Riverton RSL Club 153 High Road, Willetton - Telephone 9354 2197

Patron Hon Mike Nahan MLA, Member for Riverton

Thank You to our Volunteers Last Sunday, it was a pleasure to thank our many volunteers at the Riverton RSL, especially our Patron Dr Mike Nahan MLA, Member for Riverton and Ben Morton MP, the Member for Tangney.

Our President, Trevor Hogan, thanked everyone who attended and all those who were not able to make it to the event. He said he sincerely appreciated everyone’s support and looks forward to continuing to work with you in the future.

A very special thank you to "Bondy" (aka Committee Member Vance Bond) and his partner Patricia Woodrow for providing our yummy finger food.

Riverton RSL Quiz Night The new Social Sub-committee is working on holding a Quiz Night. These events are always lots of fun with great prizes up for grabs so put the date of Saturday 24 August in your diaries – more details to follow soon!

RIVERTON RSL CLUB

Monthly News Update

6 June 2019 rivertonrslwa@gmail.com

Riverton RSL Opening Hours As patronage has dropped off between 4pm and 5pm on opening days, from Monday 17 June, the Riverton RSL will be opening at 5pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Similarly, if there are less than five people in the bar after 8pm on these evenings, the bar will be closing. These changes have been made to ensure that the Riverton RSL remains financially viable. Members are encouraged to come along and support the club so that we can return to normal trading hours at some point in the future.

Vale Peter Jarzabkowski Sadly, Peter Jarzabkowski passed away in February this year at the age of 98. He was born on 17 September 1920 and enlisted in the Polish Army at the outbreak of WWII. He was a valued Service member of the Riverton RSL. We will remember them.

Riverton RSL Darts Competition The home and away season within the South Suburban Darts Association is half way through. We have two teams this year, B and D grades so there is a team every Tuesday night at the Riverton RSL. While our B Team is currently bottom of the ladder, we are hoping to turn that around in the second half of the competition. Our D Grade team are doing better and sitting in 3rd position in their Division. When the SSDA Competition ends on 10/9/19, we are planning to again run our Social Darts Competition every Tuesday night at the RSL. New members are most welcome. This competition runs until the next SSDA Competition commences in March 2020. For more information, please call John Given on 0435 064 612.

Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019

HMAS Canberra, flanked by escort ships as part of the

Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019 task force.

An Australian military task force has returned from Asia following one of the “most ambitious” regional engagement missions. More than 1200 Australian Defence Force (ADF) members, four navy ships and various aircraft took part in Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019. They visited seven countries across South and South East Asia during the three-month deployment. The task force’s flagship, HMAS Canberra, recently docked in Darwin, where the returning ADF personnel were greeted by family and friends. In one of the ADF’s biggest operations of its kind, they visited Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia. As well as strengthening ties with regional neighbours, the Australian force also honed its war-fighting skills with high-level combat exercises. The task force also carried out community-focussed projects such as rebuilding schools, beach clean-ups and visiting orphanages. Vietnam Veterans’ Dinner The Riverton RSL's Annual Vietnam Veterans’ Dinner will be held on Saturday 17 August 2019. The Sub-branch is proud to partner again with the Vietnam Armed Forces Association and the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia to host this commemorative event. More details to follow.

James McMahon DSC DSM – Western Australian of the Year 2019

Congratulations to the Western Australian of the Year - Mr James McMahon DSC DSM, an Army veteran. James’s career in the Australian Defence Force spanned 22 years of full time service, from 1985 to 2007, during which time he has given outstanding service to his country, including time as a soldier and Commanding Officer of the SAS. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for command and leadership in action in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) for leadership in action in Timor-Leste. After his roles in the military and as a Chief Operating Officer of a corporate advisory firm, James’s leadership skills saw him appointed as Commissioner for the Department of Corrective Services in 2013 to implement a reform agenda. In making the appointment, the Corrective Services Minister, Joe Francis, described James’s career as one defined by leadership, courage, integrity and an ability to bring about organisational change. Always focusing on rehabilitation, James’s efforts in the role saw the establishment of the Youth Justice Board and the Reconciliation Action Plan for Corrective Services. James’s commitment to WA is evident through the many community organisations in which he is involved. He proudly represents the McCusker Centre for Citizenship, is an ambassador for The Fathering Project and, as a Board Member of the West Coast Eagles, has been instrumental in implementing their values of “professionalism, leadership and passion.”

Since leaving full-time military service in 2007 James has demonstrated his continued personal commitment to defence families, supporting current serving personnel, returned service personnel and defence families in need. The Riverton RSL sincerely congratulates Mr McMahon on his well-deserved accolade. Senator Linda Reynolds – new Minister for Defence Congratulations to Senator Linda Reynolds, who has been appointed as Australia's new Minister for Defence. Senator Reynolds was born in Perth in 1965 and served for 29 years in the Australian Army Reserve. She is an Army Reserve Brigadier, the first woman to achieve that rank, and she was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in 2011. The Riverton RSL wishes her every success in her new role.

Military Veteran Saves War Memorabilia Synopsis from ABC North and West South Australia story on 29 April 2019 by Angela Smallacombe. When several nearby South Australian RSLs closed, military veteran Chris Soar set up a military museum and memorial garden at his remote rural property at Bublacowie on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia to save the war memorabilia from being discarded, sold online, and hidden away in storage. Today, he hosts about 1,500 school children and 1,200 more visitors annually, sharing the stories behind the 20-year-old collection. "I thought if I do something in my life, I'd like to build something that would actually help to bring back some respect," Mr Soar said.

Private James Willis Plummer died on the beaches of Gallipoli and his memorial plaque was thrown in the rubbish dump during a renovation because it was in poor condition. "I thought that was a bit of lack of respect, to be perfectly honest with you, and I won't tolerate that," Mr Soar said.

In another instance, records and flags were discarded from a Yorke Peninsula RSL when it closed. "They threw them away down the dump, so I had to go get them, it's the only reason they're in existence today," he said. After immigrating to Australia from England aged 15, Mr Soar served as a rifleman and scout with the Australian Army in Malaya and Indonesia and in taskforce headquarters in Vietnam. On his return from Vietnam, he continued to serve as a military police officer and conducted funerals for soldiers from South Australia who did not come home alive from Vietnam and Malaya. After that he volunteered to go overseas again to Thailand, Malaya and Singapore doing investigation work for the embassy. He worked as a master builder across SA before moving to Bublacowie where he built the museum on a former school property.

In the past 20 years, he has amassed an estimated $3.5 million of memorabilia from most wars and conflicts Australians have been involved in.

It is not only memorabilia that has found a safe place in Bublacowie — the ashes of six people are buried on the front veranda of the museum, along with seven others in the memorial garden. "The ashes on the veranda, they were actually being moved on because a club closed, two of the ladies, World War I nurses, were from the Yorke Peninsula," Mr Soar said. When explaining war to young children, he said he found it difficult to portray the real consequences of battle with the modern-day influences of television and video games.

PHOTO: Chris Soar says the future of the Bublacowie Military Museum and Memorial is uncertain. (ABC North and West: Angela Smallacombe)

"In reality in Australia in the present age bracket, a lot of them born and bred in Australia, they haven't seen hardship," Mr Soar said. At 76, Mr Soar is concerned that without a plan, the privately-owned museum will be lost along with the stories that go with the displays. He has spent years researching and curating the collection of local servicemen and women and hoped to transfer that knowledge to volunteers. "There are 12 rooms in this museum, I need the time to do a lot more research on each photo, each medal, so that when I die, the people that take over won't just see a medal sitting there, they'll see what it was for and who was awarded it." He wants a community group to take over running the property. Former South Australian Governor Kevin Scarce said Mr Soar had put together an important collection. "What the museum shows us, apart from the collection and connections to the local people, it shows you the consequences of war, both individually in terms of family and in terms of community," he said.

The Royal Western Australian Regiment It had humble beginnings and the usual name changes from 1862 Perth Volunteer Rifles & Fremantle Volunteer Rifles; in 1874 1st Battalion West Australian Volunteers 1875; Metropolitan, Fremantle, Guildford, Geraldton & York Rifle Volunteers. 1899 1st Infantry Regiment (WA Colonial Government Forces) 1900 WA Infantry Brigade (WA Colonial Government Forces.)

The Fremantle Volunteer Rifles, formed in 1861.

This evolution created the famous 86th Infantry Regiment (Pinjarra) where the magnificent, but oft forgotten, hero Brigadier Arnold Potts and the brave Lieutenant Arthur Edward Carse§ first marched out. A very short-lived unit named the Metropolitan Civil Service Battalion was raised on 7th December 1899, however by September 1900 it was absorbed into WA Infantry Brigade. That in turn was disbanded on 1st July 1903 into the 3rd Battalion as the 1st Battalion, WA Infantry Regiment. On 3rd August 1887 the Roebourne and Cossack Volunteer Corps was proposed, however they lost their letter seeking permission. On 20th February 1892 a Mr. Finnerty attempted, for the second time, to raise a Corps of Engineers, proposed name the Southern Cross Engineer Volunteer Corps. When informed they would have to fund themselves they met again and on the 12th March their enthusiasm failed. This was the only attempt to raise an engineer force in Western Australia. Four years later on the 13th February 1896 the Coolgardie Cyclist Corps was proposed. Luckily they realised it would prove difficult to have a drill instructor and they were never mentioned again. On 29th April 1896 a Sergeant Hepbourne attempted to raise the Geraldton Artillery. His dreams were unfulfilled and was never heard from again. The origins of the 7 Field Battery, 3

rd Regiment and artillery in Western

Australia can be traced back to 19th July 1870. During the period leading up to Federation a number of the unit’s members volunteered for service in the Boer War in

South Africa. One of these men, Lieutenant Frederick William Bell, who was born on 3 April 1875 in Perth, WA, was the first person born in WA to receive a Victoria Cross for conspicuous gallantry in South Africa. He was awarded the VC for the following deed: On 16 May 1901 at Brakpan, Transvaal, South Africa, when retiring through a heavy fire after holding the right flank, Lieutenant Bell noticed a man dismounted and returned and took him up behind him. The horse not being equal to the weight fell with them, Lieutenant Bell then remained behind and covered the man's

retirement till he was out of danger.

(Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Bell AWM A03687)

He took up big game hunting and, in 1909, narrowly escaped death in a lion hunt. He found himself alone as a lion charged. He shot it, but managed only to infuriate it by blowing away its lower jaw. The lion and he wrestled in the dust until help arrived. He spent six months in England recovering from the mauling. Upon the outbreak of the First World War the unit was hastily equipped with quick firing 18 pounders and readied for overseas embarkation. The Battery, under the command of Major Bessell-Browne, was among the first to see action at Gallipoli. The Battery’s guns were withdrawn on 19th December 1915, reorganised and sent to France. § His Great grandfather was first cousin to Lord Nelson & British aide to Blucher in the Battle of Waterloo. (AWM BC Informant mother; Mrs C. Carse, of 11 Cargill Street, Victoria Park, WA.)