Command by Lieutenant Colonel James Norrie OBE, 1959-62

The handover to Lieutenant Colonel James Norrie was quick and brief. Luke wanted to go very badly, he was going home to Perth and for discharge. Norrie was a breath of fresh air. He came to the Regiment from Tasmania where he had the NS Company, and he was ready to burst with lots of fresh ideas. He took briefings from all three company commanders in Taurama and saw the need to visit the outstations as a matter of urgency. He read the patrol reports back a few years and called the Adjutant in to ask why there were no patrols done in Papua. Good question. Dick replied that the two companies returning from outstation contained three types of people. There were the ones who were time expired and elected discharge, a second lot who were due for leave having signed on for another two years. And a minority of long timers and recent recruits not due for either discharge or leave. With them the company commanders attempted to do training of some sort at Goldie or at the Range, but fatigue duties every second week left only a handful of men available should patrolling be contemplated. The companies had to be ready to receive recruits from the Scholl/Macgregor machine at Goldie. There was also the inevitable selection of smart privates for promotion and the CSMs were itching to get at them ready for the next outstation stint. Actually, there was never enough time to get everything set to go again. To also complicate things, along with Colonel Norrie, new company commanders Majors Neylan and PG Latham had arrived. Yeah, being Adjutant was fun.
Arrangements were made for the CO to visit outstations. Acting 2i/c Major Barrett has been replaced by Major Bruce Trenerry and an assistant adjutant had been found in an Ordinance subaltern on exchange for experience in an infantry unit. Lieutenant Graeme Loughton was going to find what adjutants did. The CO insisted that the Adjutant accompany him and the Padre, Chaplain Bloxham was to come too. The same route was followed but at Lae, the PNGVR Company Commander took the Colonel around the town, out to the War Cemetery and to Nadzab. At Wewak he was met by Colonel Elliot-Smith a veteran of NGIB and a visit to Bishop Leo Arkfeld at the ornate mission was a highlight. Peter Mansell was on his best behaviour and the Adjutant and Padre found out what it was like to ride in the back of a Norseman. D Coy Commander James did his best but there were just not enough things for the Colonel to do. He went over to see Father Ray and he tramped up towards the Border for a bit but came back a bit pink. The Kiap didn’t have much to say, but Big Jim made him go into detail about the Border, where was it, how was it marked, how did he get there or had he ever tried to get there. The Kiap was only a young fellow, and he was no match in this strident examination. By the time Jim had finished with him he was nearly in tears.
Father Ray came over on the Sunday and said Mass and most of the company attended as they usually did. Bloxham attracted only about ten faithfuls. That about wrapped up the visit to Vanimo. The trip to Manus was uneventful. The CO called on Captain Tapp RAN, NOICNEA who took charge much to the disappointment of Peter Latham who had a raft of things for the Colonel to do. The time slipped by, Rabaul turned out to be a sightseeing tour. Barrett had the good sense to keep on his plantation on the Bainings. Home through Lae, and the Colonel seemed to be happy enough, but he was full of things he wanted to do. The main priority was to see the Administrator to propose some patrolling in the Fly Delta and to continue the search for an alternative to the Kokoda Track. Also, he was keen to see if there was a way up to the Bulldog Track from the South. It was all very ambitious, and the response turned out to be lukewarm mainly from Doctor Gunther, Deputy Administrator and the District Commissioner Mr Skinner. Undeterred, the CO set the Adjutant on a task to find a suitable officer to go to Daru and talk to anyone who would talk back and to come back with any decent patrol routes.
Lt Jock Irving was selected, and he got as good a brief from the Administration. Jock, with a pocket full of coins for canoes and bribes flew off to Daru. A month passed. Not a word from Jock. It was a worrying time. “Please Jock, tell me where you are” Dick told the map every morning. Some weeks later a grubby Jock blew into Taurama in a car driven by some mate of his and reported direct to the CO. What transpired in that exchange nobody will ever know. But Jock wrote an excellent report and he described canoe trips as far as he could go up the Fly. A walk and wade through low country to where he guessed the border might be. He turned to the South and kept walking until he hit the coast just North of Cape York. He was given a ride back to Daru. The whole deal was an excellent experience, but it was suspected that Tom Daly gave Norrie a serve for not sending a small group. Nothing was ever said. A series of patrols were planned by Greg Warland now the Intelligence Officer/Assistant Adjutant.
The Director of Infantry caught up with the fact that Flint had not done the prerequisite courses for promotion and determined that a TAC 3, Mortar Course and of all things an Adjutants’ Course must be done. So, Adrian Clunies- Ross was appointed Adjutant and Flint was assigned to B Company, commanded by Captain Wally Campbell MC who was soon to depart for Vanimo with Flint to follow soon after. An extension of service in PNG was offered and accepted. The next fourteen weeks were spent at Canungra and Seymour where he found that the duties of an Adjutant were nothing like what he had been doing for the last two years, that the 3-inch mortar was a noisy, heavy scatter gun about to be replaced by the more accurate US 81 mm Mortar and that most of the fire procedures would change. It was a good holiday. He returned partly qualified for major and his report said that he was qualified to be a number three on a mortar crew (not the ranging mortar).

Vol 5: The Outstations …