8 JOMSA Figure 7: Then-Chief Inspector Jack Thurgar with Farmer Chrysos Seas and His Family After the Rescue in Cyprus, 1979

1964 in response to outbreaks of violence between the lives in Cyprus have all been Australians; two in car Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. Cyprus accidents and one, in 1974, by a landmine. had gained its independence in 1960 and tensions had been simmering since then. A coup in 1974 in favor of Approximately 1170 clasps have been awarded to a union with Greece, was followed by Turkish military date. Only one commissioner of the AFP has worn the intervention, and since then the island has been split POSM ribbon, and that was for service in Cyprus. Peter between the two sides, with the UN being responsible McAulay, AO, QPM was AFP Commissioner from 1988 for keeping the peace and patrolling a buffer zone. Most to 1994; he had served on Cyprus on secondment from the UN personnel on the island are military rather than police South Australian Police in 1968/69, and again as police – the UN strength in February 2014 was 857 troops and adviser to the UN in 1970/72. 67 police. Then-Chief Inspector Jack Thurgar was awarded the Star Australian police have been involved in UNFICYP from of Courage for a landmine incident in Cyprus in 1979. its inception in 1964 until the present day. It is Australia’s Thurgar has had an extraordinary career of service (Figure longest-running peacekeeping operation. Contingent 6). Born in 1950, he served in Papua New Guinea in 1969 sizes and tour lengths have varied. The first contingent and South Vietnam in 1970 as a Trooper in the Australian consisted of a two-man advance party with a contingent of SAS. As a Chief Inspector with the then Commonwealth 40 Australians deployed for 12 months. By the late 1970s Police, Thurgar was awarded Australia’s second highest following the Turkish intervention there were about 22 civil bravery decoration the Star of Courage (gazetted Australian police, including those on secondment from February 15, 1980) for his bravery on Cyprus on October the state and territory police forces. In the mid-1990s the 9, 1979, when he entered a minefield and then carried out number was down to about ten, on six-month tours. The a badly injured farmer whose tractor had set off a mine Australian contingent has been provided exclusively by (Figure 7). His actions saved the man’s life. Thurgar had the AFP since shortly after its formation in 1979. himself been wounded by a mine in Vietnam, and was on his second tour to Cyprus. Thurgar served concurrently in Duties in Cyprus have mainly involved patrolling the the AFP and the Australian Army Reserve, his OAM in buffer zone and providing a calming influence to diffuse 1995 recognizing his service to the army and to veterans. tensions that can erupt at any time, including regular He was awarded an MBE by Papua New Guinea for his demonstrations. The three UN police who have lost their work with disabled children. Most recently, Thurgar has Figure 6: The medals of Major and Chief Inspector John Duncan (Jack) Thurgar SC, MBE, OAM, RFD, Australian Army and Australian Federal Police: From left, Star of Courage (SC); Member of the Order of the British Empire (civil) (MBE); Medal of the Order of Australia (military division) (OAM); Australian Active Service Medal 1945-1975 with clasp VIETNAM; Vietnam Medal; Australian Service Medal 1945-1975 with clasp PNG; POSM with clasp CYPRUS; Reserve Force Decoration (RFD) with two clasps (with two be added - denoting 35 years’ service as a commissioned officer); National Medal; Australian Defence Medal; Papua New Guinea 10th Anniversary of Independence Medal; Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Centenary Medal; Vietnam Campaign Medal (South Vietnam); UN Medal for Cyprus with numeral 4; Thai Golden Jubilee Medal (courtesy Jack Thurgar). 8 JOMSA Figure 7: Then-Chief Inspector Jack Thurgar with farmer Chrysos Seas and his family after the rescue in Cyprus, 1979. Chrysos lost a leg and suffered other injuries in the land mine explosion (courtesy Australian Federal Police). been in the news for leading the Australian Army team to assist with the elections, however they were not in that recovered the remains of Australia’s final MIAs country long enough to qualify for the POSM. Only 20 from Vietnam and the Borneo campaign. He currently is clasps were awarded. working on World War II cases. Sergeant Ian Standish (Figure 8) served during this CAMBODIA operation. He joined the then ACT Police in 1975, serving until 2002. Standish served with the AFP on Cyprus, Declared on October 17, 1992 and published in 1981-82; in Cambodia 1993; Haiti 1994-95; Bougainville Commonwealth Gazette S310 of October 26, 1992. Awarded for 90 days’ service with the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) from May 18, 1992. UNTAC was established to restore peace and security in Cambodia after the many years of lawlessness and civil war that had followed the genocide and atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970’s. It was a major operation, with almost 16,000 UN troops under Australian Lieutenant-General John Sanderson, and 3,600 police. Australia provided two contingents of ten police drawn from the AFP, from May 1992 to January 1993, and from January to September 1993. The Australians worked with police from Germany, Tunisia, India and France in a large patrol area taking in the border with Thailand that was governed partly by the Khmer Rouge. They were tasked primarily with establishing a UN presence and creating the conditions for elections in May 1993; the investigation of human rights abuses; and the training of Cambodian police. In addition to the AFP officers, police from New Figure 8: Sergeant Ian Standish, on right, with the author, South Wales, Victoria and Queensland were provided Bougainville 1998 (author). Vol. 66, No. 3 (May-June 2015) 9 Figure 9: The medals of Sergeant Ian Ross Standish, Australian Federal Police: From left, POSM with five clasps, CYPRUS, CAMBODIA, BOUGAINVILLE, EAST TIMOR and HAITI; National Medal with clasp; UN Medals for Cyprus, Cambodia and East Timor (UNAMET and UNTAET); Medal for Service in Haiti (US); and (unmounted) Australian Defence Medal. With Group Bravery Citation (courtesy Ian Standish). 1998; and East Timor 1999 and 2000. As a member of UNAMET he was one of the AFP officers awarded the Group Bravery Citation, serving in the Baucau/Manatuto region, and he returned for a second tour with UNTAET (Figure 9). As with some other retired officers whose medals are illustrated (Bill Kirk and Don Barnby), Standish has recently become additionally entitled to the National Police Service Medal, through a retrospective change to its regulations SOMALIA Declared on July 1, 1994 and published in Commonwealth Gazette S267 of July 8, 1994. Awarded for 90 days’ service with the UN Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II) from November 1, 1993. Two AFP superintendents, Barry Carpenter and Bill Kirk, Figure 10: Superintendent Bill Kirk in qualified for this clasp, the rarest of the 13 clasps created Mogadishu, Somalia (courtesy Bill Kirk). to date. Carpenter was deployed to Somalia in July 1993 throughout UNOSOM II, until February 1995. as senior police adviser to the special representative of the UN Secretary General. Kirk (Figure 10) arrived in Bill Kirk had a policing career spanning almost 40 years. November 1993 as director of police services and deputy He served three tours in Cyprus over the period 1984- director of justice. The objective was to help restore police 1987. From February to October 1989 he was attached to services in the country, however this was at a time when the UN Border Relief Operation in Thailand, helping to law and order were spiralling out of control, characterised protect and bring order to 300,000 displaced Cambodians by the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993. Kirk left in massive refugee camps. He wrote a criminal code, set in November 1994, while Carpenter remained virtually up courts and helped establish police training facilities. 10 JOMSA.

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