Highland fling
RAN part of Scottish spectacle.

All photos provided by Defence photographers from Navy, Air Force and Army. Main photo, top right, shows Drum Major CPO Andrew Stapleton leading the RAN Band Sydney detachment durinig rehearsals.

In a spectacle of colour and sound, the Sydney detachment of the RAN Band and members of the Federation Guard stood proudly among the international contingent at this month’s Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Held against a purpose built backdrop of a life sized version of Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle, some 325 Pipes and Drums filed through the castle gatehouse onto the grounds of Sydney’s Aussie Stadium.

The RAN Band of 40 members was led by Drum Major CPO Andrew Stapleton while ahead, LEUT Michelle Coleman conducted and led the salute to Chief of the Defence Force, General Peter Cosgrove in the final performance.
Capacity crowds of 27,000 people packed the stadium over six nights to see the Tattoo’s “Salute to Australia”.

The RAN Band was joined by fellow ADF bands, the Australian Army Band Sydney and the Royal Australian Air Force Air Command Band.

International bands and performances included The Bands of the British Armed Forces, The Top Secret Drum Corps and The New Zealand Army Band, while the Queen’s Colour Squadron performed a series of intricate precision drill patterns with over 300 movements without a single command.

Well-known Navy singer, ABMUSN Tracy Burke joined two soldiers and an airman on stage to give an emotional rendition of We are Australian.

Meanwhile, the Australian Federation Guard provided a full Guard of Honour during the opening and closing ceremonies and took the Royal or General Salute at the end of each performance.

The Guard also provided two Castle drawbridge sentries during the opening stages of the Tattoo.

Did you know?

• Edinburgh Castle was built in the 11th century on volcanic rock and was reinforced in the 16th century.
  The replica “Edinburgh Castle” purpose built for the EMT was built to a 1:1 scale and stood at 20 metres high (not including the flagpole) and 26.5 metres wide.
  
  
• The castle was constructed from scaffold shell construction with cladding surfaces.
  
  
• Over 1100 square metres of ply, 2000 square metres shade cloth, 12,000 litres of paint and plaster, two kilometres of shock cord and 468 square metres of drapes was used in the construction.
  
  
  
• The first Edinburgh Tattoo took place in 1950 with eight items in the program.
• More than 11 million people have attended the Tattoo. The annual audience is around 217,000.
  
  
• Around 100 million people see the Tattoo each year on international television.
• The average number of participants is 1,000.
  
  
• Around 35 miles of cabling (the distance from Edinburgh to Glasgow) is required.
• Thirty countries have been represented at the Tattoo.
  
  
• One woman has featured as the lone piper.
  
  
• Officer Cadet Elaine Marnoch appeared in 1977.
  
  
• Not a single performance of the Tattoo has ever been cancelled.
  
  
• The Tattoo has always been staged at Edinburgh Castle.
  
  
• The word Tattoo comes from the closing time cry in the inns of the Low Countries during the 17th and 18th centuries - Doe den tap toe (turn off the taps).

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