The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Thirteen Gurkha soldiers and a British Gurkha officer recently took part in a training exercise in Papua-New Guinea with members of the 1st Battalion, Pacific Islands Regiment. The Gurkhas, members of the 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles, spent six weeks in Papua-New Guinea with the Pacific Islands Regiment. The two regiments have been allied since 1954, and a system of exchanging officers has operated since 1963, but this was the first time that Gurkha troops had visited the Territory. One of the most important phases of the training visit was a 70-mile patrol. The patrol covered an area from Tari, in Papua-New Guinea's Southern Highlands, to Nomad River, in the Western District. It took the troops over mountainous country covered with dense primary rain forest. Led by Second Lieutenant Phillip Joyce from Newcastle, NSW, commander in "A" Company of the 1st Battalion, Pacific Islands Regiment, and the Gurkha officer, Second Lieutenant Paul Gay, from Plymouth, England, the 30-man patrol left for Tari by RAAF Caribou transport aircraft from Port Moresby's Jackson's Airport. At Tari they were welcomed by the Assistant District Commissioner, Mr Lyle Hanson, from Rockhampton, Queensland, and a group of local villagers who showed particular interest in the Gurkhas' khukris. The patrol then moved out to climb across the mountain range to Nomad where they were airlifted by another Caribou back to Port Moresby and their base at Taurama Barracks, home of 1st Battalion, Pacific Island Regiment which is acting as hosts for the Gurkhas' visit. The 70 mile patrol was just part of six weeks hard training for the visiting Gurkha soldiers. (Also identified: Sergeant Bob Hann of Collie, WA; Gurkha Color-Sergeant Kumarsing Rai, Nepal; Flight Officer Bob May of South Windsor, NSW)
Troops of the Pacific Islands Regiment have no need for artificial hazards to be written into their training programme. The natural jungle of Papua/ New Guinea and the fast-flowing, crocodile infested
A remote and largely unexplored region of Papua New Guinea is currently being probed by three patrols from the 1st Battalion, Pacific Islands Regiment. Part of the no stop patrolling programme of the
Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, The Pacific Islands Regiment, moved into the field in a roar of live ammunition recently, for their annual exercise near Port Moresby. The soldiers are from Taurama Barr
Three Australian Army patrols are currently moving through a large area of the Morobe district of Papua-New Guinea to gain the goodwill of the Kukukuku tribes, once regarded as the most feared people
Civic action tasks are being undertaken on a grand scale by members of the Pacific Islands Regiment in the Lumi district of the Sepik in Papua-New Guinea. Road construction work is one of the projects
Ten Australian CMF officers had a taste this week of what it is like to go out on patrol in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. As part of a two week familiarisation visit designed to give them first han
