Total Recall
With the reunion of the Royal Australian Photographic Branch coming up in October 2008. I thought I'd troll back through the ages and put down a few details for prosperity, before I loose the capacity of recall.
I'll start with 1972.
I kicked off this year as my third year at Urrbrae Agricultural High School. I wasn't having much fun at school, either socially or academically so I decided to bale out and have a go at getting a job.
I ended up working for a few months as a plasters labourer for my sister in laws brother. Needless to say , it was bloody hard work keeping three plasterers fed with mud and plaster. When the work died down, they let me go.
I ended up getting a job at Miller Andersons department store in the maintenance department. This job consisted of changing light globes and cleaning air con filters and a bit of this and that. It wasn't a bad job and there was a lot of pretty young girls in various departments that made the day easier to get thru.
Towards the end of that year I made the decision to join the merchant navy as a deck hand.
I trundled down Pirie Street and applied. I didn't have much luck, as 15yr olds weren't accepted as deckhands but I could join the merchant officer ranks as a junior mid shipman. I took 5 seconds to figure out that wasn't going to wash.
The Navy
Anyway, the R.A.N recuiting shop was a couple of doors down, so I stuck my head in the door and basically signed on with the Navy.
I guess that would have been October 1972.
I went through the physical and all the testing, and was accepted for JRTE training at HMAS Leeuwin over in Western Australia.
January 9th 1973 saw me on the tarmac at Perth airport with a plane load of other South Aussies who had committed themselves. We were bused out to the base at Fremantle, and there began our 1 year stint of training and indoctrination. I personally relished the life from the word go. There was discipline and order. If you played up, you payed out by doing "Chooks".
I have known some of the guys that got this form of punishment, actually liked it...crazy buggers.
There were various components to doing chooks, including scullery galley at first light and after the last meal of the day. There was extra parade ground drill, cleaning duties and if I remember well, you had to double pace everywhere you went.
I tried to stay out of trouble, and managed quite well.
left-One of Four photos taken of the Marks Division
I'll start with 1972.
I kicked off this year as my third year at Urrbrae Agricultural High School. I wasn't having much fun at school, either socially or academically so I decided to bale out and have a go at getting a job.
I ended up working for a few months as a plasters labourer for my sister in laws brother. Needless to say , it was bloody hard work keeping three plasterers fed with mud and plaster. When the work died down, they let me go.
I ended up getting a job at Miller Andersons department store in the maintenance department. This job consisted of changing light globes and cleaning air con filters and a bit of this and that. It wasn't a bad job and there was a lot of pretty young girls in various departments that made the day easier to get thru.
Towards the end of that year I made the decision to join the merchant navy as a deck hand.
I trundled down Pirie Street and applied. I didn't have much luck, as 15yr olds weren't accepted as deckhands but I could join the merchant officer ranks as a junior mid shipman. I took 5 seconds to figure out that wasn't going to wash.
The Navy
Anyway, the R.A.N recuiting shop was a couple of doors down, so I stuck my head in the door and basically signed on with the Navy.
I guess that would have been October 1972.
I went through the physical and all the testing, and was accepted for JRTE training at HMAS Leeuwin over in Western Australia.
January 9th 1973 saw me on the tarmac at Perth airport with a plane load of other South Aussies who had committed themselves. We were bused out to the base at Fremantle, and there began our 1 year stint of training and indoctrination. I personally relished the life from the word go. There was discipline and order. If you played up, you payed out by doing "Chooks".
I have known some of the guys that got this form of punishment, actually liked it...crazy buggers.
There were various components to doing chooks, including scullery galley at first light and after the last meal of the day. There was extra parade ground drill, cleaning duties and if I remember well, you had to double pace everywhere you went.
I tried to stay out of trouble, and managed quite well.
left-One of Four photos taken of the Marks Division
We were the mighty 42nd Marks Division, our counterparts were Morrow Division, and they had their quarters next to ours. Our divisional building was older than Morrows but it scrubbed up well and was more open in space thru the corridors and better lit with natural light.
Our daily routine consisted of breakfast at 6am then mustering on the parade ground in platoons for the daily news from the commander, then a march by platoons to the class room blocks at the far edge of the establishment for academic study.
At 3 pm we marched back to the Divvy block and prepared for the tea at 5pm. After tea was when the fun began. Every night we had an inspection by the officer of the watch. I think this was at 7 or 8 pm. This involved scrubbing every thing to within an inch of its life. We also had to have our beds and lockers perfectly stored and presented. They even had photos of what it should look like.
As time passed, we all moved up the ladder from "New Grubs", then "Grubs" to "Dogs" and finally, "Top Dogs".
Over the year, we learnt all the facets of Navy life and history, including boat work, sailing, swimming, physical or PE, Marching drill and gunnery, Rifle marksmenship, Camping, Seamanship training and navigation as well as Maths, Physics, English etc.
Our off base leave was a little restrictive at first, but got more lenient as the year progressed.
Fremantle was a nice little city to wander around and Perth was magnificent. Most of the guys got a sponsor for the weekend leave. They were usually, tried and true families that had taken on recruits, year after year. I happened to get an ex Royal Navy Commander who happened to be a personal friend of our illustrious Divisional Commander Lt Roberts. The sponsors name was Tony (last name forgotten) and he was into hand guns and Black belt Karate. I've still got bruises.
I should mention the divisional staff as well. They were a good bunch. Other than Lieutenant Roberts, we had CPOMTP Clarke (Nice guy, but quiet) POAVN Kev Whiting(see below) and an ABWM Elder(don't remember much of him).
Now Kev Whiting aka 'Fox' was the perfect candidate for placement in a junior recruit establishment. It was like being in a 'scouts' troop. He lived and breathed pussers life and had an easy going personality with all the guys, kind of making him, one of the guys.
Our daily routine consisted of breakfast at 6am then mustering on the parade ground in platoons for the daily news from the commander, then a march by platoons to the class room blocks at the far edge of the establishment for academic study.
At 3 pm we marched back to the Divvy block and prepared for the tea at 5pm. After tea was when the fun began. Every night we had an inspection by the officer of the watch. I think this was at 7 or 8 pm. This involved scrubbing every thing to within an inch of its life. We also had to have our beds and lockers perfectly stored and presented. They even had photos of what it should look like.
As time passed, we all moved up the ladder from "New Grubs", then "Grubs" to "Dogs" and finally, "Top Dogs".
Over the year, we learnt all the facets of Navy life and history, including boat work, sailing, swimming, physical or PE, Marching drill and gunnery, Rifle marksmenship, Camping, Seamanship training and navigation as well as Maths, Physics, English etc.
Our off base leave was a little restrictive at first, but got more lenient as the year progressed.
Fremantle was a nice little city to wander around and Perth was magnificent. Most of the guys got a sponsor for the weekend leave. They were usually, tried and true families that had taken on recruits, year after year. I happened to get an ex Royal Navy Commander who happened to be a personal friend of our illustrious Divisional Commander Lt Roberts. The sponsors name was Tony (last name forgotten) and he was into hand guns and Black belt Karate. I've still got bruises.
I should mention the divisional staff as well. They were a good bunch. Other than Lieutenant Roberts, we had CPOMTP Clarke (Nice guy, but quiet) POAVN Kev Whiting(see below) and an ABWM Elder(don't remember much of him).
Now Kev Whiting aka 'Fox' was the perfect candidate for placement in a junior recruit establishment. It was like being in a 'scouts' troop. He lived and breathed pussers life and had an easy going personality with all the guys, kind of making him, one of the guys.
Everything we did as a division, whether it was sports day or 'going bush' was made more enjoyable by his infectious spirit of being one big family and having confidence in what we did. Anyway, that's how I saw it. I don't think I would have enjoyed my time as much if he hadn't been there. He later transferred with us to NAS Nowra and took up his handler job again.
I should mention that both Kev and his wife were stationed at Darwin base prior to Leeuwin, and, as it happened, he became good mates with my oldest brother David, who lived in Darwin at for about ten years.
Kev knew who I was as soon as I arrived. Whether it made any difference the end of the day, I'll never know.
That year over....
Anyway, sadly that era came to a close as we approached the pass out date. We were all assigned our fields and bases, after interviews and tests and finally made our way out into the real navy. We passed out in December of 73 with our Navy forced savings in hand. After living on $12 a fortnight we were millionaires.
We had a good break back home in Adelaide, prior to our next posting. I was set to become an Air technical Weapons sailor at NAS Nowra "HMAS Albatross", but a funny thing happened on the way.
Whilst I was on leave I got a little bit over the limit and was wandering down Coromandel Parade at 3 in the morning and had a run in with a Volkswagen Beetle. I woke up in Royal Adelaide hospital in a sorry and sore state. I had been stuck in the back and had a huge wound and lots of bruises and a heap of stishes in my head to boot. I spent 4 weeks at Royal Adelaide then transfered to the Repat for 6 weeks to recuperate. I met a few army guys in there that had a perverse sense of humor and bidded my time with my sister sneaking the odd slab of beer down, which went over well with the pongo's.
Finally, the day came for the Navy to figure out what to do with me. For a while, they stuck me down at HMAS Encounter, to work in the Chiefs mess helping out with cleaning etc. I didn't stay long before I posted out and made my way to Nowra.
It would have been March 74 when I arrived. I managed to get a billet and meet up with mates from LEEUWIN, who had already started their training. I had to wait for a few months before I could get the next ATW course and in the mean time was posted at the Print shop with POPRT Eric Little. I believe he was the only Printer left in the navy, and he had the job of printing all the training notes for the various courses.
It was a good stint and a bit of McHales Navy to boot.
That year over....
Anyway, sadly that era came to a close as we approached the pass out date. We were all assigned our fields and bases, after interviews and tests and finally made our way out into the real navy. We passed out in December of 73 with our Navy forced savings in hand. After living on $12 a fortnight we were millionaires.
We had a good break back home in Adelaide, prior to our next posting. I was set to become an Air technical Weapons sailor at NAS Nowra "HMAS Albatross", but a funny thing happened on the way.
Whilst I was on leave I got a little bit over the limit and was wandering down Coromandel Parade at 3 in the morning and had a run in with a Volkswagen Beetle. I woke up in Royal Adelaide hospital in a sorry and sore state. I had been stuck in the back and had a huge wound and lots of bruises and a heap of stishes in my head to boot. I spent 4 weeks at Royal Adelaide then transfered to the Repat for 6 weeks to recuperate. I met a few army guys in there that had a perverse sense of humor and bidded my time with my sister sneaking the odd slab of beer down, which went over well with the pongo's.
Finally, the day came for the Navy to figure out what to do with me. For a while, they stuck me down at HMAS Encounter, to work in the Chiefs mess helping out with cleaning etc. I didn't stay long before I posted out and made my way to Nowra.
It would have been March 74 when I arrived. I managed to get a billet and meet up with mates from LEEUWIN, who had already started their training. I had to wait for a few months before I could get the next ATW course and in the mean time was posted at the Print shop with POPRT Eric Little. I believe he was the only Printer left in the navy, and he had the job of printing all the training notes for the various courses.
It was a good stint and a bit of McHales Navy to boot.
left The Printshop Crew
ABATW Michael Huxtable, ABAVN Tony Denton, ABPHOT Rob Kenning & POPRT Eric Little
The Phots
I had a choice at that point, whether to do my planned course or select another branch. I ended up selecting the Photography branch. I'd always liked photography and believed I could do well at it.
I believe the course was either 3 or 6 months, our instructor was the venerable CPOPHOT Mal Wilson. Anyone who knew Mal Wilson can imagine the fun we had doing the course.
I'm racking my brains trying to work out who was on the course with me so I won't even try. Hopefully, I can piece it together at the reunion.
Anyway, we all began work at the PHOT shop. "Taffy" Hughes was our CO and CPOPHOT Ron Batchelor the chief, then we had POPHOT Dick Briggs, LSPHOT Noel Levy, ABPHOTS inc Bob Farrel, Knobby Hall, Don Hogarth, Fish Whiting, Russ Cox, Ron Berkout, Lawry Cohen, Paul Humphries, Pete Curtis and Fred Tyler.
Others that passed through were POPHOT Charlie Lammers(fresh from a stint with the Commonwealth Police),LSPHOT Blue Goodson, Pete Simpson, Wayne Bell, Steve Coats, LSPHOT Steve "Tripod" Dent, John "Morgs" Morgan and finally Lt Bob Maughan.
All of the above, were a top crew to be with and work for. I wish I had been in the branch earlier to meet some of the former guys and if I'd stayed in, I would have had the chance to meet some of the younger generation. Hopefully, we get a good turnout at the reunion.
I had a choice at that point, whether to do my planned course or select another branch. I ended up selecting the Photography branch. I'd always liked photography and believed I could do well at it.
I believe the course was either 3 or 6 months, our instructor was the venerable CPOPHOT Mal Wilson. Anyone who knew Mal Wilson can imagine the fun we had doing the course.
I'm racking my brains trying to work out who was on the course with me so I won't even try. Hopefully, I can piece it together at the reunion.
Anyway, we all began work at the PHOT shop. "Taffy" Hughes was our CO and CPOPHOT Ron Batchelor the chief, then we had POPHOT Dick Briggs, LSPHOT Noel Levy, ABPHOTS inc Bob Farrel, Knobby Hall, Don Hogarth, Fish Whiting, Russ Cox, Ron Berkout, Lawry Cohen, Paul Humphries, Pete Curtis and Fred Tyler.
Others that passed through were POPHOT Charlie Lammers(fresh from a stint with the Commonwealth Police),LSPHOT Blue Goodson, Pete Simpson, Wayne Bell, Steve Coats, LSPHOT Steve "Tripod" Dent, John "Morgs" Morgan and finally Lt Bob Maughan.
All of the above, were a top crew to be with and work for. I wish I had been in the branch earlier to meet some of the former guys and if I'd stayed in, I would have had the chance to meet some of the younger generation. Hopefully, we get a good turnout at the reunion.
above-Some of the Phot shop crew
ABPHOTs Ron Berkhout, Rob Kenning, Steve"Nobby" Hall(deceased) and Russ "ucker" Cox
The work we did was interesting and varied. I guess some of it would be considered ritualistic, like Wednedays IDs and Mugshots, the press packs and divisional group photos.
We all had a chance to do our own thing and increase our skills, while at the same time having a lot of fun and laughs.
The Big Trip
In 1977 I had a posting to the Melbourne, to take part in the Spithead review in the UK.
The phot crew comprised of myself, ABPHOT Gary"Fish"Whiting, ABPHOT John?"Stores" Storey, Lt Taffy Hughes, CPOPHOT Doug Pryke, POPHOT Mick Pasfield, ABPHOT Pete Curtis, ABPHOT Don Hogarth and ABPHOT John Morgan.
We all had a chance to do our own thing and increase our skills, while at the same time having a lot of fun and laughs.
The Big Trip
In 1977 I had a posting to the Melbourne, to take part in the Spithead review in the UK.
The phot crew comprised of myself, ABPHOT Gary"Fish"Whiting, ABPHOT John?"Stores" Storey, Lt Taffy Hughes, CPOPHOT Doug Pryke, POPHOT Mick Pasfield, ABPHOT Pete Curtis, ABPHOT Don Hogarth and ABPHOT John Morgan.
The trip left in April 77 for Freo then onto Colombo, Crete, Gibraltar and Portsmouth. We arrived on June 13 and lined up with the rest of the ships on the 28th June. I had a great time over in the UK meeting family and spending a weekend up in Wales at a beach side town.
The trip over was trial as there was heaps of flying, rough seas, heaps of hot weather and lots of watch keeping, chipping paint and trying to fill in the hours between action. We were all assigned a branch to photograph for the up coming cruise book. I had the stokers department, which I enjoyed immensly.
I got to see parts of the old melbourne only dock workers would visit and a chance to meet up with blokes that must have been moles in their previous lives working in the darkest depths of the double plates. It was a trip I'll never forget for the rest of my life.
After that, I posted back to Nowra and with my 4 and a half years up, I put in my 18 months notice. During that time I ended up back at the printery for awhile and had a place in Worrigee street, sharing with a couple of birdies. At that stage I had Valiant Charger that was painted black. Anyway, there was a birdie who also had the same shape and color car and used to perform burn outs on peoples front lawns...guess who used to get pulled over by the cops all the time. The cops used to check under my wheel wells for tell tale grass and mud.
Left-Thats me with ABMTP Peter'Doris'Day on board HMAS Melbourne 1977
The trip over was trial as there was heaps of flying, rough seas, heaps of hot weather and lots of watch keeping, chipping paint and trying to fill in the hours between action. We were all assigned a branch to photograph for the up coming cruise book. I had the stokers department, which I enjoyed immensly.
I got to see parts of the old melbourne only dock workers would visit and a chance to meet up with blokes that must have been moles in their previous lives working in the darkest depths of the double plates. It was a trip I'll never forget for the rest of my life.After that, I posted back to Nowra and with my 4 and a half years up, I put in my 18 months notice. During that time I ended up back at the printery for awhile and had a place in Worrigee street, sharing with a couple of birdies. At that stage I had Valiant Charger that was painted black. Anyway, there was a birdie who also had the same shape and color car and used to perform burn outs on peoples front lawns...guess who used to get pulled over by the cops all the time. The cops used to check under my wheel wells for tell tale grass and mud.
Left-Thats me with ABMTP Peter'Doris'Day on board HMAS Melbourne 1977
Besides that, Nowra was a nice little town to live in. Beautiful country side, Sydney just up the road and lots of coast line to enjoy.
I'll always wonder whether leaving was the right thing to do. Those I left behind went on to bigger things, and sadly a couple passed away. It was one of those turning points in your life that you ponder.
Civvy Life
It took a while to get used to civvy life. I began by living back home with Mum and Dad then got a job at my Dads factory'Brownbuilts" as an outside assembler putting up racking and shelving, that led onto a job at Murray Bridge Meatworks where I had a job running the boilers and getting my Boiler Attendants ticket. The engineer was ex navy Engineering, so he looked after me pretty well. I plugged on there for a year and then went back to Brownbuilts for a couple of months. It was while I was there that we had a job of installing the medical records department with "Compactus" systems that I wandered over to the boiler house and introduced myself to the maintenance mob. I asked if there were any jobs on offer in the boiler house and they all but kidnapped me and held me hostage when they found out I had a boiler ticket.
Well, it was back to Adelaide, put in notice and head back up to the Alice to begin work as a shift Boiler attendant. The conditions and money where great and the accomodation...the nurses home, no less. Three floors of nurses and only three guys in the building.
Moving on...I curried the favours of a small petite redhead, who baked muffins for me and delivered them in person, to the boiler house during my afternoon shifts. I married her. She was a gem in the shifting sands and I couldn't let her get covered in the sands of time...sounds corny...I'm sorry.
Anyway, we managed some accomodation off base and eventually got a placing on the housing list for a two bedroom flat in nicker cresent. Brand new buildings in a new area, with reasonable rent.
I'll always wonder whether leaving was the right thing to do. Those I left behind went on to bigger things, and sadly a couple passed away. It was one of those turning points in your life that you ponder.
Civvy Life
It took a while to get used to civvy life. I began by living back home with Mum and Dad then got a job at my Dads factory'Brownbuilts" as an outside assembler putting up racking and shelving, that led onto a job at Murray Bridge Meatworks where I had a job running the boilers and getting my Boiler Attendants ticket. The engineer was ex navy Engineering, so he looked after me pretty well. I plugged on there for a year and then went back to Brownbuilts for a couple of months. It was while I was there that we had a job of installing the medical records department with "Compactus" systems that I wandered over to the boiler house and introduced myself to the maintenance mob. I asked if there were any jobs on offer in the boiler house and they all but kidnapped me and held me hostage when they found out I had a boiler ticket.
Well, it was back to Adelaide, put in notice and head back up to the Alice to begin work as a shift Boiler attendant. The conditions and money where great and the accomodation...the nurses home, no less. Three floors of nurses and only three guys in the building.
Moving on...I curried the favours of a small petite redhead, who baked muffins for me and delivered them in person, to the boiler house during my afternoon shifts. I married her. She was a gem in the shifting sands and I couldn't let her get covered in the sands of time...sounds corny...I'm sorry.
Anyway, we managed some accomodation off base and eventually got a placing on the housing list for a two bedroom flat in nicker cresent. Brand new buildings in a new area, with reasonable rent.
left-My once only climb up Ayers Rock
We stayed in the Alice for six years and had our son, Justin. Life in the Alice was great. I took up archery and spent my spare time on the range getting some exersize. We had a great circle of friends.
We both worked shift up there, so consequently, didn't see much of each other unless our shifts coincided. This was not good.
Back South...
We reached another one of those turning points in life, where we made a decision to head back south. In hindsight, it was a bad move.
We came back to Adelaide and I began working for my older brother as a petrol pump fitter. Jen scored a job at Blackwood District Hospital(for 16 years) before moving to the Repat(seven years now).
above-One of our trips to Adelaide on the old south road.
My work with my brother lasted a year. I took another job at Hills Industries working a blow moulder, making those pump up weedspay units. That job lasted a year before my brother asked me to go back with him. I plugged away at that, working with my nephew, and then one of my younger brothers mates asked me to work for him. He ran a Heat Treatment company that hardened steels as well as other processes. It was an interesting job and there was a lot to learn.
I spent 8 years in Heat Treatment before the time came for a change. I managed to get a job with Mitsubishi Motors. They were having a big recruitment drive and needed 500 workers. I ended up down at Lonsdale engine plant and spent 6 years working happily away at Casting, engine assembly and finally Risk Assessment Safety Officer. I met and made a lot of friends and we had a good time.
Towards the end of my time at Mitsubishi, the media reports were getting monotonous about our demise, and sure enough, the mud stuck and the factory closed.
I could have transferred to another factory, but I took the decision to part ways and start again. Besides, the payout would pay off my car and house, so it was a good decision. The rest is history, with blacksmithing my main concern. I hope not to come across any more turning points too soon. There is a million stories between the lines, all the way through this epic. I may revisit it in time and fill in the spaces. Hope you enjoy the trip.
I spent 8 years in Heat Treatment before the time came for a change. I managed to get a job with Mitsubishi Motors. They were having a big recruitment drive and needed 500 workers. I ended up down at Lonsdale engine plant and spent 6 years working happily away at Casting, engine assembly and finally Risk Assessment Safety Officer. I met and made a lot of friends and we had a good time.
Towards the end of my time at Mitsubishi, the media reports were getting monotonous about our demise, and sure enough, the mud stuck and the factory closed.
I could have transferred to another factory, but I took the decision to part ways and start again. Besides, the payout would pay off my car and house, so it was a good decision. The rest is history, with blacksmithing my main concern. I hope not to come across any more turning points too soon. There is a million stories between the lines, all the way through this epic. I may revisit it in time and fill in the spaces. Hope you enjoy the trip.
posted by Rob Kenning @ 3:03 PM
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