Tobruk’s job well done

By LCDR Tony Stringer

Tobruk's boats crew conduct a forward search as she arrives in Bougainville.

LSBM Dusty Miller during diving operations in Loloho.

Ship's Aviation Officer LCDR Tony Keany who has been involved in Bougainville since 1998

Working in the machinery spaces during an ECCD, WOMT Blue Langridge is in charge.

Tobruk cheers ship during the official hand over ceremony.

On August 23 HMAS Tobruk (CMDR Peter Laver) sailed from the port of Loloho, Bougainville, closing another chapter in ADF operations abroad as she did so.

August 23 marked the last day of ADF activity on the Island (Op Bel Isi) as the Bougainville Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) handed all remaining PMG facilities over to the local population in a short ceremony.

Her departure also ends Tob­ruk’s long and often unheralded support to Op Bel Isi.

Two members of the ship’s present crew, WO Steve Daffy and LCDR Tony Keany, were members of Tobruk at the start of this important work.

Her work began in 1994 providing support for the initial peace negotiations between the warring factions.

Then, in November 1997 she was recalled to Sydney from Guam to load stores to support the lodgment of the Truce Monitoring Group (TMG).

In company with HMAS Success she arrived in Loloho in early December 1997.

Tobruk returned to Sydney after unloading, leaving Success to provide offshore support to the TMG, which was expanding its monitoring process by setting up satellite outposts around the island.

Tobruk relieved Success on January 2 1998. She remained in the area providing support functions until the opposing factions negotiated a peace in her Wardroom. She returned to Sydney on April 15 that year.

From then on Tobruk conducted several more logistic support deployments to Bougainville.

Prior to the August 23 handover, the final significant task remaining was to extract the remaining military equipment, trucks and other heavy equipment, along with the remaining ADF personnel with the PMG back to Australia.

The ship’s company worked quickly to achieve the back-load without significant interruption or incident.

At the same time they had a couple of opportunities to view the areas surrounding Loloho on the central eastern side of the island by helicopter and 4WD. The sheer beauty of the place impressed all.

The most striking aspect LCDR Keany noticed during his long association with the country is the amount of destruction over the ten-year period of the civil war.

The beautiful and well-appointed township of Arawa has been totally destroyed.

The hospitals, shops, schools, services, and utilities have all gone leaving a population with a subsistence existence.

The feeling of desolation is in direct contrast to the positive and enthusiastic attitude displayed by the TMG and the PMG in assisting the Bouganvilleans to bring peace and stability to their country.

The ship’s diving team took the opportunity to progress continuation training in the pristine 31 degrees Celsius waters around the port.

While the port visit was brief, the opportunity to work in this idyllic locality on such a significant peacekeeping activity cannot be understated.

Tobruk is now looking forward to her arrival in Australia to celebrate a job well done.

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