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Out in the shed with Ted.

Welcome to Kedron-Wavell Services Club. Located in the vibrant Chermside precinct, only 15 minutes north of Brisbane’s CBD, the Club is Brisbane’s award winning, premier function, entertainment and leisure destination.

With a cosmopolitan atmosphere and elegant features, Kedron-Wavell Services Club is the perfect place to meet your family and friends… or meet new friends! We’re easy to find and offer free off-street parking for members and guests.

Click the pic above to go to the Club's web site

Contents.

Afghanistan - Deja Vu.

All scrubbed up.

Bingo!

Butterworth recognition.

Chinooks.

Help is on its way.

Knives and forks are racist?

Pension rates.

Shooting stars explained.

Uniforms - 50 years ago.

Waxing?

Why is there a coloured dot on my toothpaste tube?

Women's liberation?

Pension Rates.

The following pension rates are effective from the 21 September 2021.

The Carer Allowance, for caring for someone over 16 years of age, is unchanged at $131.90 per fortnight. This amount is reviewed on the 31st December each year.

Why is there a coloured block on my toothpaste tube?

There’s a curious little detail on your toothpaste tube, a coloured block right at the seam at the bottom of the tube. Given that it’s truly just a small, coloured square, does it serve any real purpose?

Well, yes it does!

Those coloured blocks on the bottom end of your tooth paste tube are for the manufacturers and the colour and location can vary. They can be red, black, green, or blue, and they might be located in the centre of the tube or on the side, but they always sit over the sealed seam at the end.

Thanks to the colour variety, you might be inclined to think the blocks are related to ingredients, or even toothpaste flavours, but the explanation is simpler than that. These coloured squares tell light sensors at the factory where the end of the tube is. When the square is recognized, a machine cuts and seals the tube exactly where needed.  And this isn’t limited to toothpaste. Check out any other products that come in tubes in your bathroom or kitchen and you’ll see that they have these blocks as well.

But tubes of toothpaste, sun-screen and other stuff aren’t the only items that use little marks on their packaging. At the base of your bag of chips you’ve probably seen a few multi-coloured circles. Like the toothpaste blocks, these aren’t related to the food itself, but they’re for the printers. They ensure that the correct colours are being used for each brand.

So, next time you go to brush your teeth or grab a snack, you’ll know why those funny little details are there.

Women’s Lib.

Being a male, we live in and enjoy a very different world from the one in which women live.

Sadly!

Most of us who are in our 70s, were brought up in a world that was very different to the one in which we live today. Today is not perfect, far from it, but it’s a lot better than it was.

In some areas, Australia is still a little bit chauvinist – but things are improving. Prior to the 1960’s, women were expected to stay at home and look after their “husbands”, to cook, to wash and iron, to look after the kids, they couldn’t borrow money without their husband’s consent, they had to work for 75% of a man’s wage, couldn’t have a drink in a public bar and single mums were expected to give up their babies.

Back then, if a woman had a troubled childbirth and wished to U/S the workings, she couldn’t do so without written permission from her husband. She had no control over her body! For a woman, owning or even driving a car was a privilege.  Women’s jobs back then were menial, were mostly boring and were always managed by men. In a lot of cases, they had to resign if/when they got married. The ADF being a classic example. Women were never considered for managerial positions. In general, they never drove trains or buses or trucks or heaven forbid, flew commercial aeroplanes. The aim in life of most women back then was “to find a husband”.

Being a woman would not have been a picnic and sadly, a lot would have been sorry they were born female and not male. In Australia, fortunately, that has now changed, but it is not the case in a lot of other countries where women are still considered and treated as inferior to men.

Today, thanks to a few dedicated Australian women who 50 or 60 years ago decided it was time for a change and who fought the good fight, conditions now are a lot better, not perfect, but a lot better. Today’s young women are confident. They consider themselves equal to men, they travel alone, own homes in their own name, hold down top-level managerial positions, are represented in many professions, play any sport they chose and in a lot of situations are the main bread winner in many households.

In Australia, although today’s young women know they’re equal, unfortunately, there are still a lot of men who don’t – but in the main, these men are elderly, cannot or will not change their way of thinking but thankfully they are rapidly becoming irrelevant. The vast majority of young men now treat women as equals. As mates. Today there is nothing to stop a woman having the same hopes and ambitions as her male counterpart.

And that’s good!

Some time back the ABC produced a wonderful documentary on the changes in the attitude towards women in Australia. You can see it below

Believe it or not!

This finger-lickin' lunacy has no limits.

A recent edition of the “You couldn’t make this up” magazine comes from Toronto, Canada, where a food writer has declared that eating with a knife and fork is racist. What most of us would simply consider to be good manners is apparently ‘dripping with the control and shame of colonialism’.

Joshna Maharaj (right) says children should be taught to eat with their hands. ‘European table manners were imposed on conquered peoples in an attempt to civilise them.’

Chef Joshna Maharaj said the practice of teaching children that they shouldn't use their hands at the table is 'dripping with the control and shame of colonisation'. This culture wars nonsense inevitably crosses the Atlantic, like the Black Lives Matters madness, so it can only be a matter of time before we are all forced to eat with our fingers, or at least the ethnically appropriate utensils.

Using a knife and fork will probably be considered a hate crime. Now that everything’s ‘racist’ there’s no limit to this finger-lickin’ lunacy.

Shooting Stars.

Ever laid on your back, in a quiet area away from artificial light and just looked up at the beautiful night sky? It’s an amazing experience, it makes you realise man’s insignificance in the overall scheme of things.

What you can see is just a fraction of what is out there. When you look up you can see thousands of brilliant, sharp points of light (stars), the shining beacons in the vast, dark emptiness of space, but what you see with your eyes is only a slim fraction of all the matter in the universe. There is much, much more to the cosmos than meets the eye.

Almost all the stars you see in the night sky are within a bubble a mere 100 light-years across, compared to the 100,000 light-year diameter of our Milky Way galaxy and the Milky Way is just one of an unmeasurable number of galaxies.

Laying on your back and looking up at night , you will almost always see ‘shooting stars” – objects which look like they are flying across the night sky when in actual fact they are falling down to earth. But who knows what these objects are and where do they come from?

Well, wonder no more, see HERE.

Chinooks.

In July 2021, the Australian Defence Force received the first two of four new CH-47F Chinook helicopters from the US. This model has about twice the range of the old models. This arrival came approximately three months after the foreign military sale was approved in the US.

The two helicopters are expected to arrive in Australia in mid-2022.  With this, Australia’s current fleet of Chinook helicopters will grow from ten to 14.

Australia Defence Minister Peter Dutton said: “The additional helicopters will strengthen army’s airlift capability into the future and increase the ADF’s ability to support operations globally. “The Chinook is Defence’s largest helicopter, with a long and proven track record of supporting ADF operations in Australia, our near region and further afield.”

In March, the Australian Department of Defence announced an $89m CH-47F Chinook support contract extension with Boeing Defence Australia. Australia’s defence industry will continue to make an additional $52m (A$69.5m) investment into the Australian economy over the next 20 years to continue increasing the Chinook fleet.

The CH-47 Chinook is a twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift advanced multi-mission helicopter. It is designed to conduct troop movement, artillery positioning and battlefield resupply missions. From 2006 to 2013, the Australian Army’s Chinooks served as key lift and troop transport capability on operations in Afghanistan.

The total estimated cost of the 4 new aircraft and the associated equipment is $259m.  The sale package will include four CH-47F cargo helicopters, eight T55-GA-714A aircraft turbine engines, five AN/AAR-57 common missile warning systems, embedded global positioning systems (GPS) or inertial navigation systems (INS/EGI) +429, and two EAGLE+429 embedded GPS/INS/EGI. Mission equipment, communication and navigation equipment, spare parts and components, special tools, test equipment, publications and technical manuals will also be included in the sale.

Scrubbed up!

Yours truly, widely known and revered as the second best Radtech the RAAF has ever known, was accordingly invited to a “Black and White” long table dinner.

As you can see, I scrubbed up really well and of course my presence helped make the night a success.  If you have an event you need brightening up – I’m available!

Butterworth.

August 2021 is the 55^th anniversary of a very important military event for Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and the UK armed forces.

The Peace Agreement and Cease Fire documents were signed in Jakarta, Indonesia., by the representatives from both nations; Tun Abdul Razak for Malaysia and Adam Malik for Indonesia to officially announce the cessation of hostilities. These four years of undeclared war caused the loss of 26 Australian military personnel, who died on Operational Service between 24 December, 1962 and 11 August, 1966.

In 1960, the Malayan Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, proposed the unification of the Federation of Malaya and the British colonies of Singapore, Brunei, North Borneo (later renamed Sabah) and Sarawak into a single nation to be called Malaysia. The proposal was supported by referenda in the colonies and had the support of the British government as it was in accordance with their policies of military withdrawal from the Far East and decolonisation. The decision was confirmed in 1962 and initially the Indonesian Foreign Minister supported the proposal in the United Nations.

A revolt in Brunei in October 1962 was put down by British forces but the Sultan of Brunei withdrew from the proposal. The President of Indonesia, Dr Sukarno, then declared that Malaysia was simply the continuation of British imperialism and launched a campaign of military, economic and political aggression to crush Malaysia.

In 1965, Singapore was faced with race riots and withdrew from the Federation, becoming an independent republic. Singapore and Brunei remained allies of Malaysia against Indonesian aggression. (A few Australians were deployed to Brunei to support the British operation to defeat the revolt. These were mainly logistics personnel from the Australian force headquarters in Singapore. No casualties were suffered by this Australian contingent.) During 1963, Indonesian military action gradually increased. Malaysia rapidly increased its defence forces to meet the threat and British forces in Malaysia and Singapore were reinforced by redeploying forces from Hong Kong, Britain and Germany. Malaysia also sought assistance from Australia and New Zealand.

New Zealand quickly committed an infantry battalion – 1RNZIR, based in Malacca – which undertook two tours in Sarawak. The Australian Government for a number of reasons was initially reluctant to provide assistance, but in late 1963 agreed to provide limited military assistance in the form of 111 Light Anti Aircraft Battery (111 LAA Bty RAA) to assist in the defence of the RAAF base at Butterworth, engineers to build roads in Sabah and naval small ships to assist in protective patrols in coastal waters.

Australian warships serving in Singapore also were used to escort the commando carrier HMS Bulwark and the aircraft carrier HMS Albion to Borneo. RAAF units in Butterworth commenced active combat air patrols to protect Malaysian airspace. The engineer presence in Sabah continued, with a number of squadrons rotated through until after hostilities ceased in 1966. 111 LAA Bty was replaced by 110 LAA Bty in 1965 and that unit returned to Australia at the end of Confrontation without being replaced. Indonesian aggression continued to escalate in Borneo and a number of large scale landings in Johore in West Malaysia led to further requests for assistance. In 1964, the Australian Government agreed that the Australian component of 28 Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Group (28 Bde), located in Malacca, could be used against landings close to the base.

Not long after, a large sea-borne incursion took place near Muar on the border of Malacca and Johore. A force, including 3RAR, was deployed to bottle up the landing in a swamp and subjected the group to harassing fire throughout the night. The next morning, 3RAR entered the swamp and captured 53 dispirited Indonesians without casualties to either side. Finally, in late 1964, the Australian Government gave approval for combat troops to be deployed to Borneo. In January 1965 1 Sqn SAS Regt deployed from Perth to Sabah.

The main task of infantry units in Borneo was to protect the 1200 kilometre porous border by detecting and eliminating Indonesian incursions. The main tasks of SAS were location and surveillance of Indonesian positions and activities. 3RAR, 4RAR and the two SAS Squadrons also took part in highly secret CLARET operations, in which they crossed the border into Indonesia to take the conflict to the Indonesians, by ambushing movement, attacking smaller bases and detecting Indonesian intentions.

Subject to the UK Official Secrets Act, it was 1996 before details of these operations could be revealed. 3RAR in particular had a number of highly successful ambushes in their area of operations. With peace talks underway, 4RAR CLARET operations were limited to surveillance patrols but the battalion did eliminate one major Indonesian incursion into the Bau district. By early 1966, it became obvious that the Indonesian campaign had failed and there had been a major political realignment in Jakarta. On 11 August 1966, a Peace Accord was signed in Bangkok, putting an end to hostilities and guaranteeing Malaysian sovereignty. All non-Malaysian troops would be required to leave Borneo within 28 days, a major task given that 20,000 non-Malaysian troops were involved. An exception was made for the Australian engineer squadron in Sabah, which remained until its tour of duty constructing roads was completed.

The RAAF was also involved in the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation. During the 1960s four Australian flying squadrons were based at Butterworth in Malaysia as part of the Far East Strategic Reserve (FESR). The largest unit was No. 78 Wing, which comprised the Sabre equipped 3 Squadron and 77 Squadron. The other flying units were 2 Squadron, which operated Canberras and a small number of Dakota transports and the UH-1 Iroquois equipped 5 Squadron. 78 Wing and 2 Squadron had been based at Butterworth since 1958 and 5 Squadron arrived in 1964 in response to one of the Malaysian Government's requests for assistance.

There are 17 Australian war dead from this conflict. Some lie in the Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore, others are buried or officially commemorated in Australia in civil cemeteries and crematoria or in an OAWG Garden of Remembrance.

Flying Officer Victor John Cowen, who was posted to 2 Sqn, was the only RAAF person who was killed while on consignment to Butterworth. He was involved in a motor bike accident on the 19^th September 1965. He was only 22 years old.

ADF Personnel who participated in what has since been called “The Malaysian Emergency” have been campaigning for years for their service to be declared as “War-like”. Subsequent Governments have steadfastly refused their petitions, shamefully to refuse these personnel access to DVA entitlements - to save money.

Click HERE for some Butterworth memories.

50 years ago.

RAAF NEWS article AUG 1971

The new all season blue-grey uniform will be introduced for all ranks in April, 1972, followed by a "twilight period" up to December, 1972, during which members may wear old or new uniforms. The blue-grey colour finally selected was based on the need for all-seasons comfort, distinctive appearance and the results of a representative poll involving over 3,000 serving members who almost unanimously favoured the new colour. (Click the pic for a bigger view).

The design and development of the new uniform took over three years to finalize and included a wearer trial period at East Sale, Williamtown, Pearce, Darwin and Butterworth.

The material which was recommended by the Australian Wool Board, is a blend of 70 per cent wool and 30 per cent polyester with crease resistant characteristics. Comprehensive tests have affirmed its durability. New uniform accessories being introduced include a drip-dry blue cotton polyester shirt, a cap with smaller peak, and socks, tie and belt in a matching dark blue colour.

It has, of course, now been replaced by the new darker blue uniform.

Kedron Wavell Services Club - Northside Bingo.

Introducing Northside Bingo! A not-for profit organisation which extends all proceeds straight back into the community, with its sole interest in boosting community interaction and transforming one’s bingo experience.

We are bursting with excitement as we share our six weekly sessions and guaranteed prize funds, which are expected to increase given community engagement. Hosted by the Kedron Wavell RSL, each event is accompanied by delicious food, an array of beverages, and outstanding, unmatched, customer service. 

No experience is necessary, so invite your friends and family and indulge in the ultimate Bingo experience at the Kedron Wavell Services Club.

Feature Bingo games;

Eyes down will occur on the following days/times - doors open one hour earlier.

Afghanistan – Déjà vu

You’ll hear politicians say:  “This is a distressing time for many of our Defence personnel and veterans who served our nation in Afghanistan with courage, dignity and honour and made such a significant contribution to the allied military effort. We must never forget the 41 Australians who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Australia owes a great debt of gratitude to all our veterans who served with distinction and their families who supported them.”

“Over the past 20 years our nation has been unwavering in the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan” 

What a load of crap!.

It is understandable that many of those who served our nation in Afghanistan may feel frustrated, concerned and distressed at what is unfolding there, as they are brought home with their tails between their legs. Those of us who served in Vietnam felt exactly the same in the 70s, it seems though that today’s ADF personnel will be looked after a lot better than we were.

Unfortunately, problems like this are going to occur continuously while we fight wars with one hand tied behind our backs. We send our men and women off to war where they have to kill people then when they do, our Politicians and our military chiefs, while trying to make themselves look all warm and fuzzy, set up committees to publicly lambast our “murderous” warriors. We’re never going to win a war with this sort of attitude. Unfortunately, since time immemorial, wars are wars, one side tries to either kill off the other side or get him to surrender and both sides have always done what ever possible to come first – until now. Now we’re all humane and caring, now we have to kill kindly, we can’t be brutal, there are rules, “excuse me, would you mind if I shot you?”  –  it’s crazy.

We send our young men and women off to a conflict with a rifle and a rule book, the conflict is instantly lop-sided, the other side doesn’t have any rules, he plays the game the way wars were always played – play to win, no matter what!!  

If we’re going to persist in this war business, we have to get all mongrel otherwise we’ll just send more of our young people overseas with a one-way ticket. 

We either play hard or stay out of it!

Have a look at the video below:

And the following was in "The West Australian" on Tuesday 24th April.

And Uncle Sam left Afghanistan with a lovely early Christmas present, click HERE to see all the equipment left behind for them.

And - watch the video below to see the enormous cost of the war - and for WHAT?

Help is on its way!

If your other half complains that you're not exciting in bed any more, well fear not, Uncle Ted has  come up with a way that will turn your other half on like never before. Never again will you hear complaints, in fact you'll be lauded from here to kingdon come.

HERE'S how.  

You can thank me later.

And on a lighter note – have a look at THIS.

Blessed are those who are cracked

for they are the ones who let in the light.

Ok, ok - I'm going back to my room now!

I'm Ted Mac - and you're not!

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