Following a recent gathering of ex Junior Recruits, discussions have raised the issue of some form of memorial to the Junior Recruit Scheme at the site of the previous HMAS Leeuwin. The consultations extended from these discussions to include a number of people including ex Divisional Staff, the Senior Naval Officer West Australia and the Officer Commanding Leeuwin Barracks. These discussions have led us to form the view that the proposal has merit and should be further investigated. The consultations also indicated that your views and involvement should be considered before we progressed the matter further.

The site at Leeuwin Barracks, as you would be aware, has for many decades been an integral part of the defence facilities in West Australia and a significant component of that was as a training establishment for the Junior Recruit Scheme. Whilst the advice that I have had is very informal, we understand that the facilities may soon pass out of Department of Defence hands and the site transformed for other purposes. As such the need to create a permanent memorial to the servicemen who have served there over the many years has emerged.

Similarly there is perhaps also the need to consider the various fields of conflict that these servicemen were engaged in. Our discussion group who are mostly from the 1963 intakes had many who served in the Indonesian Confrontation and the Vietnam War and there are others (some still serving) who saw active service in East Timor, Solomon Islands and Iraq. One unique aspect of this was that some ex Junior Recruits may have seen active service on passing out of Leeuwin whilst still aged 16. Perhaps something that would not occur today.

The processes that are available to us include the support of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs who have a funding arrangement for the creation of memorials of this nature. At this time it has not been established what the scope of the proposed memorial would be and as such the costs. Some thought has been given to perhaps just having a call for donations if the scope of the work is small and low cost.

As with all such matters the design and inclusions on a memorial like as this will have protocols to follow. More in particular if we are to included references to the various conflicts. I am also not aware of any ex Junior Recruits who may have lost their lives on active service. Notwithstanding this I have written to the Director of the Australian War Memorial firstly to identify if we would need to follow any particular protocols in this work but also to gain the assistance of an artist from the AWM who could assist in the design and choice of materials.

At this time endeavours are being made to widen our consultation process to make as many as possible aware of what we are proposing. The formation of a smaller consultation group would then assist in determining such matters as the source of funds, design and time frame for the project.

At all stages of our deliberations so far on this it has been the desire of all concerned that your involvement in this project would be highly valued. With this in mind we are seeking your views on the concept of such a memorial and also your guidance and assistance to get the matter up and running.

Yours Sincerely

Ken Dobbie

75 Lovett St
Devonport Tas. 7310

Email: ken.dobbie@bigpond.com