Australian National Servicemen
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.
We were very pleased to welcome Tristan to Brisbane in early May, 2011. He was very appreciative of the Chalkies who were available to be interviewed by him. A special thanks to those who made the journey to Ocean View…
Earlier this year, Terry (pictured) submitted an article to this blog site and it was printed along with a wide range of other pieces about PNG. What was interesting were the comments that came back to the site. One in…
Andrew Dalziel (1971-72) The Military Cadet School (MCS) in Lae was established in the 1960’s as the initial officer training school for PNG officer cadets. Cadets entered the school having either successfully completed Year 10 at high school or having…
I have been delighted to have met up with Tristan Moss in Canberra, recently. Tristan is a PhD student at the Australian National University who is researching the experiences of Australian soldiers in PNG in the lead up to independence…
Phil Adam (1969-70) The smell! What a shock it was to jump down from the back of the RAAF Hercules to be met by the heat and the unmistakable smell of rotting vegetation. Greg Ivey and I had finally arrived…
We assembled again at Ocean View for our annual get together. As well as the social part of the night, it was the occasion of the launch of our visual record of our service in PNG. (More on that later.)…
Ian Ogston (1970/71) The Chalkie experience at Goldie River was different. ‘Goldie’ was the Papua New Guinea Training Depot, to give it its full name. It was known universally as ‘Goldie’ because of its location on the floodplain of the…
Norm Hunter (1967-68) It’s 42 years since I arrived in Port Moresby in June 1967 as a Sergeant in the Royal Australian Army Education Corps. I’d completed three months of recruit training and three months of infantry training. On the…
Exactly forty years ago, I was based at the PNG Training Depot at Goldie River as a Chalkie – a National Serviceman with the rank of Temporary Sergeant in the Royal Australian Army Educational Corps. Looking back now, I can…
I initially went to PNG for the Australian National University to develop a program which would allow people to develop entrepreneurial skills. PNG was mainly a subsistence economy. With this system, you can never gain capital and therefore not be able…
Frank Cordingley’s experience in PNG Jun 67 – Nov 68 I was in the 7th national service intake in February 1967, having turned 20 the previous October. I had been teaching junior maths and science for one year at Clermont…