| 26 March 2012 -
Medals |
Years of work (in my own
case more than 40) have been put in to get the various Medallic
Recognitions you now have, and the Medals awarded and issued to you. It
is a great disappointment to attend Funerals of our Shipmates who have
"Crossed the Bar" and see only a few of you wearing your Medals. You've
Got 'em, Wear 'em. You should always, as a mark of Respect and Honour to
the Deceased, wear your medals to the funeral of a Serving or Ex Service
person. Indeed, if one was "bloody minded" it could be construed as a
mark of disrespect not to wear them. Medals should also be worn for
other formal occasions such as Anzac Day or any Ex Service Associations
Reunion Church Services etc. Miniatures should not be worn unless you
are in Formal Evening Dress. Also I would remind you that "Commemorative
Medals" or any Medal not officially issued by the "Crown", unless they
have been specifically authorised by the "Crown" (e.g. P J M) must NOT
be mounted with Official medals. These unofficial medals cannot be worn,
even on the right breast when official medals are being worn on the
left. See the "Order of Wear Regulations" on the Defence Medals website.
There is a BUZZ circulating that the Singapore Government is going to
issue a medal same same like P J M....this initiated from a UK
Association...a few years ago...but it is now presumed to be "dead in
the water" and as yet there has been no further action. |
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| 29 June 2011 - MEDAL
MOUNTING |
| If you want your Medals
mounted, contact Richard "Banjo" Patterson. He does an excellent job at
a reasonable price. Phone : (09) 837 2134
(Evenings are best)
Address : 4/86 Divich Ave Te Atatu South Auckland 0610
Email :
banjo.s@xtra.co.nz |
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| 15 May 2011 - HMNZS
OTAGO - MAIDEN VOYAGE |
| The following footage
has been provided by the Trentham Video Library. For Part 1 click
HERE and Part 2
click HERE.
The sound quality is poor but you will see a number of shipmates
throughout the video. |
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| 22 January 2011 - Naval
Stories |
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Following the success of the book ‘Salty Dits’ I have decided by popular
demand to repeat the exercise for everyone, not just old MLers.
Personal stories may be a paragraph or several pages. There are
no limits on entry numbers. However, each will be noted with the
writer’s name. I’m seeking your stories as told ‘over a drink with
mates’ or just memories.
Items should be headed by a ‘Date’ with a ‘Ship or Establishment name’,
‘Why I joined’, ‘Wrens’, ‘Operation Deep Freeze’, or ‘Another Navy’. The
author’s name should follow with rank at the time.
Items
are best submitted by e-mail to
gerrywright@xtra.co.nz, however, posted items will also be
welcome. Original photos will be copied and returned. Please spread the
word.
The aim
is to record life in the Navy as it was in the past. Each item will be
acknowledged.
Gerry
Wright
8 Rowan
Road
Epsom
Auckland 1023
(09)
624.3969 |
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JULY 2010 - OTAGO DAILY TIMES ARTICLE AND PHOTO |
| As some
of you will be aware the Otago Daily Times was at our recent 50th
Anniversary Reunion. The newspaper published a photograph of the
ships companies marching to Church which you can see
HERE. If you wish to order
a copy of the photograph then please click
HERE and download the order
form. |
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| 31 MARCH 2010 - NEW
NAVY LOGO |
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| The Chief of Navy has
approved a new Navy Logo. Details of the logo can be found by
clicking
LOGO.
Two members of the Communicators Association had the following to say
about the new logo and have forwarded their opinions direct to Naval
Staff.
Member No1 - Congratulations, I welcome
wholeheartedly the RNZN new logo and the demise of the present "identity
nonentity" which had very limited recognition significance in the wider
world outside New Zealand., We Had a "Kiwi on our Funnel" not a Koru.
However, I think it is possible that the "Fern Leaves" in the new logo
will pose a similar problem unless they are qualified in some way as
being of "New Zealand". The Naval Crown and Fouled Anchor are
evident that the logo designates a "Navy"...but WHAT or WHO"S Navy? To
this end may I respectfully suggest that the word "NAVY" at the base of
the logo be replaced by the initials "RNZN" thereby leaving no
uncertainty of identity of this logo being of "The Best Small Navy in
the World".
Member No2 - I received with interest today the
announcement of the ’proud promotion’ of the Royal New Zealand Navy’s
new logo. While not adverse to progress, I believe progress is best
achieved with sound professional advice. In this case, I believe the
Royal New Zealand Navy has been poorly advised. The Royal New
Zealand Navy operates on the international stage. The reliance on the
symbol of the ‘fern’ as an international identity, to the exclusion of
the name “Royal New Zealand Navy” (or the Kiwi symbol), may only serve
to promote us as a nation within the ‘rugby fraternity’ and the
Commonwealth. To quote you statistics in terms of the number of rugby
playing nations of the world and the profile of many Commonwealth
countries can only give concerns around ‘brand’ recognition and the
marketing potential of the new logo . In 2010, the world is much bigger
than that. While I appreciate it could be ‘too late’ to turn back, could
I please encourage you to promote the deletion of the word “Navy” and
replace it with the words ”Royal New Zealand Navy”. That is who we are,
that is who we served to represent and that is our brand. |
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| 24
FEBRUARY 2010 - JIM BLACKBURN HAS MOVED TO NEW HOME |
| After
many years Jim has finally been able to pay and move to his
dream retirement home.
He has made a few renovations which I am not sure are all for the best,
Anyway have a look and see what you think. Here is a photo of his
new place.
(webmaster) |
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| 12
February 2009 - NEW LINK FOR MARITIME BOOKS |
| I have
place a new link under the 'Other Links' page for a Martime Books.
Have a look through the site very good reference material. |
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4 July 2008 - New History
Link
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Ever wondered what OTAGO was
doing during her life in commission. A new link has been added to
the History section which enables you to have a look at extracts of the
Annual Reports made to the New Zealand Naval Board and later the Defence
Council. Lots of dates and other information is also available.
These reports are currently up on the Royal New Zealand Navy Communicators
Assn website. Have a look
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17 May 2007
- New Comms
Web Site Launched
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To mark the 100th birthday of
the Royal Navy's Wireless Telegraphy branch a brand new web site has just
been launched which covers the period of 1895 to 1980 for W/T and
from 1937 to 1980 for Radar, a sister branch. To avoid confusion, the
telegraphist's at the very beginning, 1895 to 1906 were in reality
"odd-job-men" [many visual signal ratings being sent below when
Morse needs to be transmitted] and it wasn't until 1906/07 that the
Admiralty gave into the repeated calls from Admirals at sea to have full
time professionally trained telegraphists. It has taken many months to
write the site which is approximately 700MB in size, and whilst it can be
casually browsed it is intended to be a reference library. It tells of the
history of Wireless Telegraphy and [Radar of course but over a much
shorter period] in the Royal Navy, which, especially in the earlier days,
included the RAN, the RCN, the RNZN as well as the RIN [Royal Indian Navy]
RPN [Royal Pakisan Navy] and the SAN [South African Navy] both in the use
of ships and the equipment therein. The site covers every piece of
kit the RN has even owned or used, and reveals facts and figures from
books and documents never before made available in the public
domain.
The site can be found at http://www.rnmuseumradarandcommunications2006.org.uk
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20 March 2007
- Court
Mounting Medals
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Ever thought of 'Court
Mounting' your medals? Banjo Patterson (ex Writer) now
undetakes this work so contact him direct on banjo.s@xtra.co.nz
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19 March 2007
- Ships
Memorabilia
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Banjo Patterson has had a
number of ships badges made for wearing on the lapel. These badges
currently cover CANTERBURY, ENDEAVOUR (Op Deepfreeze), ENDEAVOUR, ROYALIST
and the recently issued MALAYSIAN Medal. Details can be found at http://nznavy.bravehost.com/slops.html
.
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27 Oct 06 - Navy Museum Website
Launched |
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The Navy Museum launched its new
website at a small ceremony yesteday 26 November 2006, The website has
taken considerable time to develop and has been a long time coming. Over
600 pages have been placed on line and this is only the start. Highly
recommended to all to have a look. The website can be found at http://www.navymuseum.co.nz |
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Crossed the Bar - Roll of Honour |
Hi Men.
It is intended to put a page opn the website as "Roll Of Honour" on
which we will list those who served in "Otago" and have since
"Crossed the Bar". To do this we need your help .. please email
or write to me with a list of those whom you know have Crossed the Bar and help
us to make the list as complete as we can, and so keep their name alive.
Don't leave it and think "someone else" will let us know, because, to
someone else, YOU are that some else.
At present we have about 180 names
but we think there are many more that we am unaware of, so please
enlighten us. We would rather have a name sent to us10 times from different
sources
than not get it at all, so as Chiefie used to say "let's be 'avin' yer me
lad". To see what we have so far click HERE
Jim Blackburn
President jimblackburn@clear.net.nz |
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