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Page 3 Girl.

Our lovely Page 3 girl this edition is Janette Copeman-Vaughan.

Janette was born in Bomaderrry, which is down the south coast of NSW near Nowra. She is the only daughter of a dairy-farming family, she had two brothers, one older, one younger, both of whom mother hened her and would check out and criticize her boy-friends when she was in her mid-teens. She said she was the one for whom her parents made the rules.

After she finished High School, she left the family home and went up to Sydney and entered the nursing profession, living in a “Nurses Home” as was the norm back then while studying. She graduated in 1974. In 1975 she got the wander bug and with the nursing certificate under her arm, she left Australia for England and found work as a Nanny for a rich upper crust family. She said this was a fabulous way to earn and save money, she lived on the property, meals were provided and her only real expenses were for entertainment and travel. She had regular trips over to mainland Europe, travelling back-packer style with two other Australians and saw and experienced most things from Norway right down to Italy.

She stayed in the UK working for various families until 1979 when it was off to Canada, once again working as a Nanny. She gravitated to Ottawa, a city she loved and about which she had serious thoughts about staying. However, she had met an Englishman and in 1980 they came back to Australia to get married.

They were married and moved to Melbourne, Janette was back in the nursing profession but she wasn’t happy so started looking for a change. She thought she would like to get into the hospitality game, so she enrolled at the William Angliss College in Melbourne and graduated with a diploma in catering and hospitality. In 1988, while studying, she got some work experience at the George Hotel, AKA the Crab Cooker Hotel in North Melbourne. (It’s now called the North Melbourne Hotel). Unfortunately, her marriage didn’t work out and she divorced in 1985.

She stayed on at the George Hotel as a waitress and ended up being promoted to the position of assistant manager. In 1987, while visiting some friends in Moree she met her second husband to be. In 1988, with the wander bug still strong and looking for another life change, she moved out to Mungindi in north west NSW, onto a sheep and cattle station. The property was owned by her soon to be second husband and had been in his family for four generations. She was married again in 1989, with the ceremony taking place on the property and where the party continued on for four days.

Life on the farm was far from ideal, at times it was heaven on earth, other times it was hell on a stick – brutal and unforgiven – but she said: “I loved every minute of it!”   Both her sons were born there and they grew up with a love of the land seeing it in good times and bad. When the wool price crashed, they got out of sheep, kept the cattle and concentrated their efforts on the concept of rotation grazing which was in its infancy back then (1994). Rotation grazing was a concept of breaking each paddock up into cells, each cell being able to deliver the maximum grazing output. The idea was the stock were always going into a clean cell with max feed growth available to them. With the constant movement of stock from cell to cell, there was no requirement to apply chemicals to kill off worms and other parasites – thus the idea of chemical free grazing was born.

In 1996 “From the gate to the plate” was born and they began home delivering their chemical free beef door to door. Their first clients were in Algester (Brisbane suburb) where they started with a 17kg box of beef, called the family pack, roasts, sausages, mince, steaks, silverside etc utilising the entire beast (that was enough meat to last a household a month).  They’d get 4-5 boxes from each beast and soon discovered that people wanted to know about their business, their property and life “on the farm” so a regular newsletter was born. They’d ring around the week prior to get orders which would give them an idea on how many cattle to kill. They’d then slaughter them at a private local slaughter house, (which they eventually bought in 2003), pack the meat, refrigerate it and deliver it down to Brisbane.

As well as the cattle, Janette also raised chemical free chickens which she’d grow out to 2kg. The processing of the chickens was done on the farm and they would be sold along with the chemical free meat. She’d buy the 4 day old chicks and it would take 9 weeks to grow them out to 2.2 kg (live weight). Chickens bought in the supermarket would normally be grown in 4 weeks and would go through 40 chemical washes before they were sold. Hers were in great demand with people commenting on the fabulous taste – “just how they used to taste years ago” they’d say. She was able to sell hers for $20 per bird and she couldn’t keep up with the demand.

A very proud mum with her two boys.

In 2004, the family property was sold and the family moved to Oakey where they had their abattoir. They bought a small property in the Bunya mountains and stocked it with cattle to continue the boxed beef business. They’d truck the cattle into Oakey for slaughter. In 2006 they stopped the boxed beef business as they were venturing into other businesses – private stock kills.  At that time there was talk of the Toowoomba airport moving out to Oakey and they were looking at subdividing some of the land on which the abattoir stood for light semi-industrial use. They had the only high land in Oakey which was flood free. It all seemed like a good idea at the time.

However, things didn’t work out!

In 2014 she accepted her first full time job in 17 years, working FIFO with Easternwell Group, as a chef on a site in the Cooper Basin. Easternwell were a well servicing company and she would cook and deliver meals for the workers, sometimes late at night.  She loved it!

After a downturn in the gas industry, she went to TAFE in Toowoomba to upgrade her chef qualifications after which she looked for a full-time job in Brisbane.

She applied to Compass Group for a line chef position at Gallipoli Army Barracks in Enoggera (Brisbane), where she’s been for the past 3 years.

Gallipoli Barracks Soldiers' Mess - Enoggera.

She says working at the Mess is a challenge! “The ad reads – ‘An Army marches on its stomach’.  I had no idea of what I was about to enter into when I applied for the position of a “line chef” with Compass Group at Gallipoli Barracks? My idea of bulk cooking was a smorgasbord or wedding buffet. Wrong! I knew NOTHING! Before I got through the front gate, I was subject to “baseline” security checks, nothing high risk where I was involved but quite thorough.

What a learning curve I was about to scale.

I do the dinner shift, 1030-1900 although I have done stints on breakfast and lunch (you have to be versatile!)  The menu is cyclic (Spring/Summer etc) and is set by “someone” at head office. Our talent at interpreting said menu requires a level of “artistic license” and a sense of humour. The Army sets the portion size per person which we remind personnel of when they engage us in the reasons why they should have more and very rarely, unless they are on double rations, (usually SAS training) do they get extra. The “feeding frenzy” is usually within the first ½ hour of any meal start time. The majority of personnel are polite and friendly and occasionally they need reminding of their lack of command of the English language.

The daily paperwork covers stuff like menu compliance, food temperature monitoring, wastage and dietary requirements and these are just a few.

During my time at Gallipoli, I have completed my Food Safety Supervisor Certificate, I am a Safety Champion and I am undertaking a WH&S Certificate. Several times a year the ranks swell with personnel from USA, NZ, Canada, UK, PNG, Singapore and Nepal participating in combined Defence exercises also personnel competing in sports events, Rugby/Touch etc. I can speak “the lingo” and recognise different units by their badges. Not bad hey?

We get to do “posh” food when there are “Dining in nights” for the units or when we have visiting dignitaries. I took up the challenge of ‘feeding an army’ 3 years ago and I have fed over 1,000 personnel on my shift, it has not been easy by any stretch of the imagination and thinking on your feet is a must along with a few ladylike expletives and a good sense of humour has helped and improving my skills is a daily experience with a fine group of people. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that some days 7 0’clock just doesn’t come quick enough.

This is not my forever after job but it will make for interesting conversation when it comes to being with friends and enjoying a good bottle of red”.

114 Mechs Course RSTT Wagga - April to June. 1967.

Sorry – not all first names.

Bruce Hurrell says this was a Trade Mechanics course where they sorted the wheat from the chaff. The smart ones became general hands and us dumb buggas went to Radschool. This course taught basic electronics and mechanical stuff, filing a block of steel until it was square. Using big bastard files and a ittle xxxxx as well. It lasted three months.

Prior to going on to your “chosen” technical trade , you were required to complete the TM course to asses for which trade you could apply.

1/83 J Comms Course.

25^th July – 5^th August 1983

(Sorry – not all first names, if you can help, please do)

1/86 Tactical Technicians Course 11 - 25 June 1986

Standing L-R:   Don't know, Jenny Brandenburg,  Wendy Black,  Steve Heinrich,  Ralf ??,  "Squid",  Steve "Chuck" Kelberg,  Dave Doyle,  Greg "Lighty" Lightfoot,  Terri Connor.

Seated L-R:   Don't know,  Bill Roderick,  George Bartlett,  Steve Archey,  Tim Innes,  Bob "Cus" Cuskelly,  Brian Howlett,  Don't know,  Jeff "Morty" Morton

Can anyone help fill in the blanks?

58 Rad Mechs Course

Thanks to Graham Stevens for these 3 pics.

38 Radtech Course.

Sorry – not all first names.

RTU – Edinburgh. 1965.

6 Squadron, Amberley

1989

RAAF Tottenham.

The RAAF Base at Tottenham (Vic) was situated in Braybrook, a suburb of Melbourne. The site was compulsorily acquired by the Department of Defence on 12 March 1942 and it became the home of No 1 Stores depot (1SD). Strategic industries also located in the area in the war years were the Maribyrnong munitions plant and the explosives plant at Deer Park. The Sunshine Harvester-Massey plant, also in he area, switched from agricultural implements to a war-footing, making radar units and parts for armoured vehicles.

At its peak, 1SD was the workplace for 540 men and women. It was closed down in 1993.

The Tottenham RAAF Stores comprised a complex of large single level warehouses and other smaller service and administration buildings arranged in a grid plan to the north of the Tottenham rail yards. The larger buildings were timber framed with two rows of fabricated riveted iron columns supporting a roof of corrugated asbestos cement sheeting and with perimeter walls of red brick.

The former rail siding branched off the main line just west of Tottenham Station providing direct transport connection to the depot. The Tottenham Yards also included several roads for shunting trains. The main vehicle entrance to the Base was from Ashley Street, with a security office and gatehouse opposite the Barkley Street intersection. For many years a Vampire was displayed on an elevated support at the entrance. The buildings were generally red brick with steel truss roofs clad in fibro-cement sheeting. Some smaller amenities buildings were timber framed and clad in either fibro-cement panels or horizontal weatherboard. More modern (c1960s & 1970s) cream brick barracks and messes were built on the north west part of the site. Two Nissen/Quonset huts and a number of small timber 'N' or 'P' type timber barracks buildings were also located in this area.

Today the main stores buildings are generally intact, apart from building no. 44 which has been mostly rebuilt. The rest has gone. The old Base has important historical associations with other Air Force facilities such as Laverton and Point Cook and assists in understanding the function and complex interdependence of the numerous defence and munitions supply facilities. The buildings have architectural interest as distinctive examples of functional Commonwealth Department of Works design, adapted to the particular use, in this case storage and inventory control of a vast range of military supplies and equipment. The place has local social significance as a major employer in the district following the Second World War.  

The Women’s living quarters, Tottenham.

With the absorption of the WRAAF into the RAAF in 1977, the function of training female recruits was transferred to Women's Training Unit (WTU) at Tottenham from where it was later transferred to Laverton. In January 1981 WTU was disbanded and the responsibility of training both male and female recruits was done at 1RTU at Edinburgh.

Click HERE to see some photos of the old Base.

No. 11 Supply management course, Jul – Aug 1983.

Cranking up the Lincoln.

3 turning – lucky so far!!

We were sent this – but we don’t know where or when it was??

Butterworth.

RAAF Sabre Advisory Flight, (RSAF) 1969.

L-R:   Jan Murray,  Sandra and Alf Smith,  Scott and Yvonne Stratford,  Betty and Hugh Worner,  Not sure,  Tony Murray,  Jim Ray

The RSAF was sent to Butterworth to advise the Malaysian Air Force on how to operate the recently donated RAAF Sabres.

67 Rookies, Laverton.  1 June 1949 – 24 August, 1949.

Gerry Laws

Gerry Laws says:  50 Years ago on 22 April 1968, I enlisted at RAAF Recruiting Centre, Pirie Street, Adelaide. I remember swearing the Oath late in the morning and being bused to RAAF Edinburgh. All a bit of a blur from then on but it was the usual rush that we weren’t used to. Short haircut – like most opted for a crewie.

I was on Recruit Course #927 from 24 April to 15 July 1968. It was then off to 2AD for Safety Equipment trade training, then MNTESL, 11SQN, 75SQN, ARDU, 492SQN, ARDU, ACMFO (Sinai), 5SQN, AMTDU, and HQLC. Many parachutes later, I retired on 30 June 1993 giving me 25 years, plus a bit, of sheer enjoyment.

Very proud to have served my country with unforgettable friends and memories

113 Clerk Supply Course. (1977)

Debra Craig-Chuff sent us this pic.

Rear L-R:   Carol ?,  Don’t know,  Sara Parker,  Don’t know,  Debra Craig,  Pat Delff?

Front L-R.   Doreen Cole.  Julie ?,  Simon ?,  Sgt Derek Maas,  Michelle ?,  Nina ?

Debra apologizes to those whose names that have escaped her. She says her memory isn't what it used to be.  If you can help, please do.

916 Rookies (29 Feb 1968 – 20 May 1968)

Defence Comms.

Glenn Rhodes,   Peter Fraser ,  Daniel Button  Alan Moore,  Sarah Graham,  Phil Carter,

Brian Goodwin,  Michael Mildren, and (down the front) Don’t know.

205 WRAAF Rookies.

The above girls were on 205 Rookies at Edinburgh, March 1972.

Sorry gents – can’t help you with names/phone numbers…..

Jan Brigg.

Rookies 1969

260A WRAAF Rookies.

260B WRAAF Rookies.

Some Neppies, somewhere, sometime ago.

Gordon Charlton tells us that the pic above was taken of RAAF Townsville, in the mid 1960s, before cyclone Althea, the igloo hangar in the background disappeared then.  The 10 SQN radio workshop is in the centre foreground,  the officers mess is to the right.

The timing was between the paint job updates between blue to grey.