Cockatoo

by Christopher Cummings

  By the time the expedition arrived at the bitumen Gillies Highway it was daybreak and the sun was just peeking over the ranges. Parked at the junction were seven vehicles including the truck and all the navy vehicles with trailers. The army cadets were instructed to keep marching. They did this by keeping to the side of the highway which, even at this time of the morning, was busy.

  The navy cadets were told to stop and have breakfast. That was an even bigger relief to Tina and during the meal she kept hoping that the vehicles meant that they would not have to drag the cannon and canoes up the other half of the mountain. This hope was reinforced when the three army cadet vehicles drove on up the highway.

  She was right. Lt Ryan explained that it was not safe to try to move the cannon and canoes up such a busy mountain highway so the navy cadets were to load them onto the vehicles and then change roles to become part of the ‘Control Group’.

  It took nearly two hours to construct sheer legs to hoist the cannon and parts onto the truck and to load and lash on the canoes, spars and other items. Their own gear was then loaded aboard except for basic webbing. They were checked to ensure all had their lunch and waterbottles full.

  “And your raincoats,” Lt Ryan added as it had come over all overcast and was starting to drizzle.

  Once the loading was completed the navy cadets were instructed to walk up the highway for the next kilometre, taking care to keep off the bitumen. Tina did not enjoy this experience. There was lots of traffic, all roaring and rushing by only metres away with a steep slope on the left. As well as that a strong, cold wind began blowing down the valley and with it came showers of rain. It showed her very clearly why it would have been unsafe to have tried to pull the cannon and canoes along that section of road.

  At 0915 they reached the gravel car park at the bottom of Robsons Track, a foot trail that follows and old wagon road up the continuation of the same spur. Most of the navy cadet vehicles drove on up the range with one team of cadets from Mackay on board. The other vehicles joined the walkers in the car park. Lt Hamilton of the army cadets was waiting there with three army cadets dressed in old civilian clothes. He then briefed them to become part of the enemy group.

  “You are a raiding party of Iroquois led by two French officers and you are following up the tracks left by the British. When you catch them up you are to attack and battle with them but not actually close on them. There is to be no physical contact and no throwing things. They will do a withdrawal in contact exercise with platoons leapfrogging to cover each other. You will always stay at least fifty metres from them and try to be a bit realistic,” he explained.

  Costumes were then organized. Raincoats came off and the navy cadets were all issued with blue headbands. Feathers were stuck in these, the number going up with each rank. Two of the army cadets put on tricorn hats with white plumes on them and a gold fleur d lis badge on the right front. They were the French officers and now took command, grouping the navy cadets into two teams.

  After a safety brief and check on the map of where they were and where they were going the groups set off up the walking track. To begin with this was relatively easy but the slope quickly became steeper and steeper and the pace slowed to a puffing slog. Once again Tina had to grit her teeth and push herself to keep going. She was starting to feel light headed with exhaustion and lack of sleep but knew it was al part of the challenge to test them so she clenched her jaw and struggled on upwards.

  But others didn’t. A boy from Mackay sat down, gasping and complaining. The group came to a halt while a sub lieutenant from Townsville and some of his friends attended to him. Tina stayed out of the way so only overheard a bit of what was said but did learn that the boy had given up, saying he was getting cramps and had blisters. There were a couple of radio calls and then two of the older boys from Townsville were sent with the boy to help him back down to the safety vehicles. As she watched them go Tina vowed she would not be one of those who gave up. When the order was given to continue she hoisted herself to her feet and after a few groans at sore and stiffening muscles began plodding uphill.

  Despite the showers of cold rain she found she was sweating and very quickly she drank one of the waterbottles on her belt. To compensate she found the view dramatic and beautiful and the open forest they were moving up through quite interesting and pretty. The foot track wound back and forth in short fifty metre zig-zags. The mountainside was steep but most of the time the walking was just a panting slog up the rough trail.

  At 1115 they caught up with the army cadet company. From the rocks up at the next bend came loud shots of ‘Bang! Bang!’ and the leading navy cadets replied. Tina hurried up the track and followed Andrew out onto the grassy slope to the right. She then joined in the ‘Cowboys and Indians’ ‘battle’ with both relief and pleasure. For a few minutes she was happy to pretend to be shooting at the heads she could just see further up the slope.

  Then the army cadet rearguard began to withdraw up the slope. Tina heard the shouted orders and glimpsed the backs of running figures and joined in the rush to chase, only to be shouted at by Cadet Midshipman George to stay under cover and let them go. “Let them get a bit of a break, then we follow,” he instructed.

  They did. As soon as the last army cadet had vanished from view the Control Group were ordered to follow up. They did this in a scrambling rush which soon had Tina gasping for breath but cheerfully excited. Because the Control Group were not carrying packs they quickly caught the army cadets up but by then another group of army cadets further up the slope and to one side were ‘shooting’ to cover the withdrawal of their fellows. The navy cadets were told to take cover and shoot back. They did so until the next group of army cadets began pulling back. Tina was glad to crouch behind a tree in the wet grass as it gave her a chance to get her breath back.

  The process repeated itself several times until they were told to stop and have lunch at 1200hrs. By then they were at least half way up the mountainside and all feeling quite worn out. “But not as buggered as those army cadets with their packs, I’ll bet,” Andrew commented.

  The group sat along the track and Tina took out some biscuits and a small tin of tuna. She had several drinks and emptied one of her waterbottles. Cloud and drizzle closed in and there were a few heavy showers which soaked her despite her raincoat. Despite the cold and discomfort Tina found she was still enjoying herself.

  But not so some of the others. Grace Rushbrook sat and complained and told everyone she was feeling sick and that she had blisters on her hands as well as her feet. A couple of the boys from other units were also grumbling and not looking as though they were enjoying the experience.

  “This is bloody stupid!” muttered a Leading Seaman from Townsville.

  “No it’s not,” Tina retorted. “It was designed to test our fitness and character and it is obviously doing that.”

  The Leading Seaman glared back at her, making her fear she had made an enemy. But he then stopped complaining so openly.

  Andrew chuckled and nudged her arm. “Good for you kiddo!” he whispered.

  For a moment their eyes met and he smiled. Tina smiled back and wanted to throw her arms around him. But she just sat and glowed inside. ‘He has noticed me and I think he still likes me,’ she told herself. ‘There is hope!’

  Buoyed up by that Tina joined in the renewed battle with even greater enthusiasm after lunch. Despite feeling very tired, chafed, wet and cold she found she was really enjoying the challenge. The battle went on for hours, the army cadets pulling back section by section and platoon by platoon, holding just long enough to allow the last group to plod on past the new rearguard before pulling back. Heavy rain began to drench them.

  Tina emptied her second waterbottle but then refilled it when they crossed a clear running mountain stream at the point where the walking track changed direction from running up the spine of the ridge to heading up a small valley. The vegetation changed from short grass and she-oaks to long grass, ferns and eucalypts
. There were even a few old steel telegraph poles standing beside the track and Tina learned they were put up in the late 19th Century when this was the main road to the Tablelands.

  “I’m glad we aren’t travelling up and down this in a horse drawn stage coach,” Tina gasped as she set herself to tackle another steep and now slippery section of track.

  The next battle took them up to a clump of large boulders on a ridge line. When she at last reached it, soaked and sweating, Tina saw that the ridge levelled out ahead and that a wall of dense jungle lined the crest ahead. ‘Uh oh! Rainforest,’ she thought.

  There was a very confused ‘battle’ at that point and only when the navy cadets moved up did Tina discover that a second group from the Control Group, including army cadets she had never seen before, had been holding the company up from its front while her group had been pushing them from the back. As she plodded on along the track she passed several drenched ‘Indians’ and ‘Frenchmen’.

  The foot track came to a two wheel track vehicle track on the crest of the range. This went to the left and wound along just on the edge of the jungle. It also went up and down over some steep little rises that got Tina panting again. The battles continued but so did the rain which got heavier and heavier. Soon she was soaked and shivering, despite her raincoat.

  At 1530 they reached Gillies Lookout: a park and lookout with vehicles parked on a gravel ring road. The place was also a launch point for hang gliders and from the lookout Tina got a few brief but dramatic glimpses of the whole Mulgrave Valley. Through the clouds and rain it looked very rugged and beautiful. She was even able to see all the way back to Gordonvale, now just a distant blur.

  Andrew stood beside her and pointed down. “You can see our whole route so far,” he said.

  He was right. Tina was able to identify the Mulgrave River, Little Mulgrave, the bridge where they had unloaded the cannon and the ridge they had come up in the dark. The sight impressed her and also made her feel very proud of what she had achieved.

  But she was not so exhausted, cold and chafed that she doubted if she could go much further. To her intense relief she heard that they could rest until it got dark. The adult staff had set up several tarpaulins in a sheltered corner out of the wind and the cadet’s packs were there. Thankfully Tina limped over, found her pack and slumped down on it.

  Carmen Collins and Petty Officer Page set up two plastic sheets to make a change room and the girls were told to get into dry clothes. Tina dug out a change of clothes and when it was her turn thankfully stripped and dried herself, then dressed in the dry clothes. She felt so cold she was trembling and it took her quite a while to warm up. Like the others she pulled out her sleeping bag and snuggled into it to warm up.

  The heavy rain eased just before dark and they were able to move out and heat some food on their stoves. A hot drink of Milo helped and by then Tina’s feet had dried out a bit and she felt much better but still needed a real rest. So she groaned with all the others when her patrol and Carmen’s were told to change back into their wet clothes and get ready to continue the exercise.

  Pulling on the wet clothes and socks was a bit of a challenge but she managed it and then packed all the dry things carefully, all wrapped in plastic. She then refilled her waterbottles. The work of packing was interrupted by several heavy showers of rain and after a briefing on what to do next she pulled on her pack and set off into the damp darkness with the others. It was so dark they needed to use their torches to keep on the road which plunged into a tunnel of rainforest.

  The next hour was a bit of an ordeal as they sloshed, slithered and trudged for two kilometres up and down some quite steep hills through the rainforest. It was so dark and unpleasant that Tina found it quite scary and daunting but the presence of her friends helped to keep her calm and moving. Twice she lost her footing when going down steep slopes and fell heavily on her bum. Mud and water coated her and she became so filthy and wet that she could only shrug and stop caring. Each time Andrew helped to heave her to her feet and that helped a lot.

  As expected from the orders they met an army cadet patrol but the actual challenge from the darkness still came as a surprise. There was a loud call to surrender and torches shone on them. As ordered the navy cadets did not at first surrender so there was a short battle. During it Tina just stood in the rain and made no attempt to take cover in the jungle beside the roads. Several others did and quickly regretted it when they were snagged by wait-a-while or thorns.

  “Surrender!” shouted a voice from the jungle beside them. Tina recognized Graham’s voice and gave a wry smile. ‘It had to be him,’ she thought. “He sounds like he is having as much fun as a pig in mud!” she commented.

  He was. When Carmen’s group withdrew according to plan Tina’s team did as instructed and surrendered. A grinning Graham came out and recognized them. “Gotcha!” he chortled.

  Andrew snorted and muttered, “Pig in mud alright.” He did not sound very friendly and Tina felt a stab of concern that her actions had driven a wedge between the friends. But Graham appeared not to notice and became busy radioing his HQ and then organizing the ‘prisoners’. He then kept them waiting until another patrol arrived to relieve his and then led them back to where the army cadets were ‘harboured’ in the jungle.

  They did this without torches and in a slow, slithering line. It was so dark they had to hang onto the webbing of the person ahead of them and Tina marvelled that Graham could find his camp in the dark. They passed two parked vehicles near a bend and then were led in along a rope tied from tree to tree at waist height to where a shelter was strung between six trees.

  Major Wickham and several CUOs and others were waiting there and now torches were allowed. After a check that everyone was present and unhurt they were questioned according to a printed script. Blake had a copy of this in a plastic bag and he did the answering. Tina just stood and listened, shivering but still interested in spite of herself. Blake’s answers gave the army cadets the information as to which Indian war party they were from and a clue that there were other war bands which could be moving to cut off the ‘British’ advance.

  As they talked Tina watched Graham’s face and was again struck by how ruggedly handsome he was. He was obviously enjoying the exercise even though he was just as soaked as she was and had carried his pack up the mountain during the day. ‘He is very fit- but he isn’t the man for me,’ she decided again.

  While speculating on how she might get Andrew to pay her attention she followed the others back out to the road. The navy cadet team was then led further on along the muddy gravel road past some sentries and then on for a hundred metres to a sharp bend in the road where a patrol challenged them. At that point their guides left them with instructions to keep following the road until they came to the Control Group camp. By then heavy rain was pouring down again.

  The navy cadets took out their torches and trudged on. Tina felt ready to just flop down and now found it a real effort just to put one foot in front of the other and Stella was moaning and complaining all the time. ‘I don’t think I can go on much longer either,’ Tina thought.

  Luckily she didn’t have to. Just a hundred metres further along the road they came to a line of parked vehicles and a camp on the right of the road between the vehicles and an open field. Sentries challenged them and then Lt Hamilton met them and showed them to where several shelters were strung up to trees and the fence. Packs were dumped in out of the rain and bedding unrolled.

  “Sleep dry. Don’t get your sleeping bags wet,” Carmen reminded them. Feeling very daring, even though it was almost so dark she could barely make out her neighbours, Tina stripped and slipped naked into the sleeping bag. The knowledge that Andrew was only in the next shelter along added to the thrill. ‘Oooh! I wish he was in here with me!’ she thought.

  She slept well, except for a few cramps and aches. They were woken while it was still dark and ordered to get dressed. That was a challenge, especially in the dark but by 0545 the
y all stood out in the light drizzle being briefed.

  The first activity was a dawn attack on the army cadets. This included having to push through the edge of the rainforest in the dark, the wet leaves feeling clammy and horrible in the darkness. Tina expected to be snagged by wait-a-while but was lucky and met none. There was a lot of shouting and banging and then the dim forms of the defenders became visible. As instructed Tina pretended to die, an unpleasant experience as it meant falling down on the soggy leaf mould.

  ‘I hope I don’t pick up a tick or a leech,’ she thought.

  The battle was ended and she joined everyone out on the edge of the road where they sat in their section lines for a roll check and then a briefing. One of the army cadets had lines to read to move the story along- the attackers were from two of the ‘French’ war parties who had marched all night to block the advance.

  As soon as that was over the Control Group hurried back along the muddy road to their camp and carried out their morning routine. This had to be done under shelters as the heavy rain began again. The radio news informed them that it had rained heavily all night long right across the Atherton Tablelands. That caused some speculation that the exercise might be cancelled.

  “Oh, I hope not,” Tina commented. “I am starting to enjoy this.”

  It was obvious to her that others weren’t but she was pleased with how well she had performed and after a good night’s sleep felt ready for more.

  The rain eased during breakfast and then the cloud began to shred and open out so that by 0800 they were experiencing watery sunlight. During this time there were several small ‘actions’ as army cadet patrols tried to sneak up on the camp. Tina enjoyed the action but was then taken away with Stella by Lt Hamilton. Both girls were given long dresses and old-fashioned bonnets and the story line that they were two ‘English’ girls who had fled wounded into the forest when ‘Indians’ had attacked their farm. Carmen and Hayley Page, both also dressed as girls, came with them. Lt Hamilton and two army cadet sergeants made up the remainder of the party. With radios and packs they made their way west along the road for 300 metres to where there was jungle on the left and open fields on the right. Here they turned left and walked 200 metres into the jungle on a compass course.