Memories of 1 RGJ from warm Australia

Whilst out in Australia on holiday in January 2014 I had the opportunity to meet up with a rifleman from my 1 RGJ Belfast 1971 days, being no less than Corporal Keith Kneller. Thanks to Chris McDonald of our RGJ Australasian Branch, I was put in touch with Keith and we agreed to meet at Nelson Bay Diggers RSL (Return Services League Club) in New South Wales. Keith currently lives there with his wife and daughter/ son in law Lee who is also an ex rifleman from 2 RGJ.

Nelson Bay is some 2 hours drive north of Sydney along the coastal Highway being situated on the southern shore of Port Stephens in north New South Wales. It is a coastal resort town of 25,000 inhabitants most of the year, increasing to over 100,000 during the ‘Summer’ Holidays. Nelson Bay is an ideal tourist destination for exploring the natural wonders and tourist attractions of Port Stephens and Hawkes Nest. This whole area is a blue water paradise being the home of 160 bottlenose dolphins and a port in passing for over 3,000 migrating humpback whales in season. The long white sandy beaches are world renown especially around Hawkes Nest where I was staying for some dinghy sailing and golf. Nelson Bay is just a 45 minute ferry ride across the bay from Hawkes Nest.

Keith was a corporal with 1 RGJ in Belfast when he was shot through the neck by an IRA sniper whilst on OP duty observing a riot. The fact that he survived is a miracle in itself and what a cheerful and delightful rifleman he was.

Keith agreed to pick me up at the ferry landing point with yours truly wearing an RGJ beret for recognition purposes although a new Pom was not difficult to spot! Keith had arranged we would lunch at the RSL Club. On arrival I was introduced to five senior RSL personnel – Norman Cason (Senior Vice President), Tom Lupton (Second Vice President), Tony Minchin (Secretary), Russel Durrant and Col Edwards (Committee Members). I knew very little about the RSL organization in Australia other than it looked after its Service personnel extremely well and its beer was the cheapest in Australia. Norman explained in great detail how the organization was structured. The Nelson Bay RSL is a sub branch located within the Nelson Bay Diggers building. The whole building itself was taken over by a rugby league club who run the commercial side of the building and its facilities –shopping, bars, restaurant, slot machines (Pokies) etc while giving the RSL itself a certain part of the building for its own activities. In addition the rugby club also make a generous donation to the RSL towards its own expenses and members’ welfare needs including the use of a car for welfare purposes. For the sake of this article I would briefly describe the RSL organization as fulfilling a not dissimilar role to The Royal British Legion and SSAFA combined. I was particularly impressed how well the injured Australian military are looked after especially with regard to pensions and health costs. They also carry a RSL Member’s card which allows them large reductions on most purchased items including for instance drinks and cars. The RSL Welfare officers are all volunteers and it was very uplifting to witness the level of care and benefits given to the military.

Over coffee the discussions ranged from the RSL organization, the Australian operations in Viet Nam, past military operations like Gallipoli, Dieppe, weapons and military tactics as my new RSL friends were definitely proper career professional soldiers compared to my ‘ rather brief amateur soldiery’. I was then given a wonderful tour of their new memorabilia display which included medals, rifles, machine guns, a captured Japanese WW 11 flag and other wonderful artifacts . Further items relating to their Navy and Air Force like photographs, crests etc extended up the wide stairwell to the first floor. The whole display was the brainchild of Tom Lupton who must be congratulated for his many hours of painstaking research and renovation. Special mention must be made of their ‘Eternal Flame’ (Least We Forget) and the drawing of ‘Diggers Face’ The amazing point of this drawing is that it is entirely made up of the names of the fallen at Gallipoli (11,430) which can only be seen with the use of a magnifying glass. Once the tour was completed the five of us then adjourned to the bar where more army talk and stories ensued as the rounds of beer increased. Most enjoyable indeed. My RSL hosts then left leaving Keith and I over a light lunch to reminisce in some detail about 1 RGJ ‘s 1971 tour of Belfast and mentioning well known riflemen we both knew like David Walker (RIP) and Robert Bankier (RIP), John Purkis, Shannon Goddard, Pete Smith, Ricky Tyson, Vic and Tony Osman, Kenneth Ambrose, Dennis Godley and many others. It was an odd sensation recalling those Belfast days from across the other side of the world set in glorious sunshine.

Once the tour was completed the five of us then adjourned to the bar where more army talk and stories ensued as the rounds of beer increased. Most enjoyable indeed. My RSL hosts then left leaving Keith and I over a light lunch to reminisce in some detail about 1 RGJ ‘s 1971 tour of Belfast and mentioning well known riflemen we both knew like David Walker (RIP) and Robert Bankier (RIP), John Purkis, Shannon Goddard, Pete Smith, Ricky Tyson, Vic and Tony Osman, Kenneth Ambrose, Dennis Godley and many others. It was an odd sensation recalling those Belfast days from across the other side of the world set in glorious sunshine.

Keith then showed me where his and his wife lived with their daughter and son in law who had built the conversion annex for them to live in. Keith’s sitting room was adorned with many RGJ memories. A short drive to catch the 1530 hour ferry back to Hawkes Nest rounded off a very memorable day. I wish to express my thanks to Keith who organized the RSL visit for me and also to thank Norman, Tom and Russel for their time and generous hospitality. Two phrases sprang to mind as I sat on the ferry contemplating my visit ‘Once a Rifleman, always a Rifleman’ and ‘ Old soldiers never die’ so true and it seemed to sum up the day very accurately of my own 1 RGJ memories long ago and to my new RSL friends in Nelson Bay.

Simon Booth-Mason