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The Rye RSL was busy at work getting the statue ready for the big day. John Wilson and his staff cleaned the statue and then laid a wreath in preparation for ANZAC Day.

John Goodchap (June 1974) visited for a dawn wreath laying.

David Irving-James (UK Ex Long Look instructor 1976) sent through his ANZAC Day experience from the UK. The notes are below including a poem he wrote.

ANZAC Day not forgotten in this little part of England .

Some gave a little,

and some gave their all .

               Your countrymen and brothers

               may lay in England’s distant lands

                but I make to you this promise.   

                 they lay safe in English hands

                They may never see the sunset 

                    on your Australian shore

              but they will share in my sunrise 

                safe in my land forever more 

David Irving-James

ANZAC Day 2024

Yes, it’s on again. Set the 16th July 2024 in your diaries for our next Alumni lunch. The Kedron Wavell Services Club (Brisbane) will once again be the venue.

Graduates, all staff, partners and friends of Portsea are welcome to attend. At our last lunch we had graduates from the first to last class attending including fly-ins from Hobart, Sydney and overseas. If you are travelling through why not join us?

Over 100 enjoyed the last event so let’s see if we can improve on that. Further details will be published once we have the finer details.

Following my email to you in April, I am writing to update you on further progress of the Point Nepean Research and Education Field Station.

As communicated, in April the university partners, Monash University and the University of Melbourne, agreed to inject additional funding to support the development of the Field Station, supplementing the $17 million in grant funding already received from the Commonwealth.

We are pleased to inform you that the project team has finalised the conceptual design for the Field Station. The design will be submitted for planning approval early in the new year, including the required consultation process.

The design envisages the Field Station as being a vibrant teaching, learning and research hub bringing together students, researchers and the local community in a unique coastal and marine environment. It will be capable of hosting significant coursework and research onsite, including immersive student experiences in a unique landscape rich with culture, history and biodiversity.

The Field Station will comprise the adaptive reuse of the existing Badcoe Hall, transforming it into a research and teaching facility, complete with laboratories and collaborative spaces. A new purpose-built short-stay university accommodation facility will be built between Badcoe Hall and Jackson Road, allowing students and research groups to stay onsite to maximise the teaching and research potential offered by the Field Station.

The design no longer includes the proposed seawater tanks and piping system for storing live marine samples onsite. This decision was based on the need to ensure the Field Station is sustainable in the long term given the ongoing maintenance and operational costs of the seawater tanks and piping system. This decision allows for greater flexibility in the design, meaning the Field Station can cater to the full range of teaching and research opportunities envisaged by our academics, allowing us to better maximise the use of the Field Station.

The study of marine life will continue within the breadth of research carried out at the Field Station, the location of which will readily facilitate the study of locally sourced marine samples without the need for permanent live-storage facilities.

With this exciting design milestone reached, the project team will advance our community engagement by returning to the Point Nepean Portsea Market in March 2024, providing the opportunity for the community to view and learn more about the designs. We are also planning further community briefing sessions in the new year.

We look forward to updating you further on the project and sharing visuals of the design in the coming months as we progress through government and regulatory approvals. Please reach out should you wish to discuss the project further or need more information, we are also more than happy to arrange tailored briefings with you.

Kind regards,

Jane Kasby

On behalf of the Point Nepean Research and Education Field Station project team.

Parks Victoria, the current managers of the Point Nepean National Park have asked for some support in relation to Portsea. The following is the detail of a request from them in relation to maintaining interest and history of the Officer Cadet School.

This request includes information from past staff as well as past cadets.

Please fee free to respond directly with a copy to the Alumni (webmaster@ocsportsea.org) for record purposes.

Welcome back to your Officer training grounds here at Point Nepean National Park.

I am collecting stories and memories from Officer Cadets that trained here with a view to using these in a future story telling display of the history of the OCS at the Quarantine Station. 

If you would like to share any stories, memories, or photos of your time here with the permission to potentially have them on public display please contact me via details below. They can be as brief or as long as you like – remember to include dates you were here, your Platoon and your rank.

Thank you –

PointNepean@parks.vic.gov.au

Pamela Fellows

Visitor and Community Engagement

Point Nepean National Park

T (03) 8427 2463

PO Box 485, Sorrento Victoria 3943

www.parks.vic.gov.au

Craig Poppy Johnston is running a test run on an OCS Mini Flag for the Christmas Market. Check out his post on the OCS Facebook page and order there.

Our second lunch was held on 18th July at the Kedron Wavell Services Club who sponsored us with venue hire. A successful event with over 100 in attendance. There were a few late withdrawals and apologies so I am sure we can push the limits a bit more for next year. (Plan for around the same time – mid July.) The room is capable of holding 200 so there’s a target.

We had visitors from around the world – Hobart, Shoalhaven and Bangladesh!!! Two of these were from the first class – June 1952 – well done.

We held a raffle for a book – For Valour presented by Richard Clark – and a bottle of red wine which raised in excess of $1,400.00 for Legacy. Paul Asbury also presented a medallion as a lucky door prize.

Here is a short video with a few photos just to show  those who weren’t able to attend.

Click on the photos to see full size.

As we draw close to ANZAC Day, the Rye RSL and its members support the OCS Alumni by laying a wreath at the statue.

We have now finalised the arrangements for our Brisbane luncheon on Tuesday 18 July 2023. We will be having a buffet luncheon in the Kitty Hawk Room at the Kedron Wavell Services Club commencing at 11.30am. Drinks will be available from a cash bar.

Partners and past staff are welcome.

There is plenty of parking available at the venue with drop off available at the door.

Kedron Wavell Services Club has, once again, kindly donated the cost of staff and room hire which provides a significant saving of $650.00 to us for this event.

Payment for the event is now available online through Kedron Wavell’s internal booking system. The price per person will be $55.00 which includes all booking charges. Just follow this link https://kedron-wavellltd.iwannaticket.com.au/event/ocs-alumni-annual-lunch-Mjg3NTM

Please ensure that you include your class (e.g. Dec68) and the name of your partner if attending. Any special dietary needs should be included to assist with catering.

Please note that bookings will close on Monday 10 July 2023.

Carl Corbett 6/83 has provided the following photos on the rings developed so far. Read the Specifications on the upper left of the image and the Photo attribution on the lower right to identify the differences.  Featured ring numbers are shown bottom left of the image.

Check out Carl’s comments on the website in the Post Archives for October 2019. The full Ring Proposal is there including some recent Comments if you scroll down.

And here is a short video on the early prototype, Mar 2022, post COVID response lock down delays.  From the class 6/83 volunteers’ Prototyping Phase.  This video is courtesy of Ash Pagett 6/83.

Fulfillment Report for the FCS Prototyping & Fulfillment Test Drive Phases of the project. Click on the above image to open in a readable format. Lines/rows 10-13 rings are still be completed prior to closing out the related phases of the project and proceeding on to the Hard Launch phase on 29 Mar. 2023.

Here is the OCS Portsea Ring Project’s new product range, which incorporates all the buyer feedback and preferences encountered to date.  It was finalised today (3/02/2023) with the assistance of the project’s graphic designer in Singapore.

Please note that the next update will provide details of the purchase process. Any enquiries in relation to these rings should be directed to the Project Coordinator Carl Corbet – carl.corbett@azea.com

After talking with Rob Murray, Rob Jones took up the challenge of organising an all class get together down in the Apple Isle. Here are his notes from the event.

Well in the end seven of us veterans of OCS , plus one partner, gathered for lunch at the New Sydney Hotel in Hobart.

Attendees from left to right as you look at it Bill Kaine , June 63, Bruce Cook, December 73, David Solomon, December 54, Mark Cooper, June 84, Rob Jones, December 72, Margaret Manning partner to Graeme, they’ve been married 68 years I think. Graeme Manning, June 52 an original,  and Denis Pegg,  June 63.

It was a great afternoon. Several of us still there closing in on 5 o’clock. Amazing really the bond a place like Portsea built. Many of us had never met before but you would have thought we had been together as friends for life.  Well worth the effort.

Loyalty and Service

Rob, thanks a lot for organising this and let’s hope you have many more. Perhaps the challenge is now there for other areas. Our SE Queensland lunch is looking good for 6 December. There are over 60 booked so far!