Over 20 interviews were conducted at the Minjungbal Aboriginal Cultural Centre & the Tweed Heads RSL for the Tweed Heads Yarn Ups from 22 to 25 April 2015
The project team spoke with:
Victor Slockee who served in Vietnam as did his brother,
Malcolm Terare shared his experience in the Navy in the 1970s.
Doris Follent talked about her service as a nurse in the Australian Army for four years from 1963 where she rose to the rank of Sergeant.
Denis Smallwood discussed his 12 years in the army including active service in East Timor and Iraq.
Reuben Chadburn spoke about his service including his time in Malaya during Konfrantasi.
Clarence Williams discussed his service in the navy from 1959 to 1971, including service during Konfrontasi and the Vietnam War,
Claude McDermott spoke about his son Shannon’s service in the army in East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Jackie McDonald and Trish Borg spoke about their research on the ‘Men from Solomon’s Row’ in Murwillumbah who enlisted and served in World War 1, including Trish Borg’s grandfather and Jackie McDonald’s great uncle who both served at Gallipoli. In her second interview, Jackie McDonald discussed the service of her grandfather and a number of his brothers who all served in World War 2, and her brother who served in the Navy during the late 1960s.
Chick Booka also spoke briefly about his connections to Solomon’s Row,
Joyce Summers shared information on her father Charlie Morgan’s World War 1 service in France.
Geoffrey Togo talked about his ‘Aunty Sal’, Thelma Slockee, who was a nurse in the Australian Army.
Joyce Frater, joined by her daughter Erica Eurell and Jackie McDonald, spoke about her Great Uncle Curtis who served in World War 1 and other cousins who served in World War 2.
Mary Browning and her daughters Christine Morgan and Marcia Browning spoke about the World War 2 service of Mary’s husband Noel and other family members who served including Sam Browning in World War 1.
Robert Appo spoke about the service of his father Raymond as a conscript and forward scout in Vietnam, and his post-war life back home.
Ruth Conlan spoke about her father Arthur, who signed up when he was 18 and served in the 9th Battalion in New Guinea and the South West Pacific between 1942 and 1946.
James McDermott discussed the service of his father Claude McDermott who was captured and held for 3 and a half years as a POW in Changi in Singapore during World War 2.
