POLITICS/COMEDY - TIN TIN AND THE RED HEN

JULIAR BEATS K RUDD ....FOR NOW

So, Tin Tin Kevin Rudd has challenged the Red Hen Juliar Gillard and has been defeated 71 to 31. 


Of course he promises at a major Press Conference to be a good boy and go to the Back Bench  and, before it is finished ,enters upon a major recital of all his alleged achievements while Foreign Minister and a list of all his close personal friends in high places around the world. The media are placing much store by his earlier promise not to support anyone else challenging Juliar in the future. 


They seem to miss the point that this does not preclude him accepting a draft to replace her himself.


For her part, at a Press Conference timed to follow Tin Tin's, Juliar  was initially tense but cool, reciting what had happened, but became increasingly snappish as the event rambled on and she assured us everyone was sick of Labor politicians thinking only about themselves ( Tin Tin had already said much the same) and she assured us that they were now going to think about us and....Oh Australia!


Watch that space Tin Tin is not going to be a good boy for long, and Juliar the Red Hen is a good old Leftie HATER- there will be BLOOD!


Interestingly when the Returning Officer spoke to the ABC 's RN announcing the result, he said the victory had been greeted with a"measure of applause"in the Caucus!! Perhaps the comrades were suddenly horrified at what they had done! A "measure of Applause"such restraint bruvvers! Things ain't what they used to be!




The follow-on Press Conference of Tony Abbott was a no nonsense careful demolition job of the dysfunctional Government . Well done Tony - and a manly performance as well!

STUNNING " Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

THOMAS HORN IS THE BRILLIANT YOUNG STAR
OF THIS IMPRESSIVE MOVE

This is a movie of exceptional power, and unusual appeal. For me the horror of what happened on "9/11" has been so appalling that I have refused to look at the film of the events, except on one occasion when I saw a TV documentary which technically examined what happened to the twin tower buildings.


I can still recall the morning I went out to collect the paper from our front lawn, and there unfolded it,only to see the horrible news, then rushed inside to turn on the TV news and see the appalling images and the consequent turmoil and anguish of the great city of New York. I had no desire to see such distressing and painful images again.


I was interested to see this film because it deals with a family's torment in the wake of the great tragedy.The story is fictional and concentrates on the effects as they are manifested in the only son of the Jewish family that has lost its father in the terrorist attack.It also interweaves the story of the dead father's own estranged father. The star of the film is Thomas Horn and he is an extraordinarily gifted actor. That someone of his age - 12 years old - could create the character of the son with such emotional maturity is nothing but amazing. One would however wonder how anyone of that age could achieve what he has without putting himself at some psychological risk.

AN ASTOUNDING PERFORMANCE

I would urge anyone who appreciates good film not to miss this one. It is emotionally draining and it has one flaw, a 10 second scene only immediately following the collapse of the towers. But it is nothing in the great scheme of the whole film.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE

Beautiful Lady in a Beautiful City
Born 18 th February 19(Ahem!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL AND BELOVED WIFE,

 AND NOW TO CELEBRATE WITH THE SYDNEY FAMILY!

SHE'S ALL GROWN UP - AND LOOKING GREAT!!

The City of Sydney in myriad shapes from the Botanical Gardens
with Pyramidal hot house atop the grassy knoll.

The purpose of my visit to the City on Wednesday morning fell through. This left me free to roam about, and, as the weather was pleasant for a change, I chose to visit the Botanical Gardens and the City proper to take some photos.

I had long been familiar with the Gardens since my childhood, and thus familiar also with the view from there across to Garden Island Dockyard where my father had worked on the immense Graving Dock during World War II, and also with the view back to the City.

The visit and my subsequent walk about the City brought a number of things to view and to mind.

Short on grace of line - H.M.A.S. CHOULES replaces the rusting ships astern of her.

Looking across to Garden Island where until the previous day the huge cruise liner QUEEN MARY II had berthed - the Passenger Terminal wharves could not accommodate her - I saw an equally gross sight:

The Royal Australian Navy's latest ship. She is H.M.A.S. CHOULES (named after Claude CHOULES who died at age 110 and who was the last surviving combat veteran of WWI, he had also served in WWII. This seems to be some sort of departure in the naming of R.A.N. ships which, unless I am mistaken, ( save for the 6 "Collins"Class submarines) have not normally gone down the American path of naming some ships after personalities. However that may be, CHOULES is one of the most unfortunate looking naval vessels I have ever seen. The superstructure is all fairly well for'ard to accommodate its loading purpose, and piled up very high. The whole thing looks very ungainly. The ship is a former Royal Navy vessel H.M.S. Largs Bay, an equally awkward name. She became redundant when the British Government put the squeeze on the R.N. in the wake of the G.F.C. As it happened, the two landing ships the R.A.N. had acquire in another "quickie“deal, this time with the U.S.N., and which can be glimpsed astern of CHOULES, both proved to be rapidly deteriorating " rust buckets" and after few years of service have been paid off.CHOULES is much larger, and more versatile and will hopefully have a longer life than they did, if nowhere as long as her namesake.

I walked around Lady Macquarie's Chair the giant stone seat carved into the hillside on the Headland between Farm Cove and Woolloomooloo Bay looking north across the Harbour. What Lady Macquarie would have made of the hordes of Asian tourist groups crowding densely around her chair and the headland can only be guessed -but it might have done her a lot of good to witness it. How different a mature and independent Australia is from the Colony her husband governed so well!

Looking across Farm Cove to our town Sydney - all grown up and looking great

 

Across Farm Cove of course lay the Opera House on the site of the former Tram Depot called Fort Macquarie, and further on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was only 8 years old when I was born. From the lawns of the Botanical Gardens I looked up to the City, and came to the conclusion that the vast aggregation of tall buildings works rather well visually. Their characters are rather different, but in some way are complementary to one another the old town has grown up - and she looks great!

Here and there are traces of a previous time! And "time" is a good reference to use. For the several clock towers which once raised their giant timepieces high above the City's roofs, are, with the exception of the Central Station clock tower, largely obscured by later development.

                                                               The LANDS DEPARTMENT Clock Tower dwarfed 

Bridge Street was once a magnificent avenue of sandstone Government and Commercial buildings for the greater part. Here we see the Lands Department clock tower which is dwarfed by the surrounding office towers, but still retaining its dignity. Not so fortunate was the Royal Exchange Building which was demolished in the 1950s to make way for an undistinguished office block. It had been a particularly pleasing building, which featured on its Pitt Street frontage stairs going down to the Winecellar Restaurant just below street level.

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE BUIDING that was, Bridge Street Sydney about 1900,
the LANDS DEPARTMENT is to the left, its Clock Tower is obscured bythe mass of the RE building.

The Town Hall clock tower is seen in the distance as we look past the great Queen Victoria Building, which stood virtually empty for all of my early life and was threatened with demolition several times, but late in its life was brought to life as type of up market shopping precinct in the 1960s.Thank Heaven it was saved.

Town Hall Clock Tower seen at the South end of York Street seems ro be almost swalllowed up.
Queen Victoria Building to the left is enjoying its relatively recent renaissance.

The last of our proud towers is that of Central Station now left on the Southern extremity of the CBD, as development ebbed away from it with the advent of the City Railway underground in 1926. In the last year or so the Central Station Clock tower has been entirely renovated and now looks brilliant lording it's presence over one of the finest large railway buildings in the world.

Looking just great - the Clock Tower of Sydney Central Station
newly re-furbished.

I also included in my City tour St. Patrick's Church, Church Hill where I was able to go to Confession, Mass and Communion. St.Patrick's itself has been tastefully and respectfully in the last several years and is a spiritual powerhouse, with almost continuous Confessions and multiple regular Masses

All in all, a very pleasing and re- assuring morning, Sydney not only has a great past, but a mighty present. And she has a confident, brilliant future!

THE ARTIST : FEELING YOUNG - THEN BACK TO REALITY : HAPPILY

Brilliant Success

With another couple of the same age group, my wife and I went to see "THE ARTIST"this afternoon. If you have been living "under a rock, under a stone"you may not know that this is essentially a silent movie about the fate of a male silent movie Star at the advent of the talkies,


It is brilliant, in acting, story, cinematography in the period manner, settings and props - in every way , ideal. What a gem! Dialogue is superfluous for this superbly acted and presented movie, and it never drags - not for a moment.


At the end of it, I was very happy, able to look back with satisfaction on the movie itself, but also on the era it presented ,which preceded my birth by about 11 years- so I had the satisfaction of looking on the re-presentation of something older than me!! Nice, I feel younger!.


We leave the Theatre and before going to the Car look for a coffee. Our friends propose James Cafe on the Pacific Highway at Roseville. As we arrive they are closing up for the late afternoon, but beckon us in because our dear friends are regulars! After a super and relaxed coffee, we are settling the bill, when somehow it comes up that the son of the owners - present on his return from College for the day, is a student at Marist Brothers North Sydney. I offer the comment that one of my teachers 56 years ago was Brother Peter Salta ( then Brother Albanus) . The young fellow looks at me respectfully, but somehow conveying the impression that he is in the presence of a dinosaur. His mother tells me that the lad is in SALTA HOUSE at College, which is named after my former teacher who is still alive and now retired at the Brothers'House at Randwick. It is pleasing to find that such a brilliant, devoted and faithful Religious is so revered still. But my feeling of being able to look patronisingly on the silent movie era, is overtaken by the knowledge that this solid young man is looking on me in just such a way.  Suddenly feeling my age !But HAPPILY!


But, A GREAT MOVIE - don't miss it! And say a prayer for Brother Albanus/ Peter Salta and all those marvellous Religious who made Catholic Education in Australia the source of greatness it has been !

THE DEAR LEADER - LAUGH OR CRY?

WHITE HOUSE WEBSITE FRONT PAGE

Can you believe it? Behold the Leader of the United States as he would have us see him!

If it were not for the things he is trying to do, one would automatically laugh at this preposterous and pretentious pose from the product of Chicago's corrupt Democratic politics.

Yet right now as the Dear Leader communes with his Leader he is engaged, in defiance of the United States Constitution, in trying to force Catholics and Catholic Institutions to fund, and in effect provide, Abortion and Contraception with no conscientious exception. The Catholic Bishops of the United States are in United and vociferous opposition to this attack on the Catholic Church and Catholics, an attack of a type unprecedented outside totalitarian atheistic regimes.

We recall that it is only about 2 years since Notre Dame University in America, obscured the name of Christ and all religious emblems, for the filming of the presentation of an award to Obama. It has ever since been dubbed Notre Shame.

Perhaps they might soon have cause to repeat with the dying Cardinal Wolsey : "Would that I had served my God as well as I have served my King"

For the time being Behold the 'great' Obama a legend in his own mind!

Thanks to the  great Fr.Z at WDTPRS for highlighting this absurdity - go there and see the full story and much more about the struggle to keep the Church free of this oppression.http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/02/a-couple-saturday-reading-tips/

*1940's FEEDING THE FAMILY

22 SECOND AVENUE BERALA

Okay! Okay! So you're very clever and you've already latched on to the discrepancy !! 1940s in the heading but the TV Antenna shows the picture is after 1956 -first transmission of TV in Sydney and after about 1959 in our case, when we first got a PYE tv set. Oh! And you've noticed the oval Stop light lens and fins on the Vauxhall Cresta I bought second hand (1963 Model) in about 1967 (?) Go to the top of the Class and please sit quietly while I get on with the story.

In those War time 1940's when I was a little bloke and had blond hair ( why does our hair keep changing colour? Blond, Brown, Grey - oh well!) there wasn't a lot of money around but enough to feed us fairly well.

Things were delivered to the door, the Milkman with his Horse (! True!) and Cart came plodding by very early in the morning taking the Billy Can from the Front Verandah filling it from the Tap on the back of the Cart pressing the lid home and returning the full can to the Verandah. If we wanted cream a note was left with the Billy and the "Milko "would leave a litle tubby jar with a waxed cardboard sealing lid.Once a week we would leave out the Milk money in cash of course with that day's Billy. Exciting Huh?

Later each morning the Baker (the word being suitably short did not need a familiar abbreviation) would drift along the street in his little red Ford Van (English Ford of course Vintage about 1934) and there was variety yes indeed there was! You could have white bread or nothing, and you could choose a Square Loaf or a Round Loaf (Now called High Top) . Boy! How I loved the smell of that hot fresh bread (the bakery was only a block away and Brand Name bread was unknown.In the early 1950's we really got with it and the Baker announced that he would be introducing Vienna Milk Loaf to his product range.

My favourites were the convex first slices of the newly broken Square or Round loaves - that was living! Especially with Cheese ( which only ever came into our house in the pale blue KRAFT box which in latter years we would never deign to buy- muttering insulting words like "soap!"

Less often, perhaps twice a week the ""Ice Man "came to refill the Ice Box . It resembled a small wooden ( if your imagination is that good) refrigerator with a smaller top box for the block of ice and a larger section underneath it for the food to be chilled - not a great deal of room - for milk, meat .butter etc.The whole thing was only about 4 feet high. Then, in the dawning of a new age, we obtained a Hallstrom "Silent Knight"gas refrigerator, which stood on four legs and caused a frenzy of home ice cream making for a year or so.

CHILDHOOD SOCIAL REALITIES - WORLD WAR I

CHILDHOOD        SOCIAL REALITIES OF WORLD WAR I

MOTHER'S MATE CALLS

I have tried to identify the point in my life at which I began to take the family, community and national memory of World War I seriously, so far without success. Perhaps in writing this post I shall stumble across it.

My earliest memories of the "idea" of the first World War are of images of rather absurd looking flickering figures walking in a jolting fashion in odd uniforms. There was always at my Grandma Dixon's house among the large depressing photo portraits around the Lounge Room wall a young soldier, left profile,eyes raised slightly as if gazing on some distant scene. I believe his name was Patrick Boyd and that he was my Grandma Dixon's brother who died in 1919,just after the War. The family spoke as if he had died because of the War, I have yet to prove that.I wonder now if his death had any influence on my Grandad's later heavy drinking and brutish behaviour. There was never any talk of him serving in that War.

Then too, I saw in many places War Memorials, most small with names I came to realise were the dead, inscribed below, and surmounted by a soldier standing at attention and resting on arms reversed, and in the heart of Sydney City the solemn Cenotaph which I always had learned to respect

SYDNEY CENOTAPH  DAWN SERVICE  ANZAC DAY

Even in my early teens,  as other histories more remote came to attract my reading attention, World War I seemed to strike a stubborn streak in my mind - it was boring, old-fashioned, irrelevant. Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that my early years were spent in the midst of World War II still the great reality of my early teens, filling movie houses, books, magazines. Maybe it made World War I seem as it did. 

Do you know? I think writing in order to think something through, works. That was obviously it. 

Off on my first visit to Canberra ,the National Capital in  1957/58.
The diesel railcar set was the latest thing operating as the Canberra-Monaro Express.
Rail fans of the time spoke of its speed as low flying! Lol! I doubt it passed 80 mph.

But as time went on,WWII 's colours began to fade, and I visited our Nation's Capital Canberra for the first time. There I visited the great War Memorial, which at the time was still principally concentrating on World War I in its magnificent displays.Now, I began to understand the terrible reality of that "War to end all Wars", and what it had meant to the infant Australia and the World.

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL, CANBERRA

Australia lost 61,966 Military Deaths or 1.38% of her total population of 4.5 millions at the time.

United States 116,708    "            "       "  0.13%  "  "     "            "        "  92        "       "   "    "  .

That visit drew the veil away, the psychological barrier in my mind, and I came at last, to rationally think about the Great War. I was then about 17 and working for the Solicitor for Railways. I travelled to Canberra on my Railway Employee's once a year free Pass. I got more value out of that journey than I could have hoped for.

As the years have gone by, with the advent of television and growing publishing interest in World War I and then the arrival of the Internet ( how blessed we are to live in the Internet era!) my interest has grown and grown. And I have discovered Private Billy Wilson, my maternal Grandmother's brother, whom I knew had called his beautiful young sister "Doll's eyes", was blown to pieces at Armentieres.

And as if by magic, young Australians and older ones, are flocking to Anzac Day Services around the World each year in GROWING numbers at Gallipoli, Villers Bretonneux and now Fromelles. Just as I have over the years, come alive to that great tragedy, and its significance, so have many others and their children and their children's children.

Truly, of those who gave their lives, it can be said::

                                   'THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE"

*1962/63 "WOULD ROLL ON WET GRASS"' = H.M.A.S. WAGGA

H.M.A.S. WAGGA in 1943
the gun was removed for R.A.N.R. purposes.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, H.M.A.S. WAGGA was assigned to the Royal Australian Naval Reserve for training purposes.I have already recounted how we worked to make her properly ready for our use. 

60 of these 1,025 Tons Corvettes were built in Australia during World War II, 5 were lost during the War.They had a normal crew of 85 and they had a Maximum Speed of 15 Knots.It was said of them that they "would roll on wet grass".

After we had WAGGA ready for service,   plans were made for  her first two week Training Cruise   . This took us North to Brisbane and a little beyond. It proved largely uneventful, except that on the approach to Moreton Bay we saw the Whaling Fleet in action. This activity ceased in 1962 so that tends to date the Cruise to some extent. 

Aerial view of part of Moreton Bay

On a subsequent occasion we took WAGGA on a rather more memorable Cruise to Tasmania,more precisely to Launceston. Several factors made the Cruise memorable. First was the adverse weather on the way South. A gale blew up when we were well on our way, it was quite powerful and caused our dear old WAGGA to commence "pile driving", that is to say, her Bow was repeatedly coming out of the water at the crest of a wave and crashing back down , sending a shudder along the length of the keel.Our  hammocks were swinging wildly and numerous of us were being seasick. I had taken the precaution of taking Dramamine which someone had recommended, but I knew that if I stayed there the stench would make me ill So I rolled out of the hammock with difficulty and struggled against the motion of the Ship out onto the Main Deck then back up the ladder to my work station in the Ship's tiny Office  and slept - as best I could on the deck curled up tight in misery.At least there was no shortage of fresh air!!

Lt.Cdr. DENOVAN RANVR
The very model of a Ship's Captain

Next morning, the Storm had passed, the wind and sea  were abating, and our crew of mostly amateurs struggled to get themselves and the Ship "shipshape and Bristol fashion ". We had an outstanding example in our Captain Lieutenant Commander Denovan R.A.N.V.R. who was a Second World War veteran and ramrod straight as he came down the steep ladders facing forward - which was no easy feat even in Harbour, let alone when the old girl was corkscrewing her way through the aftermath of a gale! But there he was, clean shaven, Uniform and Cap impeccable! We all felt scruffy, and vile - a situation not helped when the desalination plant went on the blink while many were having their showers!

When we had brief breaks  to ourselves, groups of us would gather on the quarterdeck and stare out at the Ship's wake , which at her slow speed , would tend to look slightly wobbly at times. The main noise, apart from the wind would be the occasional whirrr of the steering engine as the course was adjusted.

WILSON'S PROMONTORY

We were told that during that nightmare passage we were the only ship on the Coast. Early in the morning we rounded Wilson's Promontory the Southernmost tip of Australia (EXCEPT FOR TASMANIA!!!) and it was quite impressive. Then we headed into Port Phillip Bay and up to Williamstown where we were to take on oil. This exercise went very well, including the arrival bit which involved bringing or little ship about and docking Starboard side to, in order to simplify our departure. That was the intention in any case.

When the fuelling was  completed, we were all still in our No1 Uniforms for manning the side as we had done coming in. I happened to have my position in the line on the Starboard side in the Waist. Now, when it comes to getting away from a berth at a wharf, a Ship firstly singles up all her lines, then lets go fore and aft until she is held by what is called a Spring - a line running diagonally from the wharf to the ship. The idea is that , depending on the current, if any,  steady turns on the propeller at low speed will bring the Ship's Bow away from the Wharf and an increase in speed will send her away from the Wharf altogether. That is the theory. Well, what actually happened was that Wagga came off the wharf, and the Spring was brought aboard, but,perhaps on account of tide or some chance of the current,she came to run parallel to the wharf about half a metre away from it! This was exceedingly dangerous and risked a collision with it. Suddenly the Officer of the deck barked the Order : "OK you lot onto the wharf and push her off!"

The effect on me at least, was as if he had ordered us to drag the Sun down to Earth! It sounded ridiculous! There was some hesitation on our part....but then one , two ,three and all ten of us were up over the side and onto the Wharf and running along beside the Ship and pushing her off the Wharf . To my utter surprise she began to move away from the Wharf and then came the next order "Ok Jump back aboard!"We did not hesitate, fearing to be left behind. I have no idea how we , more especially me, managed it.Because I have never excelled at matters athletic! My Guardian Angel deserves all the credit!

The picturesque City of Launceston,  nestled in the Tamar Valley

Here we were on our way to Launceston! The often troublesome Bass Strait lay before us, but on this occasion provided no great difficulty.

We sailed up the the Tamar River and moored at Launceston for our visit. Apart  from the pleasantness of the City of Launceston, two things stay firmly in my memory,I shall mention the more formal first, in order to let you finish the paragraph with a smile. We had to attend a memorial service at at a War Memorial in a Park. Was it Anzac Day? Armistice Day? I don't recall. What I do recall is that we all sang the Navy Hymn : "Eternal Father strong to save, Whose arm doth bind the restless wave...."it is always moving...at least I find it so. But never so much as on this occasion  and particularly the lines:
 "O Holy Spirit Who didst brood ,
upon the waters dark and rude, 
Who badst its angry tumult cease 
and gave for wild confusion , Peace..
Oh Hear us when we cry to Thee 
for those in peril on the sea!"  

After our voyage down I understood what the Hymn so well recognises.

The following day some of us had invitations to lunch with Launceston families. I was the guest of Mr & Mrs Eastaugh and their children and very kind and generous hosts they were, their hospitality was splendid. However in the course of making conversation, I managed the ultimate faux pas in Tasmania and, at least in my view, I did not succeed in redeeming the situation. 

In the course of furthering a comment on some subject, while making a response to something that had been said, I came out with "Oh well, back in Australia...the air froze......"I instantly realised what I had said. That made it worse. The desperate search for a formula of words to get me out of the hole my mouth had dug. The failure to find it. Their kind attempt to cover the hurt...It still causes me pain. I would gladly meet them again if I thought I could recover the situation. But Alas! What can you say to people whose home State is occasionally left off the map! 

Really after all that , the voyage home was quite routine .It had been in several respects memorable, but I did not mind coming home. 

That was my last Cruise aboard WAGGA, though not the last time I boarded her for various routine work sessions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

*42 YEARS, THREE CHILDREN AND 7 GRANDCHILDREN LATER......

                                      THE BEST WEDDING I EVER ATTENDED

THE BEAUTIFUL,TALENTED and BELOVED
ROBYN BARBARA DIXON

On this day, 3rd February,1970 - 42 years ago - I married my dear wife Robyn. It was the best wedding I ever attended , in the great Mary Immaculate Church at Waverley N.S.W. It was a joyful Nuptial Mass, and   it was a delight to have all of our family and friends gathered with us.

I had never wanted to marry anyone else and I thank God for giving me such a wonderful,talented( See:http://hotfudge8.blogspot.com.au/) and loving wife and three  talented, beautiful and handsome children and seven truly remarkable , beautiful and handsome grandchildren. Our family has been blessed with the gift of Love and that is straight from God.

Now to celebrate as best we can!

*1960 MUSCLED ATHLETE OF THE SEA PART II- A PRIVILEGE

H.M.A.S.VOYAGER AT SPEED
EVERY INCH A MUSCLED ATHLETE OF THE SEA

At the purely human level, one of the greatest privileges in my life was to be assigned to carry out two weeks training in the Daring Class Destroyer H.M.A.S. VOYAGER.

The Daring Class represented the ultimate development of British Destroyer design up to that time. They were beautiful ships in every respect, except in the Funnel design in my humble opinion, having an odd for'ard Funnel which appeared to grow out of a lattice mast and a rather thin after Funnel. But for all that, the overall impression was one of magnificent muscled power and speed. And that was the reality.

At around 3,600Tons Full Load Displacement and 390 feet in length and 43 feet in the beam they were far from small. The main armament was 6 4.5 inch guns in twin turrets at the traditional "A","B" and "Y" positions, plus 6 Bofors 40mm Anti-Aircraft guns in three twin mounts, together with 2  5 Tube 21" Torpedo Tube Mounts and 1 Limbo Anti-Submarine Mortar. For the time that was a pretty well packed set of muscles. Though the time was fast approaching when every part of that armament would be superseded, and then made rapidly obsolete again almost every 5 years. For the present, she was as good as it gets.

Deep in her hull were two Foster Wheeler water tube boilers and the 2 English Electric Steam Turbines which generated 54,000 Horsepower and drove her along at an announced 33 Knots. No doubt the reality was several more.

The R.A.N.'s 3 Darings VOYAGER,VENDETTA and VAMPIRE were all built in Australia, VOYAGER being the first all welded ship built in Australia. She was laid down at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney Harbour on 10.10.1949 and launched 1.5.1952 by Dame Pattie Menzies, wife of Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies.

                              HMAS VOYAGER LEAVES SYDNEY FOR THE LAST TIME

                                     She was struck by HMAS MELBOURNE on the opposite(Port) side

                                           just abaft (behind) the second,higher "B"Gun Turret.

All of this magnificence was given life by 20 Officers and 300 Ratings.

The Foster Wheeler Boilers proved a continuing source of problems, and, less significantly, help me date the time of my service aboard VOYAGER. On 30th April, 1959 an explosion in one of the Boilers from a burst water tube caused severe damage necessitating ultimately the replacement of 300 sections of tubing. Repairs were carried out and she re-entered service. In March, 1960 there was another Boiler explosion with far less damage. She returned to Sydney and was refitted between June and November. It must have been during the working-up exercises after the refit that I was aboard. I clearly remember that she was coming out of refit and that our trips to sea were for test purposes.

On one particular day we received orders that safety ropes were to be rigged on the upper deck which was nevertheless to be cleared, because the ship would be working up to maximum speed at 33 knots and then stopping as quickly as possible to effect a maximum build up of steam in the Boilers. Engineers from Foster and Wheeler were aboard with equipment to monitor the test results. Away we went, sadly there was nothing to see except for those on the Bridge, but the noise of the Turbines was whining throughout the ship (though whining seems inadequate to describe a noise demonstrating such power).

Then we stopped - no Turbine noise...BUT....no explosion either. After about 20minutes, our muscled marine athlete came about and at an economical speed slowly headed back to Garden Island Dockyard in Sydney Harbour.

I was working in the ship's office under Chief Petty Officer Derek Smith. He was a really nice bloke, very manly and serious about his work. Our small office was certainly a very busy place with deadly serious business like the Sailors' pay, leave arrangements and family emergencies to attend to, as well as the Supply Officer's catering allowances per man, to be recorded and accounted for. We also had the role of preparing Warrants for the Arrest of men who went AWOL.

The Commanding Officers of H.M.A. Ships have the power to issue legally enforceable Warrants for the Arrest of members of their ships' crews. The surprising thing was that most of the sailors who jumped ship did so after widely announcing their intention to crew mates, or, in circumstances such as a wife giving birth to a baby, that made it totally obvious where they would be. Everyone knew that they would not be on the run for long before they were picked up and brought back for punishment and return to duty.

HMAS VOYAGER'S CREST

As a Chief Petty Officer, Derek Smith would periodically have to share the duty roster with other Chiefs, to go on Shore Patrol when the Ship was in port. He told me how he loathed this duty with its unpleasant and risky round of tracking down our ratings in trouble - usually in those days- due to excessive drinking, which could often lead to irrational violence as efforts were made to get them out of trouble. He was particularly anxious to avoid any drunken sailor striking the Officer of the Watch when coming back aboard, since the Officer and his attendant Ratings would be at the brow as the man was dragged or carried abroad... whilst drunkenness ashore would normally get the man on Captain's Defaulters, Striking an Officer was an absolute Court Martial offence. I have seen Officers discreetly make themselves scarce in such circumstances, not to avoid being hit, but to protect the rating from committing a Court Martial offence!

Naval Discipline was ever mindful of the lessons of the long history of the Navy. For example in some cases the Captain's Quarters and Day Cabin featured the sign "Joint Complaints will not be entertained."The memories of Mutinies were VERY long!

Of course I was not a fair dinkum crew member of VOYAGER even though technically so. But one could not fail to be proud to be in ANY sense and in ANY way, part of this mighty Team. Even the lowest I.Q. Sailor knew he was part of something SPECIAL. VOYAGER could hold her head high in any company and they were all determined to let the world know it.

The Ship's Captain was D.C. Wells.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time aboard VOYAGER and learned a great deal about the realities of daily life in the Navy and even more about what it is to be a Ship's Company- that band of men identified with their home and workplace and means of fighting and of defending themselves and their Country- it is a potent and somehow mysterious mix, but it has a very real and meaningful life.

THE LOSS OF H.M.A.S. VOYAGER AND 82 OF HER SHIP'S  COMPANY

On the morning of Tuesday 11th February, 1964, I woke and went out to pick up our copy of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD from the front verandah. As I unrolled the paper I was appalled by the Banner Headlines announcing that H.M.A.S.  VOYAGER had been sunk during the night in a collision with the Aircraft Carrier H.M.A.S. Melbourne off Jervis Bay on the South Coast of New South Wales.

DAMAGED BOW OF HMAS MELBOURNE AFTER THE COLLISION

82 of the Ship's Company had died, including VOYAGER's Captain at the time Captain Duncan Stevens.

In all her years of service, VOYAGER had never fired her guns in anger.

The aftermath of the Collision was itself a fresh tragedy in two acts. Two Royal Commissions were held into the collision. One in 1964 and a second, following allegations made by Lieutenant Commander Peter Cabban and the dogged persistence of Mr St.John QC.M.P., in 1968. The first Royal Commission had in effect tried to protect the reputation of Captain Stevens at the expense of damning Captain Robertson of MELBOURNE. It was a shameful business. The Second in 1968, despite shameful testimonies given by senior officers trying to sustain the first version, got it right. VOYAGER was in the wrong and her Captain was responsible. It transpired that he had a drinking problem which was well known in the Service.

As if the Royal Commission experiences were not enough disgrace, Australian Governments of both sides of politics, over the 45 years after the collision so disgracefully dragged their feet on meeting compensation claims from survivors of the disaster, that the last claim was not settled until 2009! Everyone associated with those delays, which surely could not have been anything but deliberate, should hang their head in shame.

LOST WITH 82 OF HER SHIP'S COMPANY
MAY THEY  REST IN PEACE

It seems to beggar belief, but on 3rd June, 1969 H.M.A.S. MELBOURNE once again ran down, and cut in two another destroyer, U.S.S. FRANK E. EVANS with the loss of 74 of EVANS ‘ Ship's Company. Although the Joint R.A.N. /U.S.N. Board of Enquiry found both ships and one Australian and Four Americans at fault, subsequent Courts Martial found the Australian NOT GUILTY and the Americans GUILTY. It became known that the Commanding Officer of the EVANS was asleep in bed during the night flying exercise at the time of the collision, and one of the Officers of the Watch had failed to pass his Officer of the Watch examination and the other was in his first posting at sea.

If anyone unfamiliar with Naval matters is reading this, they should know that during flight operations, all ships attending an Aircraft Carrier are BOUND to stay out of her way. The reason is simple: the Carrier needs to maximize the wind over her flight deck to assist aircraft taking off, and must be absolutely free to turn into the wind whenever she needs to do so. In each case, both VOYAGER and EVANS, the offending vessel's Watch “lost the tactical picture". That is to say, they became confused about their position in relation to the Carrier. In each case, by the time their true position became clear, it was too late to avoid collision, given the relatively slow reaction time of a ship to its helm.

Daring Class Destroyer keepng Plane Guard Station astern of HMAS MELBOURNE by day.

 82 and 74 men lost their lives unnecessarily, and years of pain and suffering and shame, both rightful and wrongful ensued.