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Interview Transcript As Australians at War Film Archive Elley Mundraby - Transcript of interview Date of interview: 17th August 2004 http://australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au/archive/2344 Tape 1 00:42 can, Elley. Okey dokey. My name’s Elley Mundraby, born and bred here in Cairns. Went to school in the Cairns 01:00 area, at Trinity Bay High School. And after schooling had a first, my first job as a store man driver. I got put off there so in the end I started doing fruit picking, seasonal fruit picking, went all the way down to Victoria. While I was down there 01:30 I enjoyed the… I’ve always had a passion for travelling and all that, so on the way back up to Queensland enlisted in the… in Wollongong. They said I couldn’t join up there until I got to Brisbane, ‘course I went out to the Burdekin area to fruit pick out there. After there I went to Brisbane, got accepted, that was in 1980. 02:00 Got accepted into the services but I still had to wait around for my enrolled date, went and done me medical etcetera. While waiting around, time went by, I never heard anything from the defence force. So then when I had an inclination, when I was going in, came back up to Cairns, the place that I was retrenched from offered me a job straight away 02:30 there, so basically jumped off the train, started work there the same day. Done that for about four months, still haven’t heard from the defence force. A friend of mine who was working there, his father was involved with the patrol boats as a naval architect, he made a few phone calls, found out that they had me as going in, in ‘80 but for an 03:00 oversight. They eventually turned around and said, “Yeah, okay.” So got in, what was it, ‘81. ‘81 that’s when I joined up to the, actually went into the services, the military, navy. So, over that period of time from ‘81, stayed in for the twenty odd years, got out in 03:30 2001, I think it was, April Fool’s Day. So this is where I am today. Can you give us a short summary of your time in the navy in terms of where you served? Ah yes. Went down to Cerberus, Western Port Bay. After basic training then I, from basic training went into category training which was in the marine technical hull 04:00 category, which was the engineering world. From the engine, went there, done I think round about, I think eight to nine months training. And my first posting was to HMAS Melbourne, the aircraft carrier. Stayed on that till the aircraft carrier decommissioned then I went into contingent reserve, which was to, 04:30 basically pulling the Melbourne apart which was... After the Melbourne had left from there, took it across to the dolphins near Taronga Park Zoo. I was at HMAS Kuttabul for a while, land base, but I was working in the, at that time that was FIMA, fleet industrial maintenance activity, 05:00 in the engineering side of things. Then my next first major sea posting was the Stalwart, HMAS Stalwart which was the destroyer tender. From the Stalwart I stayed on there for two to three years, I’m not too sure. Then I went back to FIMA, I went to fleet headquarters as, up there 05:30 as a technical office writer, up at fleet headquarters. I was working for commander engineering for, I think it was in ‘86, then I left ‘86 I went to, came to Cairns, I was on the Fremantle class patrol boat the [HMAS] Ipswich. Spent some time on Ipswich. After Ipswich, ‘80... 06:00 then I went to, I think it was the 80’s, I went down to Nirimba, HMAS Nirimba which is their engineering training establishment to do phase two of my training in the engineering world. After that I left there came back up to Cairns and I was on, went to [HMAS] Waterhen in North Sydney at FIMA there, working 06:30 there in the engineering workshop. Left FIMA, then I went to, where was it, no sorry I think it was back to Nirimba, the dummy training, the phase two there. After I left there then I went, got posted to the HMAS Gladstone back in Cairns on a patrol boat. Spent a period of time up here. 07:00 From here, then I went back down to Sydney to University of Sydney, the Ultimo TAFE, done some training, more technical training there. Left from there came back up to the [HMAS] Gladstone. From the Gladstone I went to the Ipswich, another patrol boat, for a short period of time. From the Ipswich back to the Gladstone. 07:30 The Gladstone, was on the Gladstone till ‘96 and from there I went back down to Cerberus and finished off the, from ‘96 to 2001 at Cerberus in Victoria. Wow that’s quite a career. Oh it’s, nah. And what about family life? Family life, the entire time I was in the services, I never, I wasn’t married, 08:00 never got married because at that time it was a career to me and my career came first. So, and it was up till, I’ve now been happily married for, I think about twenty odd months, so. I have, at time, prior to my joining up, I had an older brother who was in the services, in the navy. Two years after I 08:30 joined up, the young, my younger brother joined up after me, so pretty service career orientated background. And no children? No children. No. Okay. And since you left the navy work-wise, what’ve you been doing? Since I left the navy work-wise I, my first initial job was as a supervisor on two car-washing sites in 09:00 Dromana, Victoria, Western Port Bay. Then decided to move back to Cairns because of real estates up here, it was a lot more cheaper to buy up in this area. Moved back up here. Over the period of time, some of the training the navy has given me has assisted me along the way, but prior to getting out I, 09:30 from the engineering type world, I ended up going through and becoming a massage therapist, big change, difference. So with that background, and also the counselling background... So came back up to Cairns and then I think I was back in Cairns for about nine to ten months before I eventually got around to securing myself a job, 10:00 of which I’m presently employed which is working in indigenous social, emotional health and well being, so. Fantastic, that’s great. Well Elley I’d like to take you right back now to growing up in Cairns. Can you tell us what your earliest memories are? Earliest memories was, actually my earliest memory goes back prior to that, it was on the cane farms just outside of Cairns, 10:30 my father was a labourer there. Went to Gordonvale School till the age of, I think it was six, then we moved into the so-called, big city. From there I went to one of the state schools in Cairns, Balaclava. It was a, oh very happy childhood growing up because, 11:00 how would you say, the friends that I’ve made over the years growing up in Cairns. Cairns was at that time, population was around about forty-five thousand, so basically you knew every family member, every different families and that, around. Oh there’s a lot more things to do then than what there is now, so. What sort of things? Well back then families, 11:30 well you could go out, camp out over night in the foothills and not worried about being, you know... If I was a parent now, there’s no way in the world I’d allow my child to do what I’ve done, because of elements out there in society. Well what sort of things were you doing as a child? Fishing, swimming, 12:00 camping, bush walking, basically on a rotational basis. ‘Cause remember back then it was, I think TV was only in the late 70’s and all that, but that was no interest to us. We went out and made fun, we done things that... But mind you, you know, five o'clock we still had to report back in where we were, we still had to have permission to be out half past, 12:30 after half past five. Then as, I mean, as time went on seventeen, eighteen, surprising enough I was still being, the latest for then was nine o'clock at night that I’d be allowed out. Oh, not allowed out but, I don't know, we were, back then it was more of a cocoon society where everyone looked after one 13:00 another. So you said that your father was a labourer in the cane fields. And where did you live at that point? On cane farms. Dad was a labourer, it was seasonal work, either cane farming up the Atherton Tablelands, the potato pickings or, that mainly rotated around just being on the farms and that, so. So can you tell us what it was like living on the cane farms? Oh I, 13:30 well at that age, I think about four to five year old and that, I had all the siblings and that, and so being a baby of the family.
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