One of the 3 Squadron Mirages in the original 1969 "Lizard" scheme.
One of the 3 Squadron Mirages in the original 1969
"Lizard" scheme.
In February 1969 Jim had to go with the Mirages to Butterworth, Malaysia, as 3 Squadron was being resettled there, with us wives and children to follow a few days later. That is where I met a lot of the wives for the first time.
Jan Pryor and the boys were the only ones I knew before leaving Newcastle, apart from Carol Jones. Carol and I had gone to the same school and our mothers used to play Bingo together. She was due to have her first baby, Kylie, so she did not come up with us and would follow some time later, but she was able to have the dreaded vaccinations. I drove three girls up to the base at Williamtown, one being Carol Jones but I can’t remember who else was in the car.
I have a story to tell about Carol. When we went up to Williamtown to get our injections for travelling overseas, we were sitting in the car park when a Mirage took off and she said, "that is a twin seater," and I asked her how did she know that, they all look the same to me; she said you can tell by the sound. When I told Jim, he said it sounds like someone is pulling her leg as he couldn’t tell the difference.
When we left from Williamtown Air Force Base in a QANTAS aircraft, my whole family was there to see us off. I was so scared, as it was my first time on a plane and also the first time leaving Australia for another country. Michael and I had the front seat as they had a baby cradle attached to the wall, so baby Michael had somewhere safe to sleep.
Jan Pryor kept coming up to me to make sure I was doing OK. When we landed in Darwin it was for a few hours stop-over; Jan came and got me and looked after Michael to give me a break while we sat in the terminal. I was treated very well, no complaints. I did meet a few of the girls like Pam Sutcliffe (she had Leeanne) and also Ann Lollback.
It was a long trip to Butterworth and I was so pleased to land and see Jim again. After going through Customs it was so hot, I had never felt heat like this before. They put us on these buses to take us to our new homes, which was an experience alone when our bus driver hit a fellow on a bike. He pulled up and told us not to open any windows and keep seated. The people in the street were punching the windows of the bus and yelling at us, it was so scary. The Air Force Police and Malaysian Police arrived and we finally were dropped off at our new homes.
Our house was on Base and we lived with the British Officers and at the back was the Swimming Pool and Tennis Courts; and a NAAFI nearby to buy our groceries. To enter the area, we had to go in and out of the main gate, so we were very safe and the guards used to walk around to make sure no one came up from the Malacca Strait, which was near the pool.
We had a two bedroom house with a Lounge-Dining room in one, and a Kitchen, a Bathroom and Toilet, the Laundry and the Amah room. They had steel bars on all the windows and a thick wire steel screen door with a big lock on it. All this was very strange to me.
I did feel safe and we had a British family across from us. Some were friendly, others were not so, then at the back were the Officers, mostly doctors; and either side of us were Australians, whom I got to meet.
Jim used to play Rugby Union at Butterworth on the weekend and it was the first time I had watched a ‘line out’, as I'm used to Rugby League. That's when I met up with Pam Sutcliffe and Anne Lollback, as we had our children on the rugs to watch our hubbies play footie; it was a good place to make friends and we have been lifetime friends since.
We were lucky to have Lynn and Casey Corcoran living at Robina Estate; she took me everywhere, as she had a car, and we used to go over to Penang Island on the Car Ferry with Janet Skelly.
Penang Street Scene.
Because Penang was duty-free, we had to pay duty when we came back to Butterworth, so Lynn's door panels used to lift out, so we could hide our gifts that we had bought. - Then buy fruit and vegetables and fill the boot, as we did not have to pay duty on them, and that made Customs happy to find something in the car. I’m sure they knew what was going on, but played the game.
Lynn started me on tennis at the back of our house near the pool area, we played twice a week; just a friendly game with the Officer’s wives and airman’s wives. When the Officers wives played the other 3 days, we could not play those days, as it was not allowed for the Airman’s wives to associate with them on their special day.
I had met a girl that I went to Jesmond High School with and it was great to catch up. She would come around after our friendly game to catch up. When her husband found out she was banned from seeing me, as the Officer’s wives were not allowed to socialise with Airman’s wives! - It was a silly rule but we had to go along with it, I missed seeing her, except on the Tennis Court, and we used to have a good laugh, as our games were friendly and not serious at all.
Jim had to go back to Australia as his brother Harry had been in a mine accident (the roof fell on top of him and he was crushed while driving a machine). Jim's Mum sent a letter to let him know about the accident, so this was a week after the accident.
Jim had a tough time trying to explain that he needed to go home to see his brother, in case he died.
They did send him home and he saw Harry, who was in a bad way. His spine had been damaged and he had no use of his legs and unfortunately that was permanent. Jim stayed for a week, then came back to Butterworth. And then when he got home he had to go down to Singapore for a month, as all the planes had been sent down there because they had to repair the runway at Butterworth.
So Michael and I were left alone for a long time and in this time we had riots in Malaysia. It was good living on base as we had the Gurkha soldiers patrolling the area and down on the beach front.
This is around the time I met Lois and Mal Jamieson, as they were newlyweds who had arrived from Australia on a RAAF Transport plane at night time and didn’t have any accommodation. They knocked on the door asking if they could sleep the night. This was the only address Mal had of his boss (Jim) but like a good wife I couldn't let them go so I offered my bed and I slept with Michael as he was in a cot and there was a single bed in his room. To this day Lois cannot believe I would let strangers into my home as I did not know either of them before this. I'm so trusting; we have been great friends ever since then.
On the day the riots started I was over at Penang with my next door neighbour. As we were walking back to the Ferry we noticed all the shops were closing and people were heading up to Penang Road. We thought it must have been one of the holidays and took no notice, until we got to the Ferry and they said, “where have you both been, as there are riots up in Penang Road.” They said no one is allowed to come over from Butterworth and we are taking people back to Butterworth and to make sure you go straight back to the base, by taxi from the wharf.
We were told to go down to the NAAFI to stock up on food, as you will not be allowed to leave your home until everything is safe, and it was going to be a long time before the riots are over. It was months before everything returned to normal.
My Amah, Misha, went home when she could, as she had a family of her own. We had to stay inside and we could not even go to the pool. We could go to the movies on Base, and if you wanted to go, you had to leave your front porch light on and the bus driver would honk his horn and the Service Police would walk down with guns and take you to the bus and back again. I remember going to see the movie Jungle Book, Michael was too young to come with me, so he stayed home with Misha; at this time Jim was still down in Singapore as the runway had not been fixed.
Later on the Curfew got shorter and we could leave the house for 1 to 2 hours. If not inside by that time you would have to stay at your friend’s house, if that was where you were.
Soon it was most of the day, but night time, it was on again. We used to go up to see Lynn and Casey; they had a car and would pick us up and then drive us home again. After a few months it got better and we could stay out most of the day and night. If you were at a party and the Curfew had started, that’s where you stayed. The fellows were so "upset" - because they could not go home so they had to stay, and drink some more, until dawn.
When Jim got back from Singapore he walked inside the house and I said something is different with you, but I could not put a finger on what was different, as it was so long since I had seen him. Finally, when I kissed him, I noticed his hairy lip. Apparently they had a bet - who could grow the longest and best moustache. Jim did not win! Jim's was thick, but you could not see it, as it was white because he had very blonde hair. So I had to take a photo of him pointing to his top lip to prove he had a moustache.
It was great to have him home, as Michael and I had been alone without him for a few months with him having to go back to Australia and, when he came back, after two days back down to Singapore - it was wonderful to have him home with us.
I had not met Jan Moore. As Ken worked with Jim and they became good mates, we invited them over for the weekend, as they lived over at Penang. So they drove over at lunch time and the fellows wanted to go down to the Sergeant’s Mess for a few drinks, while Jan and I went to the Hair Dressers to get our hair done; because they were going to take us out for a nice meal and it gave Jan and myself time to get to know one another.
We waited half the night - and no fellows - until a Taxi pulled up and these two very unbalanced fellows got out of the Taxi, without falling to the ground. We were watching from the porch with the light off and they could not see us, but we could see and hear them... Staggering through the rose bushes on either side of the foot path and they are shushing each other not to make too much noise.
It was a sight to see these two grown up men act like little kids.
They had a good story for us, saying they had been fighting the fire at the Bar at the Club, which is a good story and they told us how they saved everyone from harm, so that is the reason they could not get home to take us out for dinner. They said they needed another drink, Jan got Ken his beer and he missed his mouth completely, pouring the beer over his shoulder, then went to sleep. Jim wasn't as bad, but he was very much under the weather too. Jan and I had a good time in just watching them make fun of themselves. We still talk about that night.
On the 16th July 1969 we finally shifted over to Penang Island, to 21 Jalan Bunga Orchard at Hillside. I remember the date clearly, as it was my birthday. A few days later, after shifting, I realised that I had left some money hidden in the Butterworth house, so Jim got in contact with the new owners and they said they did not find any money. So Jim said could I come in and look where my wife hid it; everyone was surprised that the money was still hidden in an envelope taped under the drawer. It was a great place to hide money. I don’t think I would try it these days. About the same time we watched the landing on the Moon [20 July] on the TV of our new next door neighbours, it was something we could not miss seeing.
It was a two story house, three bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom and toilet downstairs, the lounge room, dining room with a sink on the side, kitchen, Amah's room and a spare room leading off to the laundry and a toilet.
All the cement floors were painted red and there were bars on the windows and a steel screen on the front and back doors (something I was now comfortable with) and felt more secure. It was so different to back home in Newcastle.
Across the road lived Maxine & Gus Winen, Jim knew Gus and I did see them one night in Newcastle - when our car broke down under a street light near Dangar Park at Mayfield, as they were walking along Maitland Road with Dick and Carol Jones. They said what were we doing just parked on the main road and we told them the car had a broken fan belt. But they didn't bother to come and help us, they just walked off laughing. Isn't it nice to have good friends to help when you need it?
We became very close friends to Gus and Maxine and Gus used to play the song Ol' Turkey Buzzard very loudly (theme song from a picture, maybe called MacKenna’s Gold). It was his favourite record. Jim used to yell at him from our bedroom window to turn it up a bit more! When he had parties over at his place the fellows used to spend most of the time at the back fence. The fence had a big bend in it, from all the fellows leaning on it because it overlooked a house below, giving a fine view of the main bedroom and the occupants.
Another time, when I was pregnant with Teresa, I had to go down to the Medical Hostel for a check-up, as I was eight months pregnant and Jim didn't want me to drive. So Maxine said she would drive me down in our car, with Paul and Michael in the back. That was an experience by itself, because when Maxine backed out of our hilly drive-way, the brakes failed. She did a great job saving us, but silly us decided to continue (without brakes) to the local garage to see if we could get it fixed. But we forgot we had to go down a hill onto a T intersection - so silly us did that, we had to turn left and go down another large hill, as we could not turn right because of the traffic. Then we turned around at the bottom of the hill and came up to where the garage was on the top of the hill. - Lucky we are still alive and to this day I congratulate Maxine for her driving skills.
Teresa was born in March 1970 at the British Far East Hospital at Minden Barracks on Penang Island (now a university). This photo is of me holding my new daughter in the centre courtyard of the hospital before going home.
The night Teresa was born, we had gone out for a nice dinner and a very bad bottle of Spanish wine and drove home. Teresa then decided it was time to arrive, so we drove over to the hospital in our old Ford Consul, strangely enough, painted the same colour as the RAAF cars. Shortly after arriving, I went into labour. Jim was invited to be at the birth, which he declined, and stayed in the room to have a cigarette. Halfway through the cigarette, the nurse came back and all Jim could hear was “do you want a daughter?” He said a boy or girl would be fine, so she said “no dummy…you HAVE a daughter!” Teresa was born so fast, and hasn’t stopped since.
Michael loved watching his Dad play Softball, my friends couldn't believe how Michael used to just sit quietly on the rug and not run around, I trained him well. Some days the field would be all mud for them to play in and when Jim got home we had to take him into the laundry to hose him down, before he could go upstairs for a shower. This is a picture of Michael hosing his Dad off after a game.
It was great living over on the Island as we could buy all our duty-free, like stereos, radios, and records. Our first record was Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66 - Look Around, we still have this record and it still brings back some very good memories. Most of my clothes were tailor-made, and we got them to make undies out of the same material, as our dresses were very short. This was a great help as they blended in with the dress so showing any underwear wasn’t so obvious. A big help for us Mums.
We had a fruit and veggie cart pull up at the front gate to sell me their fresh produce, the children loved seeing him as it was so fresh and he was so friendly.
We had a good life over on the Island, as there was so much to do with sports and social events. We made a lot of friends and we spent a lot of time down at the beach. The social life was great, as we had an Amah to look after the children when we went out drinking and dancing the night away. I played Softball and Stretch – Horrie Robinson was our coach. Jim played Softball at the weekends and Volleyball (The Deros) on week nights at the Hostel. He gave away Rugby Union because he couldn’t get to training enough, and started to get hurt too much. The team was called The Saints and the blokes loved the game. There were more injuries than in Rugby Union, especially ankles, which were damaged after sliding into Home Base. The other bases used to slide, but Home Base was fixed.
I could write so much more on the nearly three years we spent in Malaysia. We both enjoyed it so much, to the point of Jim asking for an extension to the posting. We could have stayed there forever. He was told three years was the limit and to go back to Australia. We were lucky enough to later spend 1978-80 living at Changi in Singapore, when Jim was attached to the Singapore Air Force.
We moved back to Australia in January 1972, to Richmond. Jim was after a Flight Engineer's job and thought being at Richmond would enhance his chances. - Which proved correct and he spent the rest of his time in the RAAF doing just that.
The time in Malaysia was a very eventful and enjoyable few years in our lives. Moving overseas and then being apart during the very early days was challenging, but good also. Many lifelong friends were made and we are still in contact with many of them. Funnily enough, our home in Queensland is in a Brisbane suburb which gets its name from a town in Malaysia (and Thailand), reminding us of those fantastic three years, so long ago.
I understand Tanah Merah means Red Earth (which we have).
Carol Hall
Tanah Merah, Qld.
July 2018.
In
Memory of Carol, who passed away
9 March 2019.