Welcome to the Leeuwin 76th website

HMAS LEEUWIN - JRTE

76th Intake

July 1981 - March 1982

Welcome.

This site is dedicated to the guys of the 76th intake HMAS Leeuwin. It will have info on our

time at Leeuwin, photos, past and present and information on upcoming events. Feel free to

look through it all and contact me if you would like to see something added to the site.

July 14th 1981

50+ young men from all over Australia, ranging between the ages of 15 3/4 to 16 1/2, descended upon the gates of HMAS Leeuwin in Fremantle WA, to undertake 9 months of naval junior recruit training.

If we all knew what awaited us, I'm sure that there would have been quite a few that would have run away.

We were formed into a squad and were marched through the gates. We were greeted by a behemoth of man (when your 15, anyone over 6ft was a behemoth) who introduced himself as LSCOX Binnekamp. He then proceeded to let us know in no uncertain terms what we had let ourselves in for. I actually thought to myself, "what have I put myself in for, we had only been on the base for less than an hour and were already getting yelled at". Now, don't get me wrong, this was always part of training, letting us know our place in the grand scheme of things.

We were all issued naval uniforms, which were at least 2 sizes too big, I guess they thought that we'd grow into them. The uniform was placed into a big blue duffle bag and they we were double time marched to our "home" for the next 3 months.

For 3 months we were known as "new grubs". We were the new kids and were treated to some of most physical and psychological treatment imaginable. This was all part of the "growth" process. There were inspections every morning and evening, kit musters at the discretion of our divisional staff, doubling around the parade ground late at night as punishment fro something that had happened within the division.

After 3 months, we were given the option, quit or continue. We had a few that quit, but most of decided to stick it out. We were also elevated to the position of "shits". The next rung up the ladder. Our intake was split into 2 groups. One group went to Ramsay Division and the other half went to Stevenson Division. This is, what we thought, was going to be our new home, but a major brawl changed all that and each intake was now a division. We became Stevenson 76th, STEVO 76th.

From then on it was a daily routine of classes, parade training, inspections etc. For the last 3 months were where now "top shits". We had longer leave on Thursday evenings and longer weekend leave.

WE COULD SEE THE FINISH LINE.............

March 16th 1982

PASSING OUT PARADE JRTE 76TH INTAKE

This had been the day we were all looking forward to. We had done all the junior recruit training, we had all been put through the wringer, some more than others at time, but it was all worth it. This was the day when we actually joined the fleet, so to speak.

Most of us were awake well before we had to be, to make sure all our uniforms were clean and tidy. We checked or ceremonial webbing, only to find out that one of the other intakes thought it would be funny to take the brass clips from the webbing belts. Needless to say, we were pissed off. We eventually found them, quickly put them back together, luckily there was a bottle of white shoe cleaner on hand to cover up any of the scuff marks.

We were then told to get ready and muster in front of the armoury to get our rifles. We mustered in front of the armoury to collect our rifles and you could hear guys saying "Geez, I hope I don't stuff this up" or "Geez, I hope I don't faint". With it being March, it was a fairly hot day, so the chance of guys fainting was real.

LT Fred Lawrence, our Divisional Officer, led us onto the parade ground, with the 5th Military District band playing. The inspecting officer was Vice Admiral Willis. It seems ironic, that there we were, just starting our Naval Career, yet the inspecting officer and our Divisional officer were coming to the end of theirs. Below is news clipping from the West Australian Newspaper about the event.

Anyway, everything went well, our parents were there to witness this event and afterwards we had a "Passing out” party. We spoke with the Divisional Staff and were very excited about what was ahead.

We were then transferred to either HMAS Cerberus or HMAS Albatross to start our respective course training.

We shook hands as we all went our separate ways. The first part of Naval Careers was gone but will never be forgotten.