlot dies.We slill have supplies for quite

:\ bit of hand feeding but these soondisappear if you really have to getdown to it. Stock have picked upwe'll and are now in good conditionbut will soon lose some of that ifth ey have to chase about lookingfor grern feed.I have started seeding some oat

for early feed but now need rainto germinate it,

Page Nine--- _..._

W, A, Drage, of Box 117 North-am p to n , writes:Received tickets, sold the lot veryucldenly and am forwarding sameto you. Will enclose £1. 10/-donation. Ilo pe you receive it O.K,Iloping you receive success wilhthis, also hoping you arid the restof the mob are in the pink. Thingare not bad in lhis part of theworld.

Ron Sprigg, of 42 Hill-sr., Albany,writes:Just a few lines in with rafTle

butts, it is so long since [ wrote Iam almost ashamed lo now. Ev-erything going O.K. down this padf the globe. Ron Saddler was thenly visitor I saw this summer.

lie came up one evening and wehac! a. glass or two al d a chin wag.GeofT Laidlaw said at the re-unionhe WOuld he Clown this way in aCOLIp'le of weeks but no sign so far,1 am still looking for him. Weatherstill keeping fine and dry here,hardly a sprinkle since the floods.Like most places rain badly needed,This is short b ul no news. Re-

gards to all.

Jim Smailes , of Lavcrton, writes:Your circular re sweep tickets to

hand and I note your urgenl appealto help with the funds. Ilerewilhis the butts (or my book of 20tOQ;ether with 10/- to cover value.Also a donation towards the KingsPark Water Scheme which I havenot yet had the opportunity ofseeing nor have I been able to helpin any way. However I do hopethe few bob will help and that thegeneral financial position will soonbe rectified.

J myself am feeling 'fine ancl get-ling along very nicely. The posi-tion of the Co. is fast improvingand will SOon be an active mineagain. We still are operating hutpaying our way on a smaller scale.About two months ago I was ap-pointed General Manager in W,A.and entail responsibility for thewhole show. Any day now I willbe made Attorney. The dough hasbeen further increased anti so hathe headaches, but believe you meI thrive on it and am just lapping itup. A big South African Co. is in-terested in takinQ; it all over andtheir head man was here a few dayago to make preliminary arrange-ments. On the subject of future

Page Ten

policy as regards managemen t heassured me that I would be retainedin present position and taken intotheir world-wide organisation.It appears to be the thing and

could lead on to anywhere and av~ry bright f'ut ur e.

heer io and regards to boys.

Bob Smyth writes:Principally owing to business ac-

tivity requiring prolonged absencesfrom the city, 1 must confess Ihave not been of much pr actlcathelp in Association matters. Yourir cular received has given the COIl-;icnce a needle and I would like

you to enter the enclosed underAnonymous. The girls in the officehave sold all the tickets,

I am still as busy as a oue-arntedr~perhaJlger, having recently mov-ed inlo new offices and warehousespace in Kin g-st. The p revioutenants were the Army, Navy andir Force Recruiting Centre, and

we are still being worried by po-tential r e qrults.You may care ['0 advise those

who arc interested in bat tlin g withthe hig Ones that the best surf onthis coast is at Trigg Island, whichI can with confidence claim to ber.n a good day, equal Or bet le r thanSydney's best. Saw Ray Parrylooming in like mighty mouse on amou ntainou s green one last Sun-day, and Sam Fulbrook doing like-wist' the previous week. I under-s; and that Sam may not be a recip-ient of .the monthly 'Courier', buta phone call to MU2750 will locatehis add ress.

Jack Hassen, of Ballidu, writes:Am enclosing butts and '10/-,

please sec that 1 draw i oth prize,lIad a lrip down soulh during our

holidays and had hoped to see someof the boys but the floods caugh tup with me. Got into Albany aboutsix one evening, raining like blazes,couldn't g et a bed so left again byeight. What a trip. When wegot to KOJOllUP the next clay wewere told we wouldn't get throughto Perth but luckily we made itthrough Manjimup, Boyup Brook.Next time I deciele to do the hipthink I'll get a weather forecast be-forehand.

Met Reg and Dot lInr rin gtnnand had a beaut time tog-ether. Onenivh t ReI" P\1t on a picture showIor us and it was real good. 'Mcrv

COMMANUO CUUi(lt:R

Ryan and Pin g Anderson and fam-ily were also present and I thinkwe all enjoyed Reg's show.

Went to tennis on Sunday aile!fou nd that a day's crickel was alsoill full swing. Semi finals Or some-thing. Am not a cricket ']'an butanyway Norma mel Jean Fowler andlearned that Jack was among thecricketers. Saw him later at thecorner house but un lortunately forJack and his males they playedcricket too IOn g and the bar hadjust closed down.

Regards to all the crowd. l lcpeto see you Ladies Night jf not be-fore.Bill Tomasetti, of Kairuku, Central

District Territory of Papua andNew Guinea, writes:Il is now many months since I

last was in touch wilh the 'Cour-ier' and the old crowd for which Iapologise and plead, as Jack O'Brienwo u Id have said, "an overload ofthe white man's burden".First I must thank all Concerned

for the re g ula r receipt of the 'Cour-ier' which is a grand means of re-freshing the memory with nameif not numbers and seeing how wellthe majority are doing for them-selves.

Alfter a few years I had fivemonths' leave in Australia last yearand it was spent in N.S,W: and Vic-toria. j had ideas of tripping overto the West but 'flats are so ex-pensive in Melbourne lhat I finallycould not arrord the fare, In anyase we rcturnecl to the Territoryne 1110nlh before we were due

which shows that the place is notwithout its OWIJ appeal. I was inMelbourne for Anzac Day (54) andwent along to the march and thes ession af'te rwarrls and had a splen-dicl time allhough I must Con tess Idid not see too many familiar facewhich is my own fault for leaving(he Unit in '43.I think I mentioned in my last

letter that, 'like most of the crowd,I married after the war and nowhave two daughte'rs, respectivelyeight and five years old. YOLl willprobably recognise my address abeing the same as when last I wrote.I was fortunate enough to be postedhere again after my leave. It is agoocl pla<;;c with a lot of conveni-ences and a comparativety largepopulation. It also has the virtuof being my Own section, My COI1-

COMMANDO URIER

firrnation as assistant district officercame through last year so I nOWpend a little less time trampingaround the bush than of yore al-though the whole service is so bad-ly under st a ffed that there is stillplen ty for all-at least it does something to keep my weizht down toabout 13 stone.

YOII may not know that thereare many Western Aust r alians inthe Territory and COnnected withit. Firstly the minister, Ilasluck. is[rom the West as is the Adminis-trator, Brig. Cleland, and Quite alarge part Of the public service-th erc must be som cth in g the matter

Page Eleven

with the place to make so manyp eo ple leave it.That seems to be all the news in

brief. Could you please publish acheerio from me to all the oldpush}

Bernie Langridge, of Donnybrook,was up in Perth recenuy but thevlsit was a h u r ried one and J1 e wasunable to attend the meeting andget around amongst his old males.Apologies from Bernie and he hopeto repair the clam age in the nearIu t ur e. Berm's apple crop t h iyear was good and the quality wa"extra" t

Minister For Interior VisitsAsian War Cemeteries

During his recent Asian tour,the Minisl e r Ior the Int er ior, Mr.'. S. Kent Llu ch es, visited war

cemeteries where Australian servicemen and women are buried in In-donesia, North Borneo, Singapore,Thailand, 1 [on g Kon g, Formosa,Japan and South Korea.

Mr, Kent Hughes was a colonel inIhe 8th Division A.I.F, when Singa-pore fell in February, 1942, andspent the following three years andseven months as a prisoner in:IJangi, Formosa and Manchuria.lIis Interior portfolio includes

Min is terial duties as head of th eAnzac agency of the Imperial Warraves Commission.Brigadier A. E. Brown, Secretary-

,eneral of the Anzac Agency of theImp er ial War Graves Commisslon,accompanied the Mipister on hivisits to the war cemeteries at Pa1-mbang, Medan and Djakarta in In-donesia, Labuan in North Bornand Kranji in Singapore.

l n nearly all the count r ies hetoured the Australian Minister alsvisited the national war cemeterres.Summing-up his impressions the

Minister said that generally speak-ing he had been most impressed bythe sites chosen for the cemeteriesand- by the way the officials con-rned, particularly Asian caretak-

ers and maintenance stafls, werecarrylng out their duties.In certain countries there had

hccn difficulties over the acquisition

of land for the cemeteries and in-ternal disturbances had meant un-fortunate but unavoidable delays.

"Although work 011 all the cem-eteries is not advanced as far as [had hoped, arrangements are nowgoing aheael satisfactorily and it iexpected that all the cemeteriewill be completed this year," Mr.Kent Ilughes said. "It has heen abig task because the area coveredhas been so extensive."I am sure that all Australian,

would appreciate-as I did-the 011vious care taken in chousing attrac-tive scenic sites fur the cemeterteand the dignity and kindlin eshown by all the various govern-ment officials and others concernedwith their administration and up-keep."The Minister laid wreaths On be-

half of 'the Australian people atKranj i on Australia Day (January26) and at Kanchanaburt in Thai-land on Jan. 29. There are 3,79Allied war graves, including morethan 1,500 Australians, at Kranj i,ancl 6,959 (dlied graves, includingthose of 1,~63 Australians, at Kan-chanabur i. The Minister also laid:\ wreath provided by the localauthorities at the Dutch war cern-tery at Palernbang ill Sumatrawhere there are nine Australiangraves, fou r of them of AustralianArmy Nurses (Senior Sisters PearlBeatrice Mi I tlcheuser and Win n it"May Davis, and Sisters Gladys Laura

Page Twelve.

lIughes and Rubina Dorothy Free-man ) .The sites at l.abuan in North

Borneo, Kra nj i in Singapore, Kan-chanabri and Chungkai in Thailandanet Sal wan Bay in l long Kon~ ap-pealed particularly to him, the Min-iSI er said.There were 3,992 graves at Lab-

ua n of which 1,500 were Austra-lian. Nearly 2,500 names of thosewho had no known graves werecnm memor al ed un the bronze tab-lets On the walls Within the cern et-:ry memorial. Of these the greatmajority were Australians who diedon the death march from Sandakanto Ran au. fifteen n und retl set out.Five, all Au slralia ns, survived. Thetir st headquarters ill Lahuan of theinth Division A.l.F., which played

a major part in liberating Borneo,were within 50 yards of the sitehos en for the cemetery's Cross' ofacrifice.From Kranj i there was a magn i fi-

cent view of the town of .IohoreBah r u and l he Johore Straits over-looking thc stretch where the Jap-anese first crossed from the main-land of Malaya to the island ofSin canore in 1942.

Kanch anabu ri was set in a "beau-t if u l, peaceful spot"while Chungkai,situated alorigside the old hospitalsu e between the railway and theriver, was another maanificent sitI!lIarded by the surrounding hills.Saiwan Bay where Col, D.

!"p-lion, C.O. of the 2/13th Austra-lian General llospit al and a formerprison camp colleagu e who died atMukden in July, 1945, is bu riert,was another "lovely location" over-looking one of the approaches tothe main Hong Kong Harbour. Atthe nearby Stanley Bay cemetery he'as struck by the headstones carv-d with olving care by some of theAlIi('cl s er vicc mcn imprisoned inIlon g Kong.At Kanc hanahuri the Minister was

In tcre st ed to h ear til:ti a high Burldhis! digniUlI'y, wh en on a retreat re-ce ntly, had visited lIH' cemeteryand p rnvidcr! a Slim of money forthe p ro naval ion of trees and shrubfor its b eau tiflcation. Ire was im-pressed, t oo, h.y the, fact that th)or:t1 hoy scouts ornanisatlon had,on Jan. 2g, laid t wo wreaths on theCross of Sacrifice at th(' cemeteryill hunou r of Knnc hannb urin ns whohad died while wurk in c :t1'inKsideAu st r alla » and othe" 'Allied' war

COMMANDO COURIER

prisoners On the Burma-Siam rail-way,"One minor criticism is the ab-

sence of, or the few trees, shrubs,and flowers at some cemeteries,"Mr. Kent Hughes said. "However,I understand plans are in hand lrectify this lack. At Kran]i a newroad is being built leading lo thecentre of the cemetery and thisroad is to be lined with trees fromvarious cou nt r ies of the Common-wealth."

A sultry looking blonde was seat-ed in the witness box. Jler dresswas the type that showed J11OI'e ofh ersetf 'than otherwise. As sherossed one leg and then the otherthe dress crept up and up, leavingnot too much to the imagination.The judge was Just about to tell

her to step down when her lawyerpoke to him. "Your Honour, I'vejust thought of something."The Judge gave him a look and

l hen looked at th e girl an cl re-torted:"I don't believe there's a man

in the courtroom who hasu't ."..A youn g ci ty gi 1'1 was vacation-

jl1~ in the country, and becamefriendly with a farmer boy. Oneevening as they were strollingacross a pasture they saw a calf :tncta cow rubbing noses in the acceptedbovine fashion."Ah ," said (he rarmer boy, "thatight makes me want to do thearne.""Well go ahead," said the girl.

"it's your cow."

Ad,Ircsscs You MIlY Require:

The Edi toi-:W. E, MARCIl,3 I3ricknall Road,Attaclale, W.A,

President:Colin Doig,Box 1273, G.P.O., Perth.

Secretary.J. Carey,7J King Street,East Frcm ant le. W.A.