Australian National Servicemen
This is a story that spans more than 40 years, crosses international borders, and the barriers of race, colour, and creed. It’s a story of hardship and friendship, tinged with some sadness…but one that could now be heading towards an…
by Russell Jenkin (1967-68) ‘Should Papua New Guinea become the seventh State of Australia?’ This was a major essay question that I chose to answer, approximately two months after I had arrived as a Sergeant in the Education Section of…
LIEUTENANT COLONEL ROGER JONES (Assistant Director of Army Education, PNG 1967 – 1969) I believe the scheme originated about 1965 and was promoted and developed very rapidly not long before the first National Service Chalkies appeared in PNG in late…
To paraphrase Spike Milligan, I was dragged kicking and screaming from under my bed in January 1969 and drafted into the Army. From the outset I was very keen to avoid the immorality (and danger) of the Vietnam War. I…
Greg, Many thanks for your prompt reply. I enjoyed scrolling through the Network’s Website yesterday. The day before, I had returned home from presenting a Remembrance Day address at a local school and on a whim, I decided to Google-search,…
TO: Ian, Terry, the Organising Team, and all the Attendees at the Great ‘CHALKIE REUNION’ at the Kedron-Wavell RSL in Chermside on the 6th October 2012 FROM: Roger Jones, formerly ADAE PNG Command, Murray Barracks, Port Moresby, 1967-69 While I…
by Rod Cassidy “In the late 60s one Matthias Yaliwan convinced his 60,000 followers that wealth and goods would come to the people if the trigonometric marker on top of Mt. Turu near Yangoru was removed: game would return to…
PATROL INTO THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS OF NEW GUINEA 18 APRIL – 31 MAY 1970 Sgt Greg Smith ‘Didiman’ (ie Agriculture Instructor) Education Corps 2 PIR, Wewak (1969/70) We stood on the banks of the mighty Sepik River and gazed at…
By Ian Ogston This article is a reproduction of an article originally published in our first Armi Wantoks journal (Vol 1 2007) Death’s grim shroud hung over us like the dull grey fog of a winter’s morning. The finality of…
by John Hain 1971-72 The National Service adventure began with the arrival of one’s call up documents. I was called up into the first intake of 1971 which was designated as 1 An article on how the National Service scheme…
Denis Jenkins 1971 From my piles of letters sent home (and preserved by my parents) I have come across the names of most of our Ed crew at Murray Barracks in 1971. Bob Daniel, John Dark, Ed Diery, Graeme Edgerton,…
Terry Edwinsmith As some of you may know, I had the good fortune to go to PNG for several days from the 18th to 21st October 2007. An opportunity arose in my capacity as a Director of Queensland Teachers’ Credit…
Terry Edwinsmith The dreaded marble in the first call up came to me in 1965 whilst I was at college but I deferred to 7th intake after completing KGTT College and 12 months teacher placement (at Milton SS). This new…
Hello Terry, My father served in PNG in RAAF Beaufighter 30 Sqn in World War II, so it was a bit of a coincidence that I was posted to Port Moresby as a RAAEC T-Sgt during my period of National…
by Boddington, Richard (Sgt), Murray Barracks, Port Moresby 1971-1972 My memory is a tad vague on some aspects of my Chalkie history while others are as clear as yesterday. So I do not remember exactly when I received my call-up…
Ken Morcom 1967-68 After 44 years the hardest part of this exercise is to remember details but here goes…. I turned 20 while attending Western Teachers’ College in Adelaide and my call-up was deferred until the February of the next…
19th April to 29th May 1970 by Sgt. Boyd Robertson, 2PIR MOEM Barracks The platoon of twenty nine, including one Pacific Islands officer, two sergeants, two assault pioneers, two signalers, one medic and twenty one infantry soldiers departed by Caribou…
John Retallick (1968-69) After a stint of teaching in a small school in NSW, I entered National Service in January 1966 and arrived at 1 RTB Kapooka as a raw and nervous recruit. In a few weeks I was lucky…
(As told by Dan himself at the Kenmore Tavern – March 2012) Dan Winkel was a Warrant Officer Class 2 at Murray Barracks from 1966 to 1969. Q. Dan, you have come through in many of the stories of the…
A poem written by Sgt. Ian Ogston as a recruit while at Singleton Recruit Training Centre Drab rows of spartan huts Sprawled in military order Across the harsh, rounded Hunter hills. The dry summer heat shimmered the wheat-brown grassland. New…
Lindy Horton As a 21 year old bride, I waited with much anticipation to the start of married life as the wife of a National Serviceman in Taurama Barracks in Papua New Guinea. It took five weeks for the ‘call…
John Morris (1970/71) PREAMBLE Like many Australians, I understood that as a result of our country’s participation in the Vietnam War, there was a National Service ballot conducted a number of times each year. I hadn’t given this matter much…
by Frank Cordingley I have great pleasure in writing this article to launch the new ‘Chalkies’ website At our annual get together in October 2011, discussion centred around how we could make the existence of our group visible to…
In many ways this has been a successful year for our informal group. New contacts have been made and this has added to the richness of our understanding of the PNG experience. As well, we have set off on another…
Sgt Terry Edwinsmith One of the most important tasks of the Australian Army in the 1960s -1970s was to assist the development of the Pacific Islands Regiments in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea and help guide the military…
Most of you will know by now that three of our number, Terry Edwinsmith, Norm Hunter and Kev Horton visited PNG in August. All went well and all three arrived home after a very special experience. We will hear more…
Chalkies reunited John Morris and I (Ian Ogston) were posted to the PNG Training Depot at Goldie River in 1970-71. At the time we were the only unmarried Chalkies at Goldie and as a consequence, spent a very large amount…
The photo on this page is of massive importance to those interested in the history of the Chalkies scheme. This is the only photo we have of Brigadier Ian Murray Hunter with Chalkies. All are Queensland Chalkies and in our…
An Extract The following article was kept by Greg Ivey from his time in Townsville prior to being sent to PNG… The information was provided to the newspaper by the Minister for the Army at the time, Phillip Lynch. Note…
Chalkies again turned up in numbers to support the PNG Ex-Servicemen’s Association (PIB/NGIB/HQ/PIR) at the Brisbane ANZAC Day march. The following are a number of photos of the marchers provided by Richard Boddington and Kev Horton of the parade.