Digital storytelling

My first recollection of Kelvin Grove was in 1953 following National Service, and in the corp situation life was more relaxed because you were engaged in what you were actually trained to do. The batteries were keen, because of the shortage of NCOs and others, to recognise people and develop them as they could. So life went along fairly quickly and within no time, after a couple of courses, one would find themselves a bombardier, maybe a year later a sergeant, and if they liked what they were doing at that stage, they would put them onto an officers' course and give them a first appointment as a lieutenant on probation. At that stage, life was very very interesting because the lieutenant would normally be in charge of gun position, or he may work in another specialised area, such as signals and the like. We had night parades, weekend bivouacs, what we call night and morning courses which developed the corp expertise. And all of this was designed to bring what was a very efficient and cohesive battery, which ultimately moulded into a cohesive regiment. I was very proud of the regiment when it got to its higher levels, because as a reserve unit, we were not that far from being battle ready. Life is not all work, particularly for the sergeants and officers—they had the fun of the various messes, functions, and such things as the Regimental Ball which was held in the Nine Battalion hall, at the far-end south-east corner of Kelvin Grove. Beyond that, young officers were usually called on to fire salutes on such occasions as Queen’s Birthday and in my case, another occasion for a salute which we fired with canon, emulating the performance of civilians with the development of the colony of 100 years. One was fired at the junction of Breakfast Creek and the Brisbane River at Newstead House, and the second one with the simulated arrival of Governor Bowen, was fired at the Botanic Gardens. Like everyone else, eventually you get married, and with the pressures of work and the pressures of the service, something has to give. Unfortunately, in my case and so many others, work ran out because of the extra association with activities of being married. That briefly, is my association with Kelvin Grove.