Transcript
It was a sort of a rapid thing that occurred. Obviously they apply for independence to Indonesia. It given the country well East Timorese independence and they decided the date when they were going to leave from that date rapidly our military got stood up to head over. We got the word to initially send what was supposed to be the full squadron.
A Squadron is, you know, up to 56 vehicles. Initially we sent two in the quick reaction force, so they were on 24 hours" notice. They flew in with a company of infantry to secure the airstrip, the airport at Dili. Then we got a notice to send a troop. So we sent a troop a week later and then we got a signal saying and, ironically, I answered the phone at Squadron and they said, "What are you doing there?", you know, "What do you mean? We've sent a troop over." and he said, "No, the whole squadron was supposed to go, you've got to week to go."
So I told the OC, "We're all going". And off we went and packed up and quickly moved to Darwin and, and then boarded the ship, the boat that was the cat, the one that we sort of hired and painted grey, the Jervis Bay and put vehicles on that and the rest of them put on ships and went straight over, 10 hours later we landed in Dili …
No idea about the history of it. Um, we quickly learned about the historic from 1975 to everything from the Australians that were killed in Balibo through to the independence and how it all came about and Indonesia was controlling it, and fast forward to a week's notice and you're going.
