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Scheyville Training Centre War MemorialPrint Page Print this page

15-October-2014
15-October-2014

Photographs supplied by Wayne Moore

The cairn commemorates those who served at the Scheyville Training Centre.  The cairn is raised on a brick base with a low brick pillar to each corner. Attached to the brick pillars and cairn are various brass commemorative plaques.

During the 1939-45 war, Scheyville was used as a military training camp. The 73rd Australian Anti-aircraft Search Light Company and later the 1st Parachute Battalion were based at the farm.

In 1965, the Scheyville complex was again taken over by the military for Army training. On this occasion Scheyville was used as an Officer Training Unit (OTU) for National Servicemen. Scheyville was the only unit in the country that offered this concentrated six month course. The training provided at OTU Scheyville was specifically designed to turn out officers capable of leading a platoon in Vietnam. The Officer Training Unit continued to function until 1973 (the last intake was Oct 1972 - Mar 1973), after the Australian Labor Party abolished further National Service in December 1972.

Location

Address:Scheyville Road, Scheyville National Park, National Parks & Wildlife Service Offices , Scheyville, 2756
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -33.598889
Long: 150.887222
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:Conflict
Sub-Theme:Multiple
Link:http://www.warmemorialsregister.nsw…

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Sunday 13th September, 1992
Front Inscription

Plaque :

1st Australian Parachute Battalion 2nd A.I.F.

Dedicated to all the members who trained and were stationed at this campsite during 1943 - 1944

Plaque :

To commemorate the graduates of the Officer Training Unit Scheyville and the members who died on active service 
[ Names ]

The Officer Training Unit was raised on 1st April, 1965, to train National Service men as Junior Regimental Officers in the 
Australian Army during the Vietnam conflict.  

Many O.T.U. graduates elected to remain in the Regular Army after the completion of National Service.

Unveiled & dedicated by three of the past Commandants of O.T.U

[ Names ]

30 October 1994

Lest We Forget

Plaque :
To commemorate the Commandants of the Officer Training Unit, Scheyville

[ Names ]

OTU Scheyville operated from 1st April, 1965 through to November 1973, 1803 national service and aviation entrant cadets were commissioned as second lieutenants during this 9 year period.  77 O.C.S. (Officer Cadet School - Portsea) soldiers also received training

Unveiled and dedicated during the Second National OTU Reunion - 5th October, 2003
Lest We Forget

Plaque :
To commemorate the Commandants of OTU

[ Names ]

The course was unique in Australian military history.  OTU transformed young civilian men into professional Army Officers  in a period of six months - a remarkable journey.

Dedicated by MajGen Paul Irving AM PSM RFD (OTU 2/72) on Sunday 15 May 2011 during the Scheyville Site Centenary Celebration in the presence of families, OTU Association members & NSW Governor Marie Bashir AC CVO.

Plaque :
This plaque is dedicated to the N.S.W. men who served in the 67th Australian Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Battery A.I.F., the  first A.I.F. Searchlight personnel to serve overseas.  Some of the unit trained on this site and were to join others in July 1942 to see action in Papua New Guinea at Port Moresby, Milne Bay and Oro Bay from 1942 to 1944, and later to take  part in the Borneo Campaign of 1945 in Batteries landing at Tarakan, Labuan and Balikpapan...

Whatever the quarrel, Whoever her foes, Let them come !
Let them come when they will ! Though the struggle be grim,
`Tis Australia that knowst hat her children

Left Side Inscription

Erected to the memory of the men who served in the 73rd. Australian Mobile Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Company R.A.E. A.I.F.  The first A.I.F. searchlight unit raised in the Australian Army.  It was on this site that the unit was formed on 15 Sept. 1942 under the command of Major R. J. Thompson and saw service in Papua-New Guinea at Port Moresby & Lae from Dec., 1942 to May, 1944.

Unveiled by Major General R. G. Fay, AO, RFD, ED. Colonel Commandant of Artillery 2. M. D. & dedicated 13 Sept. 1992

Lest We Forget

Source: MA,NRWM
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au