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Visitors
cilmb the gangway to board HMAS Darwin.
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Members
of the NSW Marine Corps carry out a firing practice in front
of the assembled crowd.
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Visitors
onboard HMAS Darwin’s flight deck wait in line to inspect
the Seaking during the Navy Open Day at Garden Island.
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Photos:
ABPH Brenton Freind
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By
Graham Davis
About
9000 people made good use of perfect weather conditions to look
over their Navy earlier this month.
Gathering from an early hour, more than 300 people were waiting
at the Garden Island/Sydney main gate when the RAN held its annual
open day on October 3.
Open for inspection were HMA Ships Darwin, Parramatta, Ballarat
and Huon.
HMAS Stuart was also alongside and, although not open, added to
the spectacle.
A 723 Squadron Squirrel and an 816 Squadron Seahawk were on display.
Also on the program were displays by the Federation Guard’s precision
marching team and CPO David Stopford and his squad of firefighting
instructors from the School of Survivability and Safety at Creswell.
The Sydney detachment of the RAN Band played throughout the day
with the Beat to Quarters and Ceremonial Sunset as their finale.
The NSW Marine Corps, wearing period uniforms, fired cannons at
regular intervals.
The divers from AUSCDTONE had their 10,000-litre water tank in
regular use, with a diver playing noughts and crosses with children
standing outside.
A
static display of weapons and equipment, and an Iraqi mine attracted
a large crowd to the divers throughout the day.
In the gymnasium, Fleet PT instructor WO Mike Winter and his team
had set up an obstacle course for children to run. WO Winter and
other instructors manned the hot food stand.
Task Force 72 had an excellent display of its model ships, while
historic photo presentation of Garden Island, provided by ADI
historian David Stockman, attracted much interest.
The Navy Imagery Unit East provided a photographic display, while
more than 1000 visitors went home with a copy of Navy News courtesy
the Navy News stand.
“We had 9000 visitors,” the public relations officer for the organisers,
HMAS Kuttabul, LEUT Ange Googe said.
“It was a very successful day. “We received great co-operation
from the ships and squadrons.
“We would also like to thank the others who provided displays,
the divers, the band, the firefighters, the Federation Guard,
the Marines, the Task Force 72 people, the PT instructors and
the civilian contractors.
“Kuttabul provided 60 staff for the day.
It took some effort [and] we did not have a lot of lead time.
“Because of the current security situation we only had a short
time to prepare and make it happen.”
