Privacy Policy  |  Editorial Policy  |  Profit Policy  |  Join the Association  |  List of Members  |  Contact us  |  Index  |  Links  

Merchandise    |    Print this page

Back     Go to page:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20     Forward

The People I meet.

Just the other day I was having a leisurely lunch with some friends at one of Brisbane’s better restaurants, the Jade Buddha.

The Jade Buddha is right on the Brisbane River and apart from being offered delicious food, diners can enjoy the wonderful uninterrupted views from the Story Bridge right around to South Bank. Couldn’t be better.

My friends and I were just chatting away, enjoying ourselves when, unbeknown to me, the Radtechitis emanating from my person had wafted across the river and had been noticed by two lovely young ladies who were hard at work at Kangaroo Point. Unable to help themselves the Radtechitis immediately took hold of their sub-conscious selves and they were immediately drawn to my person. They downed tools and running full pelt, leapt into the river and swam across to the restaurant, ran upstairs, dripping wet and with an offer of a vase of flowers, they draped themselves on my person in a vain attempt to capture some of that elusive Radtechitis.

Such is the cross Radtechs have to bear!!

7^th Brigade Open day.

On Saturday, the 23th April 2016, the 7th Brigade from Gallipoli Barracks in Brisbane held an Open Day at the 7th Brigade Park in Chermside. With the current security situation at all ADF Bases, it was easier to bring the mountain to Mohammad than to allow thousands of people onto the Base at Enoggera so the Army moved heaps of their exciting machinery, along with heaps of “Volunteers” onto the park and made everything available for people to climb all over and to ask heaps of “interesting” questions.

People turned up in the droves from all over Brisbane and none were disappointed. There were displays and demonstrations of Army’s wide range of equipment including armoured vehicles, artillery, engineers, infantry, helicopters, logistics, medical, unmanned aerial vehicles and military working dogs. Some of the Army’s “Volunteers” performed fire-and-movement displays with (of course) blank ammunition and kept the crowd entertained. The RAAF also provided a low level (300ft) C-17 fly past.

The Open Day commemorated 101 years of service by the 7^th Brigade as Brisbane’s brigade and the equipment on display represented the cutting edge of a modern defence force. The Army Band provided popular music and there was the usual food and drink on sale by local vendors as well as rides and face-painting for children provided by the Defence Community Organisation.

The 7th Brigade is a multi-role combat brigade of the Australian Army and currently consists of the following units:

·       2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry)

·       1st Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery

·       2nd Combat Engineer Regiment

·       7th Combat Signal Regiment

·       6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

·       8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

·       7th Combat Service Support Battalion

The 7th Brigade was first raised in 1915 as part of the First Australian Imperial Force and saw action at Gallipoli and on the Western Front during World War I. Following the end of the war the brigade was disbanded before being re-raised in 1921 as part of the Citizens Force (later known as the Militia). During World War II the brigade took part in the fighting against the Japanese in New Guinea and on Bougainville.

Today, the 7th Brigade is part of the 1st Division and is based at Gallipoli Barracks in Brisbane. While the Brigade has not deployed as a whole unit since World War II, component units have deployed on operations to Timor-Leste (East Timor), Solomon Islands, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the Australian Army’s ‘Ready’ element and may be tasked to deploy key combat and support assets at short notice on combat, peace-enforcement, peacekeeping or humanitarian missions anywhere in the world.

The event also saw the RSL Queensland Branch handover a 12-seater bus for use by the Soldier Recovery Centre (Brisbane) for the benefit of soldiers recovering from wounds and injuries and going through rehabilitation.

The Open Day was held in 7th Brigade Park Chermside near the Kidspace playground.

The park, which covers nearly 185 acres, boasts one of the northside's largest fort-like playgrounds (known as Kidspace), which is an enormous, solid fort-like structure that provides endless opportunities for kids to climb, hang, slide, crawl, swing, and even hide! It incorporates a Fairy Tower and Rocket Control Tower - certain to fuel every child's imagination.

The park was originally known at Sparkes’ Paddock and was used by the Army during World war 1 as an encampment and remount depot for the Light Horse and other military units. Between the Wars, Spares’ Paddock remained a militia training ground for the AMF.

Requisitioned by the Army in August 1940 after the outbreak of World war 2, it became the Chermside Army Camp. It was opened on the 7^th October 1940 and the first units to train there were the Australian 7^th Brigade, a Queensland militia formation. In 1942, the 7^th Brigade helped inflict the first land defeat suffered by the Japanese in World War 2 at Milne Bay in PNG. In 1961, Brisbane City Council acquired the land from the Australian Government for a park and open space purpose. It became known as the Hamilton Road Reserve and renamed as the 7^th Brigade park in 1996.

An Avenue of Honour was dedicated by the Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman on the 22^nd April, 2009.

Djinnang Get-together/AGM

On Saturday 28^th May, 140-plus blokes and blokettes walked up Stephens’ Lane to Brisbane’s Public Services Club which now trades as Club Central.

The Club (or State Service Club as it was originally known) was first established on the 9^th March 1964 and was officially opened by the Premier the Honourable Frank Nicklin on 5 January 1966 with the Licensing Commission approving a Liquor License on the 7th February 1966. The Club at the time had over 450 members. By the 30^th June that year the Club had over 600 members.

In 1994, the State Service Club moved to its current location at the Old Printery Building in William Street. In an endeavour to expand its membership base, the State Service Club name was changed to the Public Service Club. In September 2010, the Public Service Club launched ‘Club Central’ as its new trading name to further expand its membership base and increase patronage. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014.

There is a rumour that the Club will close its doors at the end of 2016.

Below are photos of those that attended the Djinnang get together/AGM in 2016. The pics have been crunched to allow quicker opening, you can get the HD version by clicking each pic.  All names left to right.

Some faces in the crowd.

At 3.00pm, Gavin Smith, the President, closed the bar and opened the Associations’ AGM. All committee positions were declared vacant and Ernie Gimm chaired the meeting as the temporary President. He called for nominations for all positions.

Gavin Smith was re-elected President un-opposed.

Deb Tape decided to step down as Secretary and not seek re-election. Nominations were called and Gail McDermott was elected. Other positions filled were, David Tape (Treasurer), Brian Webb (Committee and Publications), Alyn Hawkes (Committee) and Yolanda Lever (Committee).

Group Photos.

Back     Go to page:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20     Forward

Back to top