PART TWO
ALL IN A STATE OF FLUX
the Headmaster’s office. Within a year, Spectemur was editorially castrated and appeared as little more than a school newsletter under the prior censorship of the Headmaster, as he reassured the concerned Council. The journal was now transmogrified into ‘Volume 2’ (‘Registered for Transmission by Post’), but its old dream of cadet annihilation was not quite dead. The election of a new, not so parsimonious federal government in December would nurse that particular grievance. Overall, 1972 had been ‘a difficult year’ in the description of Dyer’s Headmaster’s Report, owing to some boys being disruptive influences, but because of a piece of misfired student rebellion, he now seemed to subscribe fully to the long-voiced argument that the cadet corps prominently promoted discipline and order at a time of social disintegration.267 This alignment would be strengthened in coming years, as the Headmaster became further convinced like the Emperor Tiberius, whom he quoted, that ‘society appears to be at sea’268—this was all a welcome development for the corps. . It was no coincidence that David Dyer now often asked prospective Camberwell students whether they were inclined to join the school’s cadet unit.
was utilised with greater intensity in the absence of alternatives elsewhere in the state. The ‘place of trees’ in 1973 hosted an NCOs camp, a Planning Camp and the weekend bivouac, whilst the Annual Camp near Ballarat was an extended bivouac and bush exercise intended to foil a planned threat to pollute Victoria’s water supply. The Vietnam struggle and Australia’s decelerating military commitment there were now fading beyond the pale and not mentioned in polite cadet company. The October Passing Out Parade was inspected by the new Brigade Commander, Lt Colonel Bladen in his first official appointment, and was well received by a large crowd. An augmented school military Band performed well and the standard of drill was high, considering that ‘drill has been reduced to a minimum this year in the training syllabus’, a complaint now of considerable vintage.270 The audience of parents and friends, however, still thoroughly enjoyed the pomp of old-fashioned drill and had applauded spontaneously the difficult ‘Advance in Review Order’.
IV
But there were gathering storm clouds coming from the north, from the direction of Canberra, and the Headmaster reminded Council members on 2 October that ‘the future of cadets in schools is at present uncertain’. He thought it likely that federal support would be limited to uniforms, equipment and some help with weekly training periods, but that ‘no further help will be given with bivouacs and the annual camp. Such restrictions would probably mean the end of cadets at this school’:
The Whitlam years, 1973–75, would prove to be ones of great change and Camberwell Grammar was as subject to the trickle-down effect of change as any other Australian institution. There was an immediate ‘reduction in Commonwealth support’, as Captain Stafford described it, which made the unit ‘rely much more on the initiative of its members’ through fund-raising efforts to purchase a generator, amongst other things. They also had to rely on the ‘sympathetic understanding’ of the new Bursar, Mr Mills, having already secured that of his boss. In the aftermath of the quashed Spectemur revolution of 1972, the OC went on in the Grammarian to thank ‘the Headmaster for his continuing interest and thoughtful attention’.269 Bambara was now offered to the unit as a cadet facility on demand and
This was the fervour of a recent convert. There had been no such high-level statement of support for the unit for almost 20 years, even if it was delivered in the context of an assessment
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This, I believe, would be a loss as cadets, particularly since there has been far more emphasis on adventure training, provide for certain boys opportunities for leadership and responsibility not provided by any other activity. At the recent camp, for example, the responsible care of seniors for first year cadets was most impressive.271