4TH FIELD REGIMENT (SVN) ASSOCIATION AKA 4TH FIELD REGT OLD BOYS Patron: David Anderson. President: Peter Bruce, OAM Treasurer: Gabby Hayes. NEWSLETTER No 68 Spring (September) 2026 All correspondence to Peter Bruce, 33 Cathie Circuit, Lake Cathie NSW 2445 or pjbruce88@outlook.com Mobile is 0419 349 317 G’day Old Boys Spring is upon us although some days here still feel a bit like winter in Melbourne. I really shouldn’t complain as most days we get over 20 degrees. Might have something to do with age that I feel the cold more these days. Susie and I caught up with a few Old Boys for VV Day on 18 August. Great to catch up even though just for the day. A lot of talk was about another get together so we are floating the idea of Anzac Day 2027 in Laurieton. Several alternate venues have been proposed over the years, but the Laurieton RSL sub-Branch and the Laurieton United Services Club (LUSC) have been very good to us and welcome us back. If you are interested, I suggest you get in and book your accommodation as soon as possible. This year, most visitors stayed at the Haven Waters Motel which is handy to clubs and cafes in the area. Their phone number is 02 6559 9303. There are a few other places in the area so perhaps have a look online and see what you can find. Previously, some have opted to stay in Port Macquarie which is about 20ks away. Depending on interest, we will organise a few things with more information in our next edition. The main issue is booking lunch where I must have names and numbers about a week before the day to secure seats for lunch. Please let me know if you are interested as soon as you can. Photo Stick Project: Lance Grimstone continues to work on our Old Boys video. The video is based on HQ Battery, second tour but could be of interest to all old boys. We will let you know when the sticks are available and details on how to get one. More details as we get closer to completion of the project. A big thanks to Lance for the work going into this project. A reminder that if you have any photos of yourself in SVN and wish to be included in our collection, please email them to me. Bob Brumm sent the photo below to me of Joe Postol’s tombstone. A mate of his in Brisbane had tracked it down. Joe was with HQ Battery second tour for the 12 months. His date of death is recorded as 20 January 1988 at the age of 38. Like so many Old Boys, we lost contact with him once we came home. The photo on the left is me and Joe but I have no idea what we were doing.
Peter Bruce and Joe Postol in SVN Joe Postol Tombstone in Sandgate Cemetery, New Castle From Neville Clark Dear Peter, What a brilliant Newsletter, congratulations! Excellent stories, and a heartening update from 4 Regt about the new SP guns - with all the Defence cuts there’s still hope for the Artillery after all. Nice photo of John Wilson (106 Bty Sig Sgt, 1966-8) with Lt Col Simon Frewen, an excellent CO, who has been particularly kind to visiting Old Boys. Glad you also included Ben Burrow’s Tommy Sawyer story (and the tragic death of Barry Tregear) as well as the nice tribute from three-tour veteran Shane Oxenham to “Chuck” Berry, the 106 Medic (first tour). Well done, all round! Neville Clark. From Shane Oxenham Peter. Thanks for the (again) interesting Newsletter. In particular, the articles by R. Hall and Ben Burrows. At the moment I am enjoying reading Kevin O'Brien's book on Long Tan. His observations as a result of research have thrown a spotlight on what happened rather than the paucity of information available to those on the ground at the time. As you probably know, communication to the coal face was not a priority at that time. Best wishes, Shane Email from Ken (Spud) Murphy on 17 June. (Ken (Spud) Murphy died on 31 July this year. We have written an obituary for Ken which will be posted on the RAAHC website in due course. Amazing what you find out about an individual – after their death. Hi Pete. Great read mate. Just returned from a few weeks in NZ with my daughter. Had the sad duty of reporting the passing of Ray Chadburn a stalwart of the 1959 - 61 Malaya 101 Fd Bty vets and a friend of many of the 4 Fd. old boys. Best Regards Spud Murphy Gabby Hayes advises that we have $497.54 in our working account with our term deposit due for renewal in December. The cost of our figurine is $162.39 (including postage to JW) which leaves us with a balance of $335.15. We might have to use some of our term deposit funds to booster the working account.
The following article was reproduced from ‘Frontline’ The Additional Disablement Amount (ADA) is a new payment being introduced from 1 July 2026, when all new claims for compensation and rehabilitation will be assessed under the improved Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA). The ADA is similar to the Extreme Disablement Adjustment (EDA) benefit available under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA). It will provide support for veterans over pension age with a high degree of impairment due to service-caused injuries or illness once the VEA is closed to new compensation claims. Benefits for veterans and dependants Veterans who are eligible for the ADA will receive a Veteran Gold Card. Eligible dependants will also have access to education assistance and compensation following the death of the veteran, including a Veteran Gold Card. Partners of veterans who were eligible for the ADA at the time of their death and who meet the MRCA criteria of ‘Wholly Dependent Partner’ will be entitled to compensation and a Veteran Gold Card. The children of deceased ADA veterans will also receive an eligible young person payment (if applicable) and access to the MRCA education scheme as well as a Veteran Gold Card. Useful information An Additional Disablement Amount (ADA) fact sheet is available on the DVA website. Other resources to help the veteran community understand the changes from 1 July 2026 include: • an information booklet • more than 20 fact sheets and summaries for particular groups, including VEA veterans and their partners, DRCA veterans, and the children of veterans • scenarios that demonstrate how the improved MRCA may impact individual circumstances • frequently asked questions For more information visit www.dva.gov.au/veteranslegislation Phone Calls Over the last couple of months, I have spoken to several Old Boys including Johno, Dave Alderton and PJ Smith who is currently back in Vietnam leading a small group around both the north and south. Always great to hear what Old Boys are up to. Happy Birthday Happy birthday to 108th Battery for 1 September. The Battery was raised on 1 September 1965 at Wacol. Happy birthday to our National Flag which was first flown on 3 September 1901- the year of Federation. 3 September is celebrated each year as Australian National Flag Day. Artillery Calendar – by Brigadier John Cox (Rtd) The idea of an Australian Artillery Calendar for serving and retired Gunners has been on agendas for decades. August might hold the record with its 20 ‘defining moments’. This trial intentionally provides month size bites of calendar information. The trial’s previous
monthly distributions of an Australian Artillery Calendar have generated a few helpful responses. Please keep them coming. Thank you for your support. The August calendar is available via email. Please let me know if you want a copy. August and previous editions are available in the Australian Artillery Association website. The RAA National Memorial Re-dedication. The Regimental Committee is working on the goal to re-dedicate the Memorial in 2027. They wish to extend the National Memorial to acknowledge the contribution of Gunners over the past 50 years and provide for recognition of future service. The RAA National Memorial stands atop Mt Pleasant in Canberra. The Memorial was unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 9 March 1977. While substantial fundraising has been conducted, the committee still need your financial support. You can donate via their website www.raanm2027.com Ben Lans has penned a great article for us about the birth of the Army Training Area “Bradshaw”. Big thanks to Ben for his story. The Ben Lans Article Bradshaw - The Birth of a Training Area ‘Bigger than Belgium’ was the phrase used to describe the new piece of dirt that Defence purchased in the early 2000s. Perhaps that was an exaggeration, but the cattle station known as Bradshaw (after a Scottish sea captain of the early 1800s), at over one million hectares, is one massive piece of land. Situated in the NT, between the Victoria and Fitzmaurice Rivers, Bradshaw Field Training Area is arguably the largest land TA in the world. Except perhaps Russia… who knows how big some of Rusky TAs are? When the TA and the Darwin Air Weapons Range Complex is in use, the contiguous military airspace enables the largest restricted airspace for Defence training in the western world, with unrestricted maximum upper limit. As a consultant to Defence and as an ex gunner who understands live fire and manoeuvre, I was very lucky to be asked to preside over the various design and range siting boards for the establishment Bradshaw TA. This is a short story of Bradshaw, from what it was to where it is today. Before the settlers came in the early 1800s, the area was rich with Aboriginal occupation. I do not pretend to know what that period was like and I only pass on information that I learned first-hand from the indigenous elders or that I saw with my own eyes. The TA as it stands today comprises primarily two useful (for training) river valleys, the Angalarri and the Koolendong. These are reachable by road and provide the plains, grasslands and woody scrub that are representative of the NT terrain. The rest of the TA, some two thirds of it, comprises the typical high mesas of the Kimberley with river valleys
in between and the flood plains of the coastline. As a cattle station it supported some 8000 head of cattle at the time Defence purchased it, which were removed over several years by the station owner. The cattle were generally confined to the river valleys, leaving the mesas almost completely untrodden by European feet. This was quite telling for us, when dropped off by a helicopter to recon a communication site. As the chopper would fly off into the distance, the isolation of history would drop over you like a blanket and you immediately hoped that the pilot would not forget where he dropped you off. Defence, as a responsible land owner, removed the 1000s of donkeys, goats and pigs that roamed freely. Those who say that Defence should not own such magnificent country should look at Shoalwater Bay, which has recovered to World Heritage status. It is the same for Bradshaw. The ‘eaten out’ plains of the river valleys have recovered to genuine ‘treed’ grasslands with river banks no longer being broken down by hoofed animals. The occasional battle tank or exploding piece of artillery ordnance does far less damage than a herd of cattle. I was part of PSMC, a small company of ex Army and Air Force people, providing consulting services to Defence for 20 years or so from the early 2000s. One of the products we developed and delivered was STARSN, the Standard TA Range Safety Net. We were tasked with providing STARSN at Bradshaw, which the techos in our company worked at. Ian Biggs, ex 108 and 16AD, was one of the installation managers of the work. However I, along with Susan Hickey, an environmental scientist and ex-Army Major, worked closely with Defence to help guide the Environmental Management Plan of Bradshaw. The last thing that Defence wanted was to have an EMP completely out of step with the training requirement. Thus we spent many years working hand in hand with the environmental companies doing the EMP to ensure they understood the fire and manoeuvre requirements and not to put in unreasonable and impractical restrictions before Defence even put a foot on the ground. Then, during the latter part of the process, I presided over the Range Siting Board that was signed off by Gen David Hurley as VCDF at the time, to create the TA as it is today. I had been to Bradshaw by heli a number of times, but not by road. With great anticipation I looked forward to my first road trip. Lo my wife was with me. We gave her the job of being the station cook! The Vic River bridge was not even on the drawing board then, and we had to cross the river using a reef upstream from Timber Creek. Only ever used by station hands, the reef crossing requires the driver to line up a star picket on the far shore of the river (which was at least 100m wide at this point). Entering the river, the driver must keep an eye on the opposite bank at about half right. Around mid-river, another star picket would be sighted, and this second picket is strategically placed so that the moment it becomes visible, the driver must turn and aim for that second picket. A moment’s hesitation would result in your 4WD floating off into deep water… with the knowledge that several dozen crocodiles would most certainly be waiting in anticipation! And all this whilst water splashes up over the bonnet, even at low tide. Once on the Bradshaw side, we drove through beautiful tropical bushland until we came across the Angalarri River. This is a tributary of the Victoria which runs more or less up the centre of the primary manoeuvre corridor. The Angalarri, like the Victoria River, can only be crossed at low tide, and on this first crossing we came upon a small, one metre long shark, freshly dead, stranded in mid crossing, obviously caught out by the tide. A few years later, as I was flying over that part of the Angalarri in a helicopter, we chanced upon a ‘pack’ of saltwater crocodiles which had herded and trapped a school of Barramundi into a large water hole on the river. The sight of swirling and boiling water caused by dozens of crocodiles snapping away at random fish all around them was sobering to say the least. This is wild country!
From there we passed the huge ‘twin’ boab tree, with its massive metres thick branches. We stopped to look at the carvings and graves of Aboriginie station hands marked by stone circles, then drove on to the station. This current station was the third attempt by the early settlers to build a permanent presence, the first ones having been swept away by floods, destroyed by fire or eaten by white ants, or a combination of all those things. One of the old sites remains, constructed out of metal pipes. It is said the building was abandoned because the hollow metal pipes became infested with croaking frogs. At the station we set ourselves up in the shearer’s quarters, where we quickly learned not to leave any scrap of food, lest it (and possibly ourselves) would be carried away by an army of ants within minutes. The showers were also a novelty. At least two or three dozen green or brownish-yellow frogs would sit all around the walls and enjoy the water with you. And this applied to the toilet bowl as well, where several frogs would sit below the rim and watch you do your thing, be flushed down and then pop up again. The station is impressive, with a modest homestead once again being attacked by white ants, with many outbuildings; a school house, mess buildings and food storage refrigerated containers, storage sheds, horse yards and a camp for the Aboriginal hands back in the day when the station had 30 or more ringers along with their families. It also has a large swimming pool which, when we first saw it had many snakes in the sad puddles at the bottom. In later years when cane toads swept across the NT, the pool had thousands of dead toads piled up in corners where they had tried to climb over each other creating death pyramids. Although the main TA camp is not centred on the old station, Defence has fortunately decided to maintain it for posterity. Our task was to explore the TA and develop a ‘high level’ plan to create a formation manoeuvre TA, with its own direct fire ranges, indirect live fire sectors and manoeuvre corridors, roads and camps, large enough for two opposing brigade sized groups. All this was done with the cooperation of the local indigenous elders and through the formulation of an Indigenous Land Use Agreement. Fortunately we were not responsible for the ILUA, but a good outcome of that process was the formulation of local companies managed and manned by local Aboriginal groups, to do TA maintenance. This included wild fire control and feral animal control and fencing. I understand (as seen on Landline) that one of those companies still exists. I visited the TA many times over a 10 year period. We had the budget for our own (civvy) helicopters, allowing us access all over the place, exploring in detail the many untrodden (by European feet) gorges and re-entrants and mesas of the eastern Kimberley. Apart from identifying land for training, it allowed us to explore the wilderness and untrodden areas of the old station. Susan found a boab tree that had been carved by a midshipman on Charles Darwin’s ship the Beagle in 1813. He had been put ashore on the banks of the Fitzmaurice to measure the tides for two weeks and in his boredom carved ‘Jesu Christu’ and a date and a depiction of Madonna and Child. All this was verified in the Beagle Captain’s log, as investigated by Sydney University and the ABC, which made a 30 minute programme out of the discovery. A boab tree does not shed its bark. Hence the survival of old historic carvings. We also discovered a magnificent well-hidden cave, which had once been used by the traditional owners, with sleeping spaces and fire places that provided space for at least 30 people. All around the walls were numerous large paintings and in one corner was a painting of a three masted sailing ship… and a rifle! In the centre of the cave was a large hollowed out grinding block with the grinding stone left in the middle, as if the last hand that used it had only just put it down. Next to the entrance was a once yellow Capstan tobacco tin. Left by a station hand many decades ago. The cave entrance can’t be seen from the valley floor and strangely the local elders had no knowledge of the cave. It’s
location is now suppressed. We were as if in a trance induced by the sheer ‘presence’ of history. Once we realised that our boot prints in the dusty floor were the first intrusion into an unspoilt time capsule, we respectfully retreated. Other interesting areas included the ‘country of the little people’. This was an area of deep ancient gorges in the far NW of the TA, where steep cliffs hide the timeless palms along the creeks in the bottom. The elders that we dealt with knew nothing and wanted nothing to do with this area. They only spoke of little people. Later research indicated that this may have been an area visited by the small race from the Indonesian island of Flores. Yet to be fully investigated I believe. We faced many challenges in developing a TA that would stand up to the rigours of tracked vehicles. Road corridors had to be carefully selected and then ‘engineered’ with culverts designed to withstand the annual monsoons. But that was a problem for the developers who came after us. Wing Commander Geoff Brown, who went on to become an undertaker in his wife’s father’s company immediately after I met him, but then quickly re-joined the RAAF to become Chief of Air Force later in his career, helped design the air space in my first range siting board. The local station owners threw their hands up in disgust when they heard about a ‘wall’ of restricted airspace that would prevent them from flying their bugsmashers to and from Darwin whenever the air space was closed. So, we came up with an airspace ‘tunnel’… one thousand feet high by one thousand feet wide, with fluorescent markers every few kilometres to guide the little planes from the south to the north of the TA, and back again. Later, as it became obvious that the US Marines would use Bradshaw more than the Australians, I worked with Brigadier Bob Brown as part of the Joint and Combined Training Capability. Actually employed by USPACOM based in Hawaii, I had the honour of helping to host many US senior officers and officials and show them Bradshaw, as well as TFTA and Woomera. Most of these men were city men and had no idea of Australia’s vastness and had never seen a TA as large as this one. Although they did take us back to the US where they showed us their Alaskan TA near the Arctic Circle. I remember distinctly sitting in a military vehicle looking out at walls of snow higher than the vehicle on both sides. I can only take their word on the size of it. On one of our visits with Bob Brown, the station caretaker told us that the giant 23 ft (as he put it) crocodile that was the boss of the Victoria-Angalarri junction a few hundred metres away, had just consumed a large feral bull. The caretaker had witnessed and photographed the repeated death rolls of the croc when killing the bull. He said we should fly over as the croc would no doubt be sunning himself on the bank. We did, and yes there was the croc. ‘I will fly low over it’ says the pilot, who was an NT local. ‘It will get annoyed and leap at the helicopter. Take a photo!’ Great idea. ‘You are on the edge, you take the photo Ben,’ said Bob Brown. ‘OK… leave it to me!’ Easier said than done. The croc leapt alright, seemingly launching vertically up from a resting position. Although I am sure there were many metres between the croc and the chopper, I felt as if the croc was coming straight for me at the open door! ‘Did you get the shot?’ said Bob. ‘I did’ I replied. Back at the homestead all I had was a shot of blue sky. ‘You wus,’ was the general comment. The shock of that animal leaping caused me to snap a picture of blue sky! The adventures on Bradshaw during those early years were many. When Lo was there she helped us to explore the Koolendong River valley with its boab trees that marked the passage of drovers coming across land from WA to Queensland, and the tree marked by the Nackeroos (WW2 observers) watching for Japanese aircraft. We even explored the final resting place of Captain Bradshaw, whose coffin had been placed in a cave on a mesa by his Aboriginie workers, only to be devoured by white ants, the bones scattered by dingoes; the bras handles being the only remaining evidence. These are now in the Vic River
Roadhouse, placed there by those who first tried to find him when they wanted to re-bury him. Lo counts her time at Bradshaw as one of those times in your life that make a permanent impression. I will never forget Bradshaw and the unbridled access we had for around ten years or so… the incredible experiences. Brad, our helicopter pilot taking us fishing and Ian Biggs and I falling asleep on the banks of a crocodile infested creek, the waking in shock to find the heli there but the pilot gone and panicking that he must have been taken. He hadn’t been. He was there, looking at these Army idiots who seemed totally incapable of understanding the risk of being ‘eaten’. The sight of Brad, the same pilot, getting bored flying slung loads of water around the TA, chasing Ken (ex-Army WO in PSMC) in his heli with a full, bucket of water to dump it on his head. The comradery of the camp fire and a beer after a dusty, long hot day. The cold, still nights and the clear starry skies. The deep reds, the rich browns and the bright greens. Now access is restricted and the ‘bridge to nowhere’ crosses the Vic River at Timber Creek with its gates preventing most from entering. But I don’t need to go there again. The place is burned into my memory. Huntsman AS9 An AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzer in action during Exercise Pozieres Run in Townsville. Photo: Cpl Johnny Huang AS9 Huntsman artillery makes battlefield debut at Exercise Pozieres Run in Townsville By: Robert Dougherty – Defence Connect The Australian-made AS9 Huntsman artillery has made its battlefield debut after being deployed for the 1st (Australian) Division’s Exercise Pozieres Run at Townsville Field Training Area earlier this month. Crews from the Australian Army 3rd Brigade tested the warfighting capability of the selfpropelled howitzer in a series of realistic integrated activities.
Commanding Officer 4th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery Lieutenant Colonel Simon Frewin said it was a game changer for the regiment and as a single fighting vehicle, as opposed to a towed gun, gave commanders more combat options. “It’s an incredible piece of equipment. It’s loud, faster in and out of action, and can range a long way and has taken a huge leap in the capabilities for this brigade,” he said. “It comes out of a hide to a firing position in seconds, fires off rounds faster than the M777 and moves very quickly back into a hide, and that means if an enemy does identify us, they are unable to respond in time before the AS9 has already moved to a new position.” The Australian Army AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzers and the AS10 armoured ammunition resupply vehicles had previously been introduced into service under the Australian Army’s first Protected Mobile Fires Battery at Lavarack Barracks, Townsville, on 31 July. That march past parade was attended by AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzer and AS10 armoured ammunition resupply vehicle crews and dignitaries. “Today is an important day in the history of this regiment. It is also an important day for the 3rd Brigade, the 1st Australian Division, and our Army. This parade formally welcomes the introduction into service of the first Protected Mobile Fires Battery to Army. It marks the arrival of one of the most significant advances in Army’s artillery capability in generations,” said Major General Ash Collingburn, commander of the 1st Australian Division, speaking at the parade on 31 July. “First, I want to congratulate all of the warriors on parade today. It was an excellent turnout, combat-oriented and a spectacle befitting such an important occasion for this regiment. The standard observed this morning reflects your discipline, pride and professionalism. “The platforms on parade today are impressive. They represent Army’s modernisation, a major investment in fires and years of effort across Defence, Army, industry and government. But today is not simply about new equipment. It is about warfighting advantage. It is about making our soldiers more lethal, more mobile and more survivable on the battlefield.” ********************************************************************** That’s it for this edition. Please let me know if you are interested in coming to Laurieton for Anzac Day 2027. Final details will be advised next edition. Below is copy of an ‘Order of the Day’ from our Head of Regiment, Brigadier Andrew Langford, AM. Our thanks again to the Australian Artillery Association for publishing our newsletters. Their website www.australianartilleryassociation.org contains a wealth of information including updates on the National Memorial and the latest RAA Liaison Letter. Big thanks to John Wilson in Townsville who is again liaising with 4th Regiment regarding our Don Donkin, MBE Soldiers Soldier award for 2026. The figurine will be in John’s hand shortly and he is arranging engraving and a framed certificate for presentation to the winner. Presentations normally take place around St Barbara’s day. Thanks to all contributors and we are still waiting for a couple of article promised by individuals. Best wishes to all Old Boys. Peter
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