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Road to Alice
By FLGOFF Skye Smith
Volume 49, No. 11, June 28, 2007 |
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WELCOME BACK: WOFF Craig Wiggins presents the scroll extending 1RSU’s Freedom of Entry into Alice Springs to the police commissioner during the traditional ceremony.
Photo by CPL Shane Gidall |
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Inset: AC Tyron Shields participates in a Boulles competition against locals at the Old Timer’s Retirement Village during 1RSU’s special 15th anniversary visit to Alice Springs.
Photo by CPL Shane Gidall |
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Number 1 Radar Surveillance Unit (1RSU) from RAAF Base Edinburgh is 15 years young.
To acknowledge the milestone, 52 members returned to its alma mater at the former Jindalee Facility, Alice Springs, in April.
During the visit, the detachment exercised its Freedom of Entry to the town and participated in a range of activities in the community.
Alice Springs Mayor Fran Kilgariff said she was proud to welcome 1RSU at the Freedom of Entry ceremony.
“It is always a pleasure to perform this ceremony, which is the highest honour a community can bestow upon a military unit. It was even more special to do so in the lead-up to Anzac Day,” Ms Kilgariff said.
The honour was originally bestowed upon 1RSU on July 1, 1995.
CO 1RSU WGCDR John Hurrell said he was pleased the unit could return to Alice Springs each year to a community that has welcomed it since its formation.
“Holding the key to the township of Alice Springs is a distinctive honour that illustrates the strong bond between the community and members of 1RSU,” WGCDR Hurrell said.
OC 41WG GPCAPT Chris Westwood said he was delighted to see first-hand the close bonds 1RSU had forged with Alice Springs and the continuation of this special relationship.
“This deployment provided a great opportunity for the newer members of 1RSU to see the original operating site and to experience the history 1RSU has with the people of Alice Springs,” he said.
The visit included an Anzac Day Dawn Service, followed by a march through the town and commemorative service hosted by 1RSU’s WOFF Craig Wiggins.
A visit to the School of the Air provided students with an interesting lesson as XO 1RSU SQNLDR Julien Greening spoke to them online about the significance of Anzac Day.
Students from Braitling Primary School also had an opportunity to speak to 1RSU members.
Later, the strong bond with the community continued as members lent a hand at the Alice Springs Old Timer’s Retirement Village, pruning bushes and cleaning gutters.
The work finished, visitors then competed in the highly-anticipated Boulles competition against the Old Timer’s.
LACWs Ellen Beggs and Emma Brunzlow took out the honours for 1RSU – the first time in the competition’s history that 1RSU had won the event.
But that was the unit’s only sporting success. The formerly-undefeated 1RSU cricket team lost the 1RSU v British Aerospace (BAE) cricket trophy, going down by five wickets to the BAE technicians who maintain the Alice Springs radar.
As part of the annual visit, unit members also conducted operations at the original Jindalee Facility at Alice Springs site, where 1RSU’s history began 15 years ago.
| 1RSU’s Alice connection |
- 1RSU stood up at Alice Springs on July 1, 1992, when it operated Australia’s only over-the-horizon radar (OTHR).
- With fewer than 50 personnel, 1RSU became known for the close bonds its members and their families made with the local community.
- In 1999, the unit relocated to RAAF Base Edinburgh to operate the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN).
- Every year since its move, 1RSU has returned to Alice Springs to embrace its close ties with the city and participate in its Anzac Day activities. |
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