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Back to 1950 index or Main Index Makan
- No. 46 Official Organ of 2/30th. Bn. A.I.F. Assn, Patron: Brig. F.G. Galleghan, D.S.O., O.B.E., E.D. Dear Dig, We have lots of good news this month with babies descending thick and fast to brighten the hours of some of our members. Unfortunately, we have some bad news too. Ernie Ross, your old friend of A Coy. has been admitted to the Chest Ward at Yaralla and, as is usual with our chaps will probably remain their for some time. This is a bad blow for Ernie, who has married a wife and bought a farm for himself since we returned. Farms won’t produce without labour and you can sympathise with Ernie for the predicament in which he now finds himself. He would be happy to see any of his former friends at Yaralla and we do hope that his stay there is much shorter than he anticipates. All members of the Association will join with the C.O., President and Executive in extending they sympathy to Snowy Stevens, whose only son, 13 years old, was accidentally killed during July. Doug Blanshard has also had a spell at Yaralla recently. It was the final breakdown of a cartilage which he injured at Singapore one day when he took the quickest way down from a coconut tree – just jumped. The cartilage has now been entirely removed from his knee and he hopes to be as fit as ever once the period of convalescence is over. Andy Noble is smiling now that he has become the father of a brace of the most wonderful twins (Christine and Elizabeth) that he (Andy) has ever seen. They are so easy to manage now, that Andy is never more than two hours late at the office and never walks the floor for more than half the night. Sid Grounds is another of our proud fathers, although he pretends to be quite calm about the whole business. The baby is a true blue Thirtieth child as her mother was the sister of Arthur English, our five eighth football star who died in Malaya. In this case, “complications” (I think that’s the word) occurred and Sid’s wife and baby Anne were quite ill for a few weeks. However, both are home now and we hope that things will go swimmingly for them all from now on. When this Makan was written, we had had no news of the progress of our 3/- a day claim, but we are all hoping that justice will prevail and that our claim will be recognised. Whatever the outcome, we should know the result very soon. I was rather shocked some time ago when I met at the Repat. Dept. for the first time since our return, one of our old friends. He was a nerve case and in a rather bad way. Almost 99% of our Unit, as far as we know, suffered no nervous ailments as a result of our war service. It came as a shock then to see one who had previously been a very sensible and reliable soldier reduced to a shaking bundle of nerves. Stan Grainger recently underwent an operation at Sydney Hospital and is now recuperating at his people’s place at Singleton. Alf Harding, our racehorse authority of A Coy., has been having his share of ups and downs since we returned. He has had many little spells in Yaralla Hospital and is shortly to enter there once again to have his toenails removed. Alf’s mother is our backstop – she does not ever ask him to send his subs. along, she sends them along herself. Wally Barnes, Don Coy., writes from Newcastle that he saw Ray Duncombe driving a bus there. We have not heard from Ray for a long time. Wally tells us that Tommy Williamson has not been sighted in the inn at Belmont for some time. We do not know just what to make of this at all. You remember, after the war, that Tommy, ‘tis said, had a good job leading the blind pit pony in the mine. After some months of that he realised that the horse had the better of the two jobs and he changed over and took the pony’s place in the shafts. We thought that he was quite settled in that job, even though he did growl a little about the poor quality of the blinkers which he had to wear. It is now apparent that he has transferred to some easier job. Folks are hard to please aren’t they? Harry Law is now married and has gone into a mixed business of his own. Bill Jones is still with the A.B.C. at Newcastle. He still suffers from his dysentery bouts. Don Garner, our immaculate Lieut., is now one of our Lifers and; as such, has ended his annual subscription troubles. Congratulations are in order for Bruce Upcroft, who has at last used his brains and taken unto himself a wife. The newly weds are living in Tasmania, where Bruce sleeps in one of the branches of the Bank, which, as an act of Charity, allows him to remain on its payroll. It has been very cold in the Southern state and Bruce would prefer to be back in Sydney, but the change of climate, among other things, has made a marked improvement in his health. There are lots of 2/40th chaps living in Tasmania and Bruce is constantly meeting old acquaintances from the dark days. He was recently best man to Lloyd Phillips of Div. Sigs. Lloyd camped with us at Batu Pahat. That Dick Newman is a lazy fellow. He won’t put a pen to paper these days and insists that his wife write all his correspondence. In case you are not aware, Dick was married in 1948 and has now a little daughter of 8 months. Since his marriage, Dick has been managing a property at St. George and his health has been excellent. Egerton (we always know him as Whitey) Wightman just won’t stop smiling lately and he has every reason. In the first place he is to be congratulated on his recent wedding and, secondly, on the stupendous luck which came his way and enabled him to shift straight into a home of his own. The last is a real break for a married couple these days and we are pleased to hear of somebody starting off on the right foot. Ege is still working for the Live Stock Dept. at the Gippsland and Northern Co-op. and writes that Roy Patterson has just been made General Manager of the Dept. We would also like to congratulate Whitey on finding a wife who writes his letters. Jack Brooks of A. Coy., is not enjoying the same standard of health as most of those who found that pressure of business kept them from enlisting during the last war. He is trying to avoid a spell in Yaralla because, among other things, such an enforced holiday usually means a loss of portion of ones income and it is also a long way from Goulburn, where Jack is living at the moment. Bill Middleton of Taree is a very welcome member to the Assoc. He was given a jolt about joining from Fred Abbotts and is now a keen member. Bill has little to growl about and has been keeping in fairly good health. Another one of your friends to join the Assoc. is Mick Lovell, the Armoury Sergeant. Mick wrote a page to us and told us exactly NOTHING about himself but, as he is looking forward to the next Re-union, we will extract some news from him and relay it to you. We extend our congratulations to Stewart Blow and his wife on the birth of their second child, a daughter, (Susan Margaret). Stewart’s wife was another who suffered “complications”, but we are pleased to hear that both mother, baby and father are now doing well. We must report this month and congratulate Mother Duffy and Gogo Lloyd on recent promotions in their army rank. The big fellow is now a Lieut. Col., whilst Gogo is a Major. We have not yet seen Col. Duffy at any of our Reunions or Anzac Day Marches. Circumstances have always found him in another State. However, this year he hopes to be present at our November get-together and we look forward to meeting him once again. Gogo, of course, never misses a “do”. He is in excellent health, has been lucky enough to establish a small family, but he is still a little restless and recently changed his employer. That sounds good doesn’t it “changing one’s employer”, a little different from pre-war times. Cheerio, STAN ARNEIL. Please address all cheques, money orders or postal notes to Reg. Ellis, 13 Albany Street, St. Leonard's. Back to 1950 index or Main Index |