Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 27
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[Page 27]
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Sydney Scottish (kilted), the Irish Rifles (in dark green uniforms), and Australian Infantry (in plain khaki uniforms with green trimmings). The Royal Australian Artillery (Field and Fortress) and the Royal Australian Engineers (Fortress) were the only permanent units apart from a full-time administrational and instructional corps. There were also volunteer ancillary services such as the Australian Medical Corps, with its lumbering horse drawn ambulances. Suburban drill halls were the nightly rendevous [rendezvous] of these citizen soldiers, and took on the character of a sports club. Many weekend bivouacs and tactical exercises with sham fights were held on open terrain close to Bondi, Coogee, Maroubra, and Parramatta. The only big rifle range (near Coogee) was in constant use on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. During the year, each of the National Units held a full-dress church parade on a Sunday morning, going of course to a church of an appropriate denomination, and piling their rifles outside.
There were no buildings whatsoever on the grassed camp sites and everyone, and everything, had shelter in tents ranging in size from the standard army single-pole bell tent to huge marquees for stores and officers' and sergeants' messes; the other ranks ate, as well as slept, in their tents.
King's Birthday was a public holiday (held on the actual date) and all Navy and Army units in the metropolitan area participated in a big full-dress review at Centennial Park followed by a march past the Governor General, who took the salutes from a temporary pavilion, which also covered the rest of the Vice-Regal party, high-ranking politicians and civil servants, and other bigwigs. It was one of the big events of the year, and the marked-off parade area was invariably surrounded by crowds of milling spectators. The artillery banged off the prescribed number of blank rounds at one minute intervals, smartly brought up the horses, limbered up the guns, and galloped gallantly past the saluting base, chains jingling, guns swaying and bouncing, and whips cracking; a really spectular sight. Next, the Infantry units with their colourful uniforms and glinting bayonets