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Makan – No. 26
Official Organ of 2/30th. Bn. A.I.F. Assn. Dear Dig, Big McNiven came in to see me last month with his wife and bundle of forked lightning about two years old named Earl. The baby will probably be a footballer like his daddy because he insists on running all the time whist roaring at the top of his voice. Mac and his wife run a makan shop in Bangalow a few miles from Byron Bay, and judging by the length of their holiday must be making lots of dollars. They motored to Brisbane stopping here and there on the way, spent a couple of weeks there and then came to Sydney for a few days an route to Wollongong. Mac is still playing football but we don't think he will ever kick another goal like the winning effort he kicked at Batu Pahat when he made Don Coy. run second to A Coy. Most of my friends consider that Don Coy. football team always fluked their wins anyway. Padre Walsh has been running around Queensland like a real Greyhound and has now a parish at Barcaldine in the Central West of Queensland. He keeps reasonable health but writes that Padre Dolan, now of Rockhampton alternates between dysentery and malaria with an occasional heart turn for good measure. “Two Finger" Mick Cutler who injured his knee whilst playing football in April is still having a bad time. A piece of bone was chipped from his knee cap and the nerve which controls the movement of his foot from the ankle was paralysed and resulted in a "dropped foot." He now wears a toe spring on his shoe and although back at work for the Tramways Department, is on "Light Duties." The amount of work Mick would do as "Light Duties" would force an invalid into hospital from lack of exercise because as you know Mck is not exactly a piece of dynamic energy. Before the accident his record number of fare collections was seven for one trip and that was on a crowded tram on the Ryde line, a hour's trip. Jack McGee is in Yaralla after a long spell of indifferent health. A few months ago he toured around and saw Stan Coultas in Stockinbingal, Jack North at West Wyalong, Norm Allen in Cooma, and in Brisbane just missed Leo Murphy who also is in bad health. Recent new members are Sid Kirschler of Forbes, Jackie Pope of Sydney, and Arnold Ainsworth of Kempsey. Sid and Jack are both fit and we have no knowledge of their late doings. Arnold has a dry cleaning business in Kempsey and a bouncing daughter a few months old. He is a keen supporter of the local R.S.L. which held its annual smoko on the same night as we held ours, so he was with us that night in part. Steve Kirton of Lismore has two babies already and as a sideline is a bricklayer, one of the C.R.T.S. boys. He lives quite close to Ron Montford who is doing well in the carpentering business. The new babies for our boys just won't stop. Don Sutherland of Bowen is running around like a broody hen and getting into fights with the locals as to the merits of the Tressilian or Truby King method of bringing up babies. His new daughter tipped the scale at 8½ lbs. Ron Ollie has a new daughter, a little red head like himself, and Hank Massey has bobbed with a 10½lb. daughter. Don't mention to these two that you know of their good fortune because you will miss the last train home while you have your ears bashed about the remarkable likeness of the children of their father. (we heard that Hank's baby has bow legs.) Now that Christmas spending is over there might be plenty of you young married couples who would like to pick up on a few extra pounds. Bill Clayton requires lots of female labour to do bookbinding in his printing business. No experience at all is required to do this job. Bill said that anybody could do it quite successfully and said that even I could perhaps learn the job so you can see how simple these jobs are. Conditions are very good and if any of you young wives are cooped up as so many of you are in one room all day, it might be a good opportunity for you to keep yourself busy and augment the family coffers in preparation for the slashing big homes we all hope to own one day. Thank you for your generous gifts to Billy Loh, the account has been closed now, we forwarded our cheque to the right quarter where it will be added to donations from other associations. The Council of the Eighth Division of which the Association is a member has been doing a mighty job for ex British P.O.W's from Malaya. They have already sent 1,000 food parcels away with 500 more to follow and they hope to continue the flow of parcels away while the need is there. Each parcel contains food to the value of 10/- and by approaching the shipping companies the parcels have been shipped practically free of all freight charges. The Council deserves a big pat on the back for this wonderful effort. The unit history will be completed, the printers tell us by March, the galley proofs are now being checked and they have promised us an uninterrupted Job until the final books are printed. Orders for the history have been vary large and we are now circularising all next of kin of deceased members. If you have not ordered your copy you are advised to order immediately. You may have as many copies as you wish but as we have only ordered 500 copies it will be a case of first in first out. Many of the boys have ordered an extra copy to be sent to next of kin of their dead mate and others have paid a few extra shillings towards a copy for any next of kin the Committee wishes to nominate. On January 15th at 1.30 the Association will lay a wreath on the Cenotaph in remembrance of our Fallen Comrades. It is a very simple ceremony. We assemble on the G.P.O. steps in front of the Cenotaph and then lay the wreath at 1.30. If you are handy to Martin Place on that day make a special effort to come along. We are in the process of changing our address now so that we may answer your letters more quickly. Don't worry if you have sent mail to our old address because it mill be sent on to us. Now as from 1st January the yearly subscriptions of 5/- fall due. You know how important it is that we receive this money because as it is, our annual expenses are not even covered by the 5/-. Send your subs along as soon as you receive this Makan and if you wish to save yourself the trouble again you may send in 10/- or 15/- or more to cover yourself for two or three years. We hope that nobody has heard of the dastardly trick used by Arch "Mouthpiece" Thorburn to snare Miss Margaret Bartley of Mosman. He saw this lass at a party some months ago and decided at once that she was the girl for him. He checked on her Police records, private income, and family connections and the result being favourable began to press his suit. Naturally she cold shouldered the brute but he tricked her in the end. Knowing that all girls are fond of jewellery he arranged to meet her one night to sell her three strings of blackmarket Japanese pearls at the reasonable price of 30/-. She rose to the bait and was met at the rendezvous by Arch with two witnesses and it meant either gaol or an engagement. She chose the harder course and Arch announced the engagement immediately. Margaret's father spent 30 years in Malaya pre-war and in 1939 was President of the Municipality of Singapore. It was he who received the City of Singapore at the official handing over ceremony by Lord Louis Mountbatten after the war. Arch is so much in the clouds now that he recently made the mistake in court of prosecuting ore of the jury and attempting to call the judge as a witness. One of our lads has a block of land to sell. It is a big block at Putney quite handy to a bus route, it might be the right block for one of you land hungry lads. Bruce Greer is selling it for this lad and you may ring Bruce at LM 4643 or after hours LM 4625. No reasonable offer will be refused. In February, some Friday night yet to be decided upon, the Association has decided to invite all next of kin of deceased members to have a cup of tea with us at Sargents or the Blue Tea Rooms at about 7.30 p.m. until 9 p.m. It will allow some of these unfortunate peoole to have a few words or to mingle with the friends of their deceased sons and they are looking forward to it very much. It will take very little effort on our part and we would like all those who can to come along. Sign the attached form and despatch it to us at once so that we will know approximately how many to cater for. It will probably cost members about three bob each. On receipt of your notification we will decide upon a date and let you know full arrangments. Try and come along if you possibly can. Here are some addresses of the lads with a little point here and there to halp you to remember each person. Names in themselves are a hazy guide after a few years: W.B. Eather - Wal is a tall lean fellow very easy going and nowadays very forgetful. His greatest claim to fame is that he was fitted in three hours with a new set of false tenth at Darwin on the way home. He was a Sgt. in C. Coy. R.W. Eaton - Ron has such a strong physique that at Four Feeds Camp in Thailand when he was punched by a Nip it was the Nip who rocked instead of Ron. He is a Shipping Clerk in private life. Was a Lt. at Bn. H.Q. during the show. J.J. Elphick - A solidly built chap with heavy black eyebrows. Works in a bank in Sydney and was a member of the Band. W. Ennis - Bill is as lean as a crow. He played a good game of soccer. He was a Sgt. in. C. Coy. and is now an accountant. G.W. Evans - Porky is now back to his Batu Pahat weight of 17 stone. He had the largest beer swallow in the unit. He was a L/Cpl in A. Coy., is now a mercer with his own business. W.C. Evans - Wilf is a typical sheep farmer. He was a Transport Driver during the war. The President and Committee of the Association wish you all a very happy and a very prosperous New Year. CHEERIO, STAN ARNEIL.
P.S. Send in your 5/- subs. and make all cheques and postal notes payable to 2/30 Bn. A.I.F. Association and Forward to Hon. Treasurer, 21 Military Road, Neutral Bay.
To The Secretary, I will be present at the "get-together" for next of kin on the Friday night decided upon in February. Signed.................................................................. Address................................................................ Back to 1949 index or Main Index |