A whale of a tale for Army landlubbers

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 42, 10 April 1984, Page 1

A whale of a tale for Army landlubbers

Waiouru residents would have followed the plight of the pilot whales stranded in Tryphena Harbour, Great Barrier Island recently with great interest as many of their own neighbours were involved in the rescue operations. The publicity in the media, particularly on television, highlighted the valuable part the Army played in the largely unsuccessful attempts to save the whales. The antagonism that had been generated between many of the islanders and the Army as a result of the 'Northern Safari' exercises conducted on the island were forgotten as the two groups joined forces to try to herd the stranded whales out to sea. A total of 35 whales were eventually saved. However three times as many were humanely shot to end their distress. Major David Roseveare, based at Waiouru as Public Relations Officer, became unofficial spokesman for the rescue and could be seen deep in water in newspapers around the country, striving to save the whales. With expert advice from the Fisheries Department, civil defence aid from the islanders and the organisational abilities of the Army, all that could be done for the mammals was done and it was heart warming to see so many people work so hard together to help such defenceless creatures. The publicity given the plight of the whales, overshadowed the reasons for the Army being on the island in the first instance. Under the command of Colonel Meldrum, Exercise 'Northern Safari', proved to be extremely successful from an Army point of view. There were three reasons for conducting the exercises:

• To mobilise the Ready Reaction Force of the N.Z. Army. • To practice the deployment of the force, done largely by sea with the assistance of the Australian amphibious squadron and H.M.A.S. Tobruk. • To practice counterinsurgency operations. With the Gurkha regiment playing the part of the 'baddies' and the Ready Reaction Force as the 'goodies' the Exercise Control staff were able to assess the state of preparedness of

the N.Z. Army in the event of war. Some concern was expressed at the sea deployment of the forces but enough was learned by Control staff to know what should feature in future training for such deployments. The Army considered the Exercises to be extremely valuable and Great Barrier Island residents seem to have benefitted in many ways. The local school now has an adventure playground, courtesy of the Army, and roads and bridges were also improved.