After 10 weeks recruit training at Singleton, I began my Medical Corps training at Healesville near Melbourne. That was fun living in tents in winter having to fold up the tent flaps each morning after cracking the ice off the canvas.

This was my first experience with Papua New Guinean soldiers as there were a number of them on the same course. I vividly remember them on parade clad only in their jungle greens shivering violently. They had left winter gear at home as they did not understand what they were for.

It was only about five weeks into corps training that I, along with quite a few others, were summoned to Watsonia Barracks in Melbourne for an interview to transfer to the Education Corps.

I waited all day while everyone else had their interview. I remember being called in at about 5pm to a room where there were four men in civilian clothes who asked me one question – ‘How would I feel if I had to sleep in barracks full on native soldiers?’

I remember saying I couldn’t see a problem and that was it. To my surprise, I was the only one chosen. What surprised me most was that I was an eight stone (about 51 kilos) whipstick with only partial first year university studies and not a great athlete whereas others had degrees and were great sportsmen.

Anyway I was transferred to Melbourne, told it would be a week before the paperwork was finished so went home to the Gold Coast for that week. I asked if I could get the PNG plane from Brisbane but I was instructed to fly back to Melbourne before going to Port Moresby – typical Army.

I walked from the aircraft at Jackson Field to be hit by the heat having come from a Melbourne winter. I was the first of four new sergeants: me (Gold Coast), Peter Darmody (Goulburn), Brian Davies (Melbourne) and Ken Morcom (Adelaide).

We were deployed to Murray Barracks to reinforce the education officers already there who were to go home in November 1967. I don’t remember how many were in the original group but two of them were Neil Gibson and Mick Turnbull.

At the time, our teaching facilities were in LEP (locally enlisted personnel) huts – we had two or three in which to teach. It was some months later that we moved into a new purpose built two storey training centre.

I remember sitting in the doorway of the LEP on that first afternoon and it took just minutes before my jungle greens were a ball of sweat. It took some time to acclimatise.

It was just weeks before I was orderly sergeant for an entire weekend. This was the scariest prospect for someone who hadn’t finished corps training.  As a new sergeant I found a few of the tasks difficult.

One was  drilling soldiers who had been placed on charge (especially while the adjutant was watching); another was lowering and raising the flag in front of the Brigadier’s house (making sure it wasn’t upside down) and I found it hard to stay awake all night patrolling the barracks given that major roads cut right through its centre.

It wasn’t long before I went on the first of many flights around the then territory. These were organised by Warrant Officer 2 Dan Winkel (a regular Education Corps soldier). They included the Mt Hagen Show (possibly the greatest experience I had in PNG), Popondetta, Tapini hill station and weekends in Rabaul and Goroka.

We would usually hire a DC3 and then on-sell the tickets to whoever wanted to come – I don’t think there was ever a spare seat. The trip to Tapini had to be in a small high winged plane as the airport was on the side of a mountain with a massive drop to the river below.

These trips were the highlight of my time in PNG. I missed one trip – to the Trobriand Islands. I’d bought a 50cc Honda motorcycle the previous week and was returning to the barracks when I fell off going up the hill from Port Moresby to Boroko. (I had never ridden a bike before and didn’t know how to go around corners.

I ended up in the hospital at Taurama Barracks totally concussed and didn’t remember anything until the next day. I’m not sure whether it was three or all four of us new sergeants who bought the red Hondas and we spent many weekends going in all directions to the ends of the all the roads leading out of Port Moresby.

Our official duties as teachers were not onerous. We would have a block of soldiers for six weeks with each week broken into 45 periods. I think my workload was to teach only six to 10 of those periods a week.

Probably the funniest experience was to march the soldiers along the public road to and from their barracks (my marching instructions were quite poor). We would then have a week off before the next block.

During that week our Captain would organise something for us. One trip was to walk a short distance down the Kokoda Trail while another was a fishing trip in a landing craft to the reef off Port Moresby.

One official trip was in a Caribou along the north coast of New Guinea to Wewak, overnight in Vanimo (an army outpost near the Indonesian border) then to Green River in the highlands (also near the Indonesian border) before returning to Port Moresby.

One issue that disturbed me greatly was the fines imposed on PNG soldiers for minor misdemeanours such as twisted bootlaces. The fines were those imposed on Australian soldiers even though the PNG soldier received just a fraction of that pay.

This meant a silly fine might take almost a week’s wages and the soldiers were still expected to feed their families. In the end, I was asked to draw up a schedule of fines based on their wages. I don’t remember if this had any effect.

One of the privileges of being in PNG as a Sergeant was that we shared a ‘wash iron boy’ to wash and starch our uniforms. I remember talking to him about PNG independence.

He pointed out one of the European houses on the hills overlooking the barracks saying that house would be his after independence. That included the white woman in the house. Fortunately, events after independence did not descend to that sort of chaos.

Because of my light workload, during 1968 I studied Applied Math 1 externally from the University of Queensland to finish my first year studies. This was helpful in that I took advantage of the post national service scholarship and then a subsequent Commonwealth scholarship to finish my Science degree and to point me on my new path to becoming a computer programmer.

Because I took no leave during my time in PNG, I left Port Moresby in late November 1968 and was discharged from Enoggera Barracks the following day. I used 1969 to re-acquaint myself with civilian life and taught at Miami State High School before continuing my university studies the following year.

Frank Cordingley today

I married in 1976 to Judy and we have a son who is a Mechanical Engineer. We have two grandchildren.

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Frank’s career as a computer professional saw work for the Department of Air
(Air Force) in Canberra, the Department of Main Roads and with Queensland
Health, rising to the position of Chief Scientist. Read more about Frank Cordingley