AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND BRANCH
REUNION 2012 CANBERRA
Dear Members and friends,
Best wishes to you and your families and may this year be rewarding to all.
As promised in our previous Newsletter, we have made significant progress with the plans for the ANZAC reunion and march in Canberra. We thank the individuals already committed to this great occasion. We were very fortunate to get 30 rooms booked at the Mercure Hotel under the "RHODESIAN LIGHT INFANTRY" at a rate of $149.00 per night/per room, as their normal quoted rate is $209.00. Should more rooms be required, we will need to know numbers soon. We request all members respond please, on or before Monday 23rd Jan 2012, to confirm whether you will or will not be attending the Canberra reunion and if affirmative, confirm for the march, dinner, and dawn service. Please email names and numbers, especially for the dinner and hotel room. Once we have sufficient numbers to make this Reunion a success, we will give the thumbs up for the final confirmations which will include booking our Guest speaker, Major General Adrian Clunies-Ross, AO, M BE, confirming rooms and dinner at the Mercure and allowing our visitors from abroad, to make their plans for this amazing commitment to cement our reunion with RLI Global. May we also remind all who served with the RLI, members or not, you are welcome to march on the day as long as you have the full attire and if a honorary member, you will march at the back of the RLI, but still part of the parade.
We are also expecting a great showing from our overseas fellow RLIRA members and members of the global ExCo.
We are so pleased to advise our branch membership keeps climbing and many of our new members have not been members of any Group previously, but obviously served in the RLI.
We do ask all those attending to please stay in the Mercure Hotel, as it is so perfectly positioned and we do not have to catch trains, taxis etc. It makes logistics simple and messaging through the front desk to all members allowing quick changes and get-together s easier to communicate. The Mecure/Olim Hotel is regarded as a top rated establishment and is certainly the place to be during the ANZAC celebrations.
The itinerary set by Digger is detailed below and at this stage, remains unchanged. Hotel and airline bookings are the individual's responsibility. If you are planning to attend please email Richard Johnson on rich.johnson@bigpond.com as soon as possible.
Your sincerely,
Richard(Treasurer and Secretary) and Jimmy(Chairman).
Outline of the Canberra ANZAC get together in 24/25 April 2012
- All assemble at Mercure Hotel on Tuesday afternoon, the 24th April (or even on the 23rd for those who also might wish to visit the Australian War Memorial on the 24th , where the Museum exhibits are now all excellent and exhibited in chronological phases from the Boer War though WWI, WWII , Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, Iraq, to Afghanistan and the bits in between. It takes a good day to see it all but we will get some guides to assist us.
- Hold AGM at the Hotel at 1630 - 1730 Hrs on 24th April .
- Have the reunion dinner at the hotel at 1830 Hrs for 1900 hrs for our dinner ending at 2200. There will be an introduction for the evening's events and the itinerary for the whole reunion by Richard Johnson followed by a brief Chairman’s report. I have been asked by Jimmy and Richard to give a summary of the RLI, from formation to her closure and in particular her incredible successes and unique aggressive combat style adapted in the war, especially from early 1977-80, as part of the 3 Rhodesian Special Forces units, directly under the control of Joint Combined Operations. I will then introduce our Honorary Guest speaker, Major General Adrian Clunies-Ross and his wife, Julienne.
Guest Speaker. Major General Adrian Clunies-Ross, AO, MBE. He has agreed to speak to us ~ first: a few words about The Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) from whom are selected those for the Commando and SASR regiments (and with whose ex-members we will be drinking with after the ANZAC Day march) and then ~ second, address us about Australia's international military position and deployments today. Adrian is an ex Commander of the 1st Division, an ex- CO of 8RAR, and served with the Australian Army Training Team and then 8RAR in Vietnam. He has been the Colonel Commandant of the RAR and head of the RAR Foundation. He is currently chairman of the National Defence Committee of the RSL (that committee meets regularly to lobby government about Australia’s Defence needs and policies). He is also a member of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). He is a good speaker and has oodles of common sense.
All attend the National Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial on the 25 April; immediately followed by a small separate RLI Commemoration service in the Hotel Garden, followed by Breakfast. website
- Then we head for our formation area, some group pictures by a designated photographer and then our March in the Anzac Parade, of which details will follow. Dress code is imperative to show our pride and respect to the RLI.
- After the March we return to Mecure and join the Royal Australian Regiment Association in their post march ANZAC Day celebrations in the rooms and courtyards at the Hotel, as they have done so every year since 1963. It's all a bit packed and noisy but all the more fun for being so.
This will be a very special occasion and will cement the RLI ’s existence with Australia’s local Military hierarchy, so please make this effort, as this will be our chance to really get the recognition we deserve.
Brigadier Digger Essex Clark.
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