Mt Useful / Licola camp October 1982

In the winter of 1982, 22 Construction Regiment comprising of 105 Construction Sqn, 106 Construction Sqn and 107 Plant Sqn moved into Glenmaggie for specialised project works in the East Gippsland area, which was still snow covered and polar like when advance elements of 22 Construction Regiment arrived in early October and the wintry weather continued.

The regiment’s CO was the imperial Lt Col Warren Hardy, in the job since mid 1981, with Maj Brian Chirgwin his 2IC.

Works Officer, Maj Oliver Raymond co-ordinated the individual projects within the overall plan

Major Oliver Raymond (Retired)recalls;

“That was quite a job on its own, as the bridges were unable to take the load of the Dozer on its low loader, and so the machine had to be unloaded, walked through the rivers and then reloaded on the float at each bridge. A regular transport unit supplied the low loader, and I gave the WO2 in charge a few grey hairs with what I asked him to do!”

For the first time, 22 Regiment’s three squadrons operated separately and looked after their own stores, messing and fuel. Between 2-17 October, from a camp near Glenmaggie (five kilometres from regimental headquarters).

107 Squadron under Capt Howard Ellis built 12 kilometers of road on Black Range Spur; the Forests Commission supplemented the 107 Plant Sqn planties’ skills by providing a D7 Dozer with a tree pusher.

Colonel Howard Ellis RFD (Retired) recalls;

“When the Country Roads Board visited, I think it was Tom Russell (Chairman) and Noel Allanson (Secretary) looking to the right to see the track snaking into the distance, looking left to see a similar sight and saying, ‘Howard, this is a great piece of work.’ I said, ‘It should be, we have seven CRB’s engineers on the job, plus supervisors and a good handful of your best operators.’

Halfway up the valley, 106 Squadron under Maj Peter McCulloch resheeted roads, erected a steel building at Lions Village, Licola and laid a sewer rising main.

Colonel Howard Ellis RFD (Retired) also recalls;

“106 Const Sqn, under Maj Peter McCulloch, was building a rising main and other MMBW-type works at Licola. I was incredibly impressed with the efforts of the sappers of 106 in preparing the trench, placing the rising main pvc pipe and backfilling. If they put on a spurt to impress the visitors, they certainly succeeded.”

Bearing the brunt of the elements, 105 Squadron under Maj Bob Klos camped in the snow gums to build a four kilometre access track to Mt Useful lookout. Understandably, given the provenance of its engineers, witty observers suggested it approximated the dimensions of an irrigation canal. In fact when very heavy rain fell, it also resembled one. A four-man gang cut firewood throughout.

It was a great camp, particularly after all the hardship, freezing at heights, and a credit to the planners and organisers.”

An incredulous Wayne Kenelly had just transferred from the infantry to 105 Squadron. Wearing his minimal rifleman’s field gear, he met the taciturn L Cpl Frank McCarthy at Swan Street who drove Wayne to Mount Useful; here he soon found himself drawing heaps of extra bedding and operating roadmaking plant in the snow.

Brian Chirgwin recalls the arrival of a regular tipper platoon at Glenmaggie; Brian asked its young lieutenant if the soldiers had enough gear, and learnt that their OC at Puckapunyal had decreed that they should only take and use basic webbing. The subaltern was very reluctant to defy this order.

Brian arranged quietly for extra bedding and 11×11 tents to be loaded on the rear truck. The drivers erected their ‘hutchies’ – light nylon personal shelters – on arrival at Mount Useful and gamely bedded down. Nearby sappers were not surprised however to hear during the night the “thunk, thunk, thunk’ of hammer on tent peg as 11x11s replaced the hutchies.

Before the platoon left Glenmaggie, Brian had warned drivers of the perils of the Licola Road. Six kilometres out, one truck plunged 30 metres over the side and broke in two; fortunately its WRAAC driver was uninjured. The RAEME recovery team did a superb job and soon had both pieces of truck ready for transport back to Pucka. At the works site, inexperience led to three or four tippers rolling on their sides, but the young drivers soon got the hang of the alpine conditions.

Skip forward to May 2018

In May 2018 COL Glenn Fenton took a photo of a rock that he saw at the intersection of Springs Rd, Greenhills Rd and South Rd, Licola, -37.6715,146.5131 near Mt Useful. The rock had 105 Const Sqn and 22 Construction Regiment painted on it that was nearly all weatherbeaten and fading. (Photo 1)

Glenn contacted Jim Davis to ask if the Association would be interested in restoring the monument.

We approached the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (DELWP) for permission to upgrade the monument with a plaque and received approval from the DELWP to carry out these works.

The reply from Jim Noonan, DELWP Planning Manager, Macalister reads;

“Yes, in principle we support the installation of a plaque that recognises the work done to construct these roads within State Forest by the Army. As you could imagine we receive numerous requests from the general public to erect memorials for all sorts of reasons; however as this request directly relates to the history of the Crown’s road construction and that a memorial, of sorts, already exists we think that such a memorial (or upgrade) is appropriate.”

As a result of this a History and Heritage trail was instigated where it was decided that a programme to mark points of interest of the Royal Australian Engineers history in Victoria would be created.

This involves nominated sites having a stainless steel plaque with a brief description and Quick Reference (QR) code engraved on it. the QR code would contain further details and photos if available.

In November 2018 the first plaque on the new History and Heritage trail was installed on the rock for all to recognise the works carried out in this area by the Victorian Royal Australian Engineers. (Photos 2 and 3)

Sources;

Swan Street Sappers

22 Construction Regiment Unit History 1950-2000

Mel Constable RAEAV