NSAA

In March 2010, The OTU Association joined the National Servicemen’s Association of Australia as an affiliated body.

The NSAA was formed in 1987, and is the second largest ex-service association in Australia. It was the driving force behind the National Service Medal, and the $500,000 National Service Memorial at the Australian war Museum, which will be dedicated in September this year.
The NSAA is open to all who were conscripted between 1951 and 1972, and currently has a membership of over 15000 nashos.
All financial members of OTU Association are automatically members of NSAA, as part of your annual subscription pays your NSAA membership.
Currently Frank Miller and Roger Nation are elected to sit on the NSAA National Council.
More information about the NSAA can be found at their website:
www.nashoaustralia.org.au

Nominal Roll

In total over 287,000 National Servicemen served during the period 1951 to 1972, of whom 212 died on active service, 2 in Borneo, and 210 in Vietnam.
There is no official listing of National Servicemen. The NSAA is creating this ROLL and invites you to enrol your service details on it.
The ROLL is held on the NSAA Web Site. It will be there forever. You can search the ROLL for old mates and even contact them. Your children, grandchildren and even your great grandchildren will be able to search this ROLL and see your name, service number and details of your service.
It is only YOU who can add your name to this ROLL. To add your name to the Roll, visit the website,
www.nashonomroll.org
download the form and send it together with $5 to the specified address. Your entry will be added to this auspicious NOMINAL ROLL and you will receive an official certificate.
The ROLL is administered on behalf of the National Servicemen’s Assn. of Australia Inc. by the Gold Coast North Branch.
OTU members are encouraged to register.

One of the Objectives of the OTU Association is:

To promote youth leadership and development training in order to provide a  life enhancing opportunity to young Australians.

Over many years our efforts and support have been primarily focused on the Lord  & Lady Somers Camps in Victoria. The following report details the activities for 2010.

In addition The Association has  this year made donations to an Anglicare Youth Development Program based in Healesville, Victoria., and to a Queensland based youth mentoring program.

Lord and Lady Somers Camps – 2012

Altogether the OTU Association sponsored twenty nine young people to this year’s Lord and Lady Somers Camps. These are held annually at Somers, on Westernport Bay in Victoria. For 2012 there were fifteen boys and sixteen  girls. Five attendees were nominated by NSW Chapter and the rest came from Victoria, with eight of these co-sponsored  with Healesville Rotary Club.

OTU Association members are always welcome to visit the camp, watch the activities then join in with the “Groupers” (participants), “Slushies” (instigators of discipline) and staff for lunch.

If it’s possible to draw a parallel with Scheyville, the Groupers are the Junior Class and the Slushies the Senior Class. The “Slush”, however can (and do), wreak their havoc around the clock, interrupting sleep at any time of night should it be deemed necessary – or even not necessary should that be the case! I can’t recall that being so with our experience. They do, as per the script, moderate their tone to the point where they become quite friendly by the end of the week!

Team building and stretching the Groupers’ endurance boundaries forms a crucial part of the programme. Each camp comprises five separate teams of twenty young people and the camaraderie built up in these is something to behold! There develops an enormous esprit de corps in each with Groupers doing all they can to help their colleagues achieve their very best. It is a great way for them to gain confidence through expanding their understanding of their physical and mental limitations and developing leadership skills.

Guest speakers address the Groupers at many of the meal sessions. Included in these over the years have been Chief Commissioners of Police, notable sports personalities, senior politicians and other prominent personalities. Younger people with lifetime experiences highly relevant to the Groupers’ stage in life are also included.

OTU’s association goes back to the mid ‘eighties. We have focused our efforts on sponsoring young people from the less privileged schools and areas. For so many it has been a life-changing experience – giving them an extra confidence, so vital at that stage of life.

We take great heart from the “thank you” letters we receive from grateful people we have sponsored. As well, a number come back in years after to assist in running the camps.

Sponsoring young people to attend the Lord and Lady Somers Camps is one way The OTU Association can assist in the development of Australia’s youth. I’m certain that, state by state there are many other opportunities. We’d be keen indeed to hear of any. After all, Youth Development is one of our core objectives – and funding is available.

Frank Miller.

National Chairman.

Brian  Scantlebury, Peter Whitelaw, Paul Ford and Rob Youl with attendees 2112

 Why should you be a member of the OTU Association?  

The Association’s Vision Statement, as presented in the Constitution is as follows;-

The Association exists to provide a vehicle for the ongoing connection, networking and support for all those associated with OTU. The Association is dedicated to the commemoration and remembrance of the ‘Scheyville Experience’ and the contribution made to Australia by all those involved. The Association seeks to provide fellowship for its members. The Association also encourages and supports the development of leadership in young Australians.

This is best summarised as: ‘Let’s keep the blokes together’ (Ray Elder – 2010).

So how can we expect to benefit from being a member?

Firstly, it is perhaps worth exploring just what we all have in common – what we have to share together.

In Australia the mid sixties to early seventies was an era of enormous opportunity for young men. Well paying jobs with a real future were plentiful. The world was our oyster. Then came National Service and Scheyville. Although a good number of us volunteered to join, most had, by no means, included two years in the military as part of their life plan. Two years doing something you had never contemplated (nor

probably desired) was one thing but, on top of this, to end up doing the OTU course was altogether ‘way out there’.

Scheyville for most was difficult and trying. Moreover it was worlds away from the lifestyle we had left in civvie street. It tested us to our limits. It developed us. At times it made us wonder why we had ever decided to make this jump ‘out of the frying pan’ of recruit training ‘into the fire’ of OTU at all. Looking back over all these years it still seems such a radical, and unexpected, change in the course of our lives.

It really did make us feel unique. Moreover it is this unique experience that makes for a sense of brotherhood among Scheyvillians. It is this special brotherhood that the OTU Association seeks to celebrate. We have a common bond.

Just what can we gain through being a member of the OTU Association? Here are a few thoughts.

Business and other networking. Many of us, even if only working part-time these days, can cultivate and, participate in, business opportunities that arise from knowing what other members are involved in. In addition, with a good number of us retired (or near retired), we tend more and more to direct our energies towards charitable and other not-for-profit organisations. As well as being rewarding, these provide a stimulating opportunity to continue to practise the management and leadership skills we have learned – both at OTU and in our subsequent careers. The Association membership represents fertile ground firstly, for those keen to find suitable positions on business or not for profit boards and, secondly, for those seeking people to join such bodies..

Fellowship: Members can maintain their relationships with friends who have ‘shared the experience’. They can participate in group activities including luncheons, dinners, weekends away and tennis and golfing (we’re not quite up to bowls quite yet!) days. Several State Chapters now march in their city’s ANZAC Day parade under the OTU banner. Class reunions are becoming more and more popular and provide yet another avenue for catching up with old and special friends. It must be mentioned here that the wives/partners join in many of these functions and have become very good friends with each other.

Covering all of this is ‘The Scheyvillian’. This quarterly journal is always a fascinating read – reporting on functions that have been held, on what people are doing, on where they have been, and on military matters of interest to all. In a sense it is the ‘cement’ of the Association. It makes us feel a real part of our Association.

There is just something special in catching up with people who have gone through the life changing experience of Scheyville OTU. A splendid bond still exists between us all – a bond often not fully recognised until we get together.

Pride: Members attain recognition in the community because of who they are and what they achieved. They are a unique group in Australia’s history. They are committed to preserving the OTU history and the memorabilia associated with Scheyville. Membership of the Association makes us part of this.

Respect: Members respect and remember those who have passed on with the expectation that they too will be remembered as Scheyvillians.

Contribution to the community: Members actively support and foster youth leadership development programs that provide a similar experience to what they received at OTU. They believe that they benefited immensely from their leadership training and should now contribute to similar experiences for the young people who will enhance the future of Australia.

No other association or club offers a comparable set of benefits!