Official Organ of the 2/30th Bn. A.I.F. Assn

COMMITTEE

Dear Dig,

We have heard that Ossie Jackson is in the best of health and is a very proud father, his little son being now more than 12 months of age. He has a flourishing business at Binna Burra on the main road outside Lismore.

Fred Arnett of Mooball is still managing his carrying business even though his eyes are a great handicap to him.

Ron Gibbs of Narrabri West is making money on the land. You remember Ron, he was injured at Bathurst and left us before we sailed.

Terry O'Rourke is living in a Housing Commission house at Griffith after many years of temporary accommodation. He likes Griffith and lives within a couple of hundred yards of Billy Brown - Sergeant from Don. Coy. Bill Hodge, ex bandsman is Terry's Grocer, also just around the corner. We owe our congratulations to Terry and his wife who last year were, blessed with a new baby son, making a little girl and boy in the family.

Hilton McLaren made the best move of his life when he married. Hilton is still fishing near Yamba and is making a good living.

Tommy Bicknell is very pleased with a new daughter whom he and his wife have called Lynda.

Lofty Ferry of "B" Coy holds down a very steady job with Dunlop Rubber Co. and after work sinks down a few steady beers at the Royal Sheaf Hotel, Burwood, with Don Garner (Lt). It was with the greatest of pleasure that we recently renewed our acquaintance with Don Garner (Sgt) ex "B" Coy. Don is an invalid in some respects as his stomach has been absolutely ruined from nervous strain, over work, and probably over drinking. He is even swarthier than of yore and is as lean as a Thailand yak. He and his wife are now publicans of no mean order and their policy is to buy a run down pub, work very hard and turn the hotel into a worthwhile proposition. I should imagine that Don is very able at this type of rehabilitation, but after living in the country since the war, he is now looking for a pub within a reasonable distance of Sydney. We hope that he settles down fairly close.

Alan Prentice of Walgett, late of the 29th Bn. is doing very well on the land. As a reinforcement of our Unit., Allan was unlucky not to have come directly to us, but he is very well known and very well liked by all of our chaps who were with him in the Great World. We hope that the next time he comes to town he will make it his business to contact us.

Bill Middleton of Taree has been badgered by his wife ever since he neglected to obtain a copy of the "Greyhounds." It is unfortunate that we did not have more copies printed, but at the time we circularised over 1,500 people and the response was not good. We realise now that it was just the usual Australian method of saying leave it until next week, but even with the number of copies we had when we had the "Greyhounds" printed, we had to take a gamble and temporarily strained our finances to the limit.

Les Melrose is now living at Matraville. This home is only partially built but he hopes to have it completed within two years. Les has a little boy 18 months old.

Latest life member is Ray Ferry of Enfield. We have not seen much of Ray over the last two or three years but now that he is on the mailing list we hope to see him at all our functions.

Bill Evans has given the bush away for good and is working, believe it or not, at the King Edward Dogs' Home.  Bill has been very sick over the last 12 months and for a tine was in Concord Hospital. However, he cannot afford to waste time in hospital or anywhere else at he has a family of two girls and four boys to keep and he tells us that, like their father, they are very fond of the MAKAN; apparently they eat their heads off. Bill is now living at Merrylands. We hope that good fortune falls into his lap from now on.

We read in the local paper at Kogarah that the St. George Cricket Association has erected 24 concrete seats in Scarborough Park, Kogarah, in memory of members killed during the war. Each seat has an inscribed name plate and we notice that our old friend Arthur English has been remembered by the Association. The clipping from the paper was by courtesy of Arthur Overett.

We received a most welcome letter some months ago from Noel Hampton of Ballina enclosing a cheque for £9/15/- for subscriptions collected at an Ex-servicemen's dinner on the far North Coast. It was a marvellous effort; and we are really grateful for his effort and, of course, we are pleased with the response from our friends who elected to pay their subs in such a fashion.

The Anzac Day March was an exceptionally good one for our Unit this year. We mustered over 140 men, including several well known characters such as Darkie Ryan and Izzy Berman. There were new faces as usual and some old ones were missing but the weather was perfect and most of them made a real day of it. It was a real pleasure for many of our people, particularly those who worked in the Great World, to renew acquaintance with Rex Mason, Harry Archdale and Captain Kemp, all of the 29th. These three are held in high esteem by those of us who worked with them and by all accounts the hospitality extended to them was thick and heavy. They came from Melbourne for the March and a return visit by some of our chaps in the future would be probably just as successful. We were lead this year by the Black Gentleman, as usual, with Col. Ramsay and Major Johnston in support. The banner was carried by no less a personality than Gobble Gobble Dawson himself and a fine job he made of it. There is one thing which would have caused a little strife but actually made for some amusement, if not for us, then perhaps for the spectators. It was the presence of two bands, one fore and one aft. The for was a reasonable band and we took our step from them, but the fiercely enthusiastic schoolboys drum band which was aft always managed to come in half a beat behind the fore and consequently those in the rear ranks skipped from the Mitchell Library to the Domain.

ANNUAL BALL

This will be your last notification of the Ball which will be held at the Coronet Restaurant, near Wynyard Station, George Street, on June 6th. We know that many of you are not quite certain of the friends you intend to bring along and for this reason you have not reserved with Johnny Parsons but we request that you ring him today at BW4401 and give him the approximate size of your party. Unless you do this, it will be chaos on the night trying to settle everybody in to place. If you cannot raise a party of your own do not be deterred from coming along because we can fit you in nicely and will give you a written guarantee that you will have a grand time. Don’t forget the time and the date and as we must finish at 1 a.m. you are asked to COME EARLY – THIS ISN’T A BALL IT’S JUST A FAMILY PARTY.

We received a very nice letter from Father Paddy Walsh, who is now stationed at St. Nicholas Presbytery, Koongal, Queensland. We cannot do better than to given you an extract from his letter as follows:

I am very pleased to get the monthly letter and to hear of the doings of the boys. Some of them I can remember quite well, others are just a memory. But I would like them to know that I rejoice with them in their fortunes and sympathise with them in all their sorrows. On June 16th of  this year I am celebrating my Silver Jubilee. You know, of course that means I have been ordained 25 year. I would like to send everyone an individual invitation but I'm afraid there are too many. In your next monthly letter would you send them all an invitation from me. I know they can't be here but I would like them to know that I did think of them..." What a pity that Koongal is not closer to Sydney. If it were within a reasonable distance then it is safe to say that in some respects Paddy's Jubilee would look like a Unit reunion. Anyway, although we cannot be present, we said our congratulations to him on this important event in his life and hope that many of us are alive to wish him well on the Golden Jubilee of his ordination.

Cheerio,

STAN ARNEIL

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