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ALH trooper
Margate, 1990
Nationals, 1967
National service
The expanding collection
Yamaha RT3
Pig hunting
With Watts & White 1976
Jan... London
Western Qld. friend
D-day 1987
Movie Ordnance
Rock 'n' roll group
Home studio
Bangkok office
San... at play
MOD Pattern Room
More serious work
Wallace Collection
Pattern Room
Claremore, OK
Vientiane, Laos
Su at home in Oz
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There is little doubt that the greatest influence on my life,
as for most of us, has been
that of our
parents. I count myself very fortunate for the upbringing and education
made available to me. My dear father departed
this world on 2nd October 1996, at the age of seventy-seven, after many years of ill-health,
primarily due to wartime service and incarceration by the Japanese.
Mum noticed dad's slightly longer, more endearing
handshake as we bade farewell on the front porch for the TG flight overseas again. My father realized that his time was near,
he knew too well that this might be our last adieu. I do recall his remark to 'get going
and collect that medal'.
A year earlier, I was advised of being awarded the Arms &
Armour Society medal for contributions to arms research and publishing, but
had not been able to go to London for the presentation. On the front doorstep
of our home, I was in such a rush that day, the last on which I was to
see my father, unaware of his lingering 'god-speed'.
My father had a hard
childhood, the product of a share-cropping emigrant
family from London arriving on Australia's east coast during the Great War [see 'Collector' magazine
#11,
'Ode to the Universal Soldier' for his biography]. After
working on outback sheep and cattle stations, dad served as a trooper
in the Wide Bay & Burnett District Light Horse. He signed on for the Royal
Australian Field Engineers after the outbreak of war in Europe, a young adventurer
keen to visit Europe and see action. However Sapper (his new engineer rank) Skennerton XQ10918 was
re-assigned to Timor
with 'Sparrow Force'. He was with the Royal Australian Engineers accompanying the Tasmanian 2/40th infantry battalion,
despatched to blow up an aerodrome and munitions in an attempt to stall Japan's invasion of the Dutch East Indies.
The Japs sent marine commando paratroops to take the island; they were decimated by the
Tasmanians and engineers. A sea-borne landing of 18,000 Japs followed a few
days later. Hopelessly outnumbered and
outgunned, 'Sparrow Force' chose to capitulate on 23rd February 1942. Some made it into the mountains and operated with the Australian
Independent Company (Commando) to harass the Japanese invaders for more than a year.
Dad never used the word 'surrender'. Interned
in Timor and then Changi, they were shipped by cattle cart
to slave labour on the 'Death Railway', the Burma-Thailand line in January
1943 for one and a
half long years. After return to Singapore, dad was then shipped to
Japan in September 1944. The 'Bayoke Maru' was the only vessel
of a convoy of thirteen to survive typhoons and American torpedoes across the
China Sea to the Land of the Rising Sun in late 1944, destination Nagasaki. After forced
labour in the mines and steel mills where their numbers continued to dwindle, my
father walked out of the Nagasaki prison camp after the second atomic bomb was
dropped and the emperor surrendered on 14th August 1945. He was on his way back
home within a few days, walking out of the POW camp with a few other diggers
after they were placed under the command of a U.S. naval officer whom they
reckoned was as bad as the Japs!
One principle I learned from my father, 'never give up
and never quit'. He
always considered that in the midst of any hardship or misfortune, the situation
could only improve.
Along with my two younger brothers, I never witnessed any disagreement between our parents. Dad's gentle nature,
practicality and
manual skills were the product of a hard childhood, work-oriented youth and terrible experiences as a POW. After seeing so many mates die in Timor and
the prison camps, dad attributed his survival to a rough upbringing and his
implacable faith. My parents were practicing Christians and
we regularly attended the Margate Baptist Church, another influence in my early years.
Lesson no. 1— Fortune favours the brave... he who hesitates is lost.
The first old guns I bought were a Remington
rimfire rolling
block, Stevens Favourite and Winchester Model 03, in 1969 after leaving the
parental home;
I was never allowed a
gun there. At $12 each, they hung on my rifle
rack alongside a Mauser 98 6mm Rem. sporter, .300 Win. magnum and .22RF
Brno self-loader, but
only for a few months before being sold or traded off. They did not have the
appeal of the following .310 Cadet Martini and SMLE purchases. In 1960's weekend
Brisbane Courier Mail classified adverts, fine .310 Cadets were available for
$12-$15 every weekend. Friends Laurie Addison and David Craske were avid collectors,
employed at Shaw's Sports Store in Albert St., Brisbane and Kingston
Bros. in South Brisbane. It was good to have such mates, the first part
of my firearms 'learning curve'.
David and Laurie were my first source of
knowledge on the rather complex range of Lee-Enfields with all the service mark, star and number
variations. There was no ready reference in those days, only a rather stuffy
Maj. Reynolds' 'The Lee-Enfield Rifle'. So I kept a
reference clip folder with notes on differences, with comments made by friends and
accepted collector 'gurus' in Brisbane, Barry Temple (Martinis) and Charlie
Woodhouse (Lee-Enfields). Later friends such as Brian Labudda, Peter Richardson
and SAF Lithgow staff provided a broader understanding of the many
subtleties and intricacies of the Enfield rifles and bayonets. And Bren guns, Vickers
guns,
L1A1s, Owens, Austens, et cetera. ...
Lesson no. 2— The more you learn, the more you realize you don't know.
Prize acquisitions those days included a pristine MLE Cavalry Carbine and
Qld. Police Mk I* SMLE, MLM Mk I with safety
catch and Lewes sights, Charger-loading long Lees, NSW
Martini-Henry Mk III with quick-loader attachment, .402
Enfield-Martini, Martini-Metford rifles, Enfield Elcho bayonet and a Lysaght
Owen bayonet.
We would travel thousands of miles interstate on the
whiff of a chance to trade for some desirable addition to the collection. Down
south, Winchesters were a premium; we we'd have a few '92 and '94 lever actions
or occasional
'76, '95 or parts as traders. Such forays netted us Australian jungle carbine trials
rifles (XP 13, XP 134 and XP 278) along with No.1 Mk III HT snipers. Barry Temple
disposed of much of his collection
at this time so we profited from his years of knowledge and expertise,
acquiring 'Long Lees', early SMLE models, P'14 sniper and Francotte and Braendlin Cadets from his collection.
In those days, The Armoury in Adelaide, Mick Smith's Sports Store and
Tony Hodges' Armoury in central Sydney along with
Maurie Albert's Collshoot sales in Melbourne, were prime sources for military
collectibles. We regularly visited, advised of new
shipments as well as local collections coming up for
sale. These were pre-gun show days in
Australia when most sales were made over the phone or by personal
visits. They were also the days when British or Colonial military items
ranked well below Winchesters and Colts in price and demand. I remember the scorn for paying over
$200 for a Lithgow jungle carbine
(prototype No.6) when No.5 jungle carbines fetched $35 for a really nice one.
During scholarship at the Q'ld Conservatorium of
Music, my birth date was
chosen in the National Service ballot to be conscripted in 1968, drafted into the
Australian Army. Sure,
I missed shooting, hunting, collecting, sports cars and drag racing, but I figured
that I could get into the army band near home, having graduate degrees in music and experience as a teacher, piano,
clarinet and saxophone player and symphony orchestra member. At home, I
thought I could teach music after work to supplement a minimal army wage, collect more guns
and go shooting on weekends. And probably avoid going to Vietnam too.
Lesson no. 3— Don't believe everything the Army tells you...
After winning state and national drag race titles, my army $38-a-week pay packet prohibited sports cars. Enter Yamaha big-bore enduro and
MX bikes; they reigned supreme for nearly twenty years. YZ490's my
preference, I was a petrol-head. Dirt bikes were much less expensive than sports cars,
with
off-road freedom to boot. Better still with a 7.62mm rifle
over the shoulder and a few mates, hunting wild pigs. 4WDs were high on the agenda, Suzuki for hunting and turbo Toyota Land
Cruiser for longer trips.
I was
hard on vehicles and hard on my guns. Few survived more than a year
or two.
Friends categorized the following as being 'Skinny-proof'... Remington 870 pumps, TRW
M14s, Yamaha YZ 490s, Suzuki Sierras and Toyota HJ 80s. This was a short list after
dozens of hunting firearms, bikes and vehicles during my younger days. Nicknamed 'Skinny', it was a ready abbreviation of my surname
rather than any allusion to my physical condition.
Saigon and Nui Dat were my introduction to the Orient with the Australian
Army in 1970. Our group did whistle-stop tours to Da Nang, Da Lat, Cholon,
Ben Hoa, Vung Tau and attended the presentation of the US Meritorious Unit
citation to the AATTV (Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, whose members led Vietnamese and ethnic minorities
forces units, aka U.S. Special Forces). My six years total in the Army ended in the
Army Band Corps and with little regret I was finally discharged in 1975.
Next trips to Asia were with film crews in 1986-7, working
out of Bangkok into Vietnam and Cambodia on a war documentary. This involved
personalities such as Alan Dawson (author '55 Days', Canadian war
correspondent who stayed on in Saigon after the NVA rolled
in, fraternized with Air
America crowd at Lucy's Tiger Den bar in Suriwong Rd., married a
Thai, now a Bangkok Post editor), John Everingham (Australian
photographer and war correspondent about whom a movie was made re his
night swim in the Mekong to escape Laos Communists, then returned
to rescue his Laotian girlfriend, now resident in Bangkok too) and Neil Davis (Australian film
journalist and reporter, ref. documentary 'Frontline', who survived years
of conflict in Vietnam and Cambodia, to be killed by a Thai tank crew during a Bangkok
coup on Monday 9th September, 1986. ref. biography 'One Crowded Hour'
by Tim Bowden).
Lesson no. 4— Suddenly I feel mortal...
It was at Alan Dawson's suggestion in 1986 while working
on the film doco in Vietnam and Cambodia that I investigated publishing with his
printer in Bangkok, Thai Watana Panich Co. Ltd. A leading Thai
print house, publishing most of Thailand's school textbooks and servicing an
increasing export market. After dissatisfaction with various
Australian printers, I published Vol.3 of List of Changes and Australian Military Rifles & Bayonets
with TWP in 1987. I've published
there since, comfortable in the Orient after work in Thailand,
Vietnam and Cambodia, with occasional forays into
bordering Burma and
Laos.
First married late in 1969 before my induction into the army, this union of
nine years finally ended in divorce after arriving home early from an interstate
book sales trip to find the 'best mate' with my
wife. Exit mate and the wife, stage left. Time mellows us all and in hindsight, I
realize that family life suffered from my research and
trips away from home. It takes two to tango, equal on both
sides of the playing field.
Lesson no. 5— Too many 'good mates'...
During this time, with other Brisbane collector friends, we established the Arms Collectors Guild of Q'ld. Representing
Queensland collectors, the Guild also ran
local gun
shows as a public relations exercise and fund promotions and Guild activities. As happens
often with
special interest groups, personal rivalries escalated to bitter hostility.
A rival gun show duo (ousted ACGQ member
charged with misappropriating funds and less corpulent mentor) waged a
campaign of malicious rumour and 'dob-ins'. Police raids on the pair, sensational media reports and photos,
pornography, visits to the
Philippines et cetera, did the collector cause harm.
For most Guild principals, it was time to move on as escalating
conflict is counter-productive. One of the duo was
later extradited to NSW on black-market firearms charges. Cronyism and greed
hamstring the effectiveness of many shooting and collecting
organizations today, publicity we don't need.
In 1974, Capt. Frank Adlam, RAA of Adelaide advised the two
keen researchers, Skennerton and Temple, to base research around the List of
Changes in British War Material ('his Bible') and service literature rather than
authors' books and popular literature. We were fortunate to acquire an original collection of List of Changes
volumes (1868-1944 actually) from a retired artillery officer in Adelaide. These
have served our studies and research for decades.
I'll never forget my introduction to London in 1976. Realizing that
most British military and production source material was likely to
be found in the Mother Country, I flew into London with about £100 in my pocket
and a suitcase of books to fund three months' research.
Arriving at Heathrow, this fresh-faced colonial was done by a London hack driver
for a £45 ride into the city. Standing on a Mayfair sidewalk in the
cold evening, I came so close to using my return ticket and going
straight back home. How different my life would be, had I taken the
easy way back from the inhospitable cold and damp.
A twenty-five pound
economy hotel respite saw a warmer dawn, then I took the underground to Leytonstone in the
east end where a friend in Oz had family to recommend lodgings. This was
the dawn of a much wider knowledge.
I express my appreciation for encouragement of the late John Watts and Peter White
(click photo for enlargement), the Hon. John
Fremantle (Lord Cottesloe), Mike Baldwin at the National Army Museum and Herb Woodend
from the MOD Pattern Room, for their moral support and assistance
with my research in 1976 and on subsequent visits.
My next spouse, Jan, went with me to England in 1980 where we lived for
one and a half years. During this time, I researched full-time at the Public Records Office and
other libraries, worked and catalogued arms at the Tower of London, Imperial War
Museum, National Army Museum, Enfield Pattern Room,
traveling farther afield in the pursuit of more research material. I have since visited Britain
many times for ongoing research, photography and book
projects as well as the United States, Canada, New
Zealand and Europe. There is certainly no substitute for first-hand research of source
material.
Lesson no. 6— If you want a job done satisfactorily, do it yourself...
Not long after being discharged from the Army, I worked with pop
and rock 'n' roll bands, mostly in the pub
and private party scene. After the regimentation of the Army Band
Corps, I was not real keen to get back into mainstream music for a living but two or three evenings playing
nightclub and tavern
circuits was fine. I had never played pop music commercially so it was
another experience. Playing keyboards, Roland and Yamaha synthesisers, tenor sax
with some backing vocals for about two years, I did
various backing tracks, video and film, with a recording
studio in the back room at home.
Pop bands Jam (4-piece), Ole Memphis (5-piece) and
Heat (4-piece) advanced in order of viability. With a good lead singer and guitarist in
Heat, we did some studio recording too. The pop music scene was
starting to become professional for us in late 1982 but my newly published
'British Service Lee', 'The U.S. Enfield' and 'British Sniper' saw
longer promotion trips away... so exit the pop music, stage right.
After a fatal road accident and
significant injuries in western Qld. returning
from a shooting trip (co-incidentally on D-day, 6th June 1987),
I quit music and film work (dirt bikes too!) and concentrated on research and publishing.
We established a movie guns
company, Movie Ordnance Qld., also a vehicle for working autos
and machine guns. Loss of sight in my right eye, skull fractures and ankle injuries from the
car accident, saw the end of practical rifle
shooting and hunting. However, I kept my trusty 7.62mm M14 (MOA out to 300m with 130gn Sierra 'pills'
and 48.5gn of Win 740 ball).
With more publishing in
the Orient and new Thai wife into the bargain, a
house/office in Bangkok conjured images of cool drinks and ad hoc colonial grandeur. The two-storey, four
bedroom and office had ample
work and storage space and built-in garage; caretaken by new kin, the Thai
in-laws.
On return to Bangkok a few months later, mother-in-law was
established in one bedroom with three nephews and nieces, master bedroom
taken over by a sister and another by a boarding cousin with her car in
my driveway. Downstairs, brother had moved in from Nakorn Suwan and set up a
silver factory along with his wife, children and three employees... my garage was their new factory. About 15 people
and complete
families. But there's more... a
friendly neighbour had a
sidewalk restaurant on our foot-path with tables, chairs, umbrellas and greasy cooking pots
with barbecue fireplace on our fence. For any
inconvenience, my new mother-in-law was paid 500 baht (US$12) a week.
Lesson no. 7— When you marry a Thai, you marry the
family...
And the neighbour on the other side of the alley ran an air-conditioner shop, his
workers used the lane for metal
bending, hammering and riveting. Larger
and less portable
machines appeared in our laneway, then a roof was extended over the top; our lane became his new workshop. The best way to move new-found relatives out of 'my' house and
remedy the encroaching air-con shop was to
turn our large house into two smaller ones and sell the new half to the
air-con shop guy. Accomplished for nearly the same price I paid for the
double-title deed property a few years earlier, it did not hurt so much.
The remaining property was settlement in the almost inevitable (read
Thai marries foreigner) divorce later... after she
got Australian citizenship, passport, Medicare and new baby to qualify for Social Security,
of course. Exit stage right for the Thai wife along with two houses, the
car and the usual benefits.
But worse
still, new Australian gun
laws took away my beloved M14, Remington 870 and .22 Brno 681 in the 'Buy back'
(paid confiscation) in 1997. Our government crushed them, invited us to witness their destruction. I am not ashamed to say
that I
shed tears; I miss those guns sorely. Many owners wept when family heirlooms, favorites, engraved Brownings and fine firearms went to destruction. While fair compensation was generally offered,
some
made a small fortune offering rebuilds, fakes and junk. Of course criminals
and illegitimate owners kept theirs, while thousands of guns were buried or
hidden.
Lesson no. 8— When a politician's mouth moves, he (or she) is probably lying...
While the new laws did not preclude a ban on autos and machine guns for movie hire, new
regulations rendered operation more costly and complex; shareholders of Movie Ordnance Qld. decided to accept the government's
'buy-back' offer and dispose of our inventory. MOQ's credits include: 'One Man's War', 'Mission Impossible', 'Fortress', 'Time
Trax', 'Official Denial', 'Irresistible
Force', 'Skippy', 'Paradise Beach', 'Flipper', 'Thornbirds II',
'Story of the CIA', 'The Phantom', 'Fire', 'The Last Bullet', 'Sahara', 'Fiddlers Green', &c. We
also supplied and serviced MovieWorld on the Gold Coast.
Publishing in Bangkok requires a multilingual assistant
for post, freight and office chores. A Thai speaker is a necessity dealing with bureaucracy.
Foreigners are charged more, many Thais find it convenient not
to understand English, or Europeans speaking Thai. Bangkok's traffic chaos and schedules with overtime
printing render a live-in secretary a preferred option. Part-time didn't
work, Murphy's law... you need them when they aren't there, don't
need them when they are. An apartment is a fringe benefit but one
pays
rent when not in residence. Ideal for the girlfriend though; many expats have a regular turnover
in girlfriends, and apartments. Enter stage, Pat, San;
exit left or right, et cetera.
Lesson no. 9— One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name...
Increasing American interest in British militaria resulted in a higher profile for
our
books; I have spent
considerably more time in the United States. Travel
to gun shows, dealers and museums across the States has broadened
my outlook and kindled many new friendships. The U.S. is a huge ethnic melting pot, where merely changing states can be like changing countries
on the other side of the Atlantic.
Over the past few years, our 'Collector' organized museums and show tours; three to England and one to the
USA. We visited reserve collections not
normally open to the public; one hundred international collectors participated in 1995-1999 Museums
tours. Highlights included visits to the Ministry of Defence Pattern Room
at Nottingham, Imperial War
Museum, Tower of London, Royal Armouries at Leeds, Portsmouth Naval Museums, Smithsonian, NRA National Firearms Museum,
battlefields,
historical sites, and the last Great Western Show in Pomona CA in 1999. Our last visit to the
Pattern Room occurred just before its closure, and the passing of its long-time
curator and champion, Herbert Woodend. Many thousands of exhibits were crated and sent to
storage, the superb library transferred to the Royal Armouries at Leeds and
now available to bona fide researchers. The fine collection relocated to Leeds,
to a new special-purpose building
near the Royal Armouries.
Lesson no. 10— Crossing your fingers does work, sometimes...
Tour group photographs (left) can be enlarged... 'click' mouse
over images, you may recognize some happy souls on our Museums Tours. Members of the
1998 UK Tour booked the US trip the following year. More photos and details... MuseumTours page (News & Events
/ Museum Tours) on this site.
'Time surely waits for no man'... family and personal relationships
have paid a heavy price
for my continuous
study,
publishing and travel. Having penned some seventy titles and worked full-time for
over thirty years on requisite research, photography, layouts and publishing,
as well over ten years of the 'Collector'
and producing books for other authors, a new partner has been a
necessity. All life is a
lesson and we all never stop learning.
Publishing in Bangkok necessitates a Thai-speaker.
Research and marketing demands a person interested in
working together and a yen to travel. Soysouda is
Laotian, from rural Vientiane. Originally studying in Bangkok, Su worked with
us in Thailand
and Oz for
over six years; she is now an Australian citizen. Uncharacteristic for an Asian,
she loves Vegemite, meat pies, football... and the seaside. Good to have
a new hand in research, publishing and travel. Leaving
the best until last!
To my good friends, mentors, readers & fellow collectors... 'thank-you
so much'.
Favourites—
piece... Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine #8558A,
Enfield Elcho, Webley Prichard bayonet #90,
No.6 (Aust.) trials rifle #XP134, Shortened & lightened Lithgow SMLE #XP13
shooter... 7.62mm US M14, Remington 870 12ga., .22rf Sportco Martini,
7.62mm L4A4, AIA M10-B2
museum... Royal Armouries Leeds,
Wallace Collection, NRA Museum, Waiouru Museum
place... Cooper's Creek, Warwick Castle, Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry, Koh Samed, Gold Coast
vehicle... Toyota Land Cruiser HJ80 turbo diesel, Yamaha 490 YZ,
Mitsubishi Pajero
camera... 35mm Canon EOS 50 Elan, Canon 30D Digital, Sony HDR-FX7E digital video
food... Seafood, full-cream ice cream,
brown sugar, macadamia nuts, smoked
salmon, sea salt
drinks... Big mug of hot tea with plenty of milk, sugar,
pineapple juice, Indian tonic water
music... J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, the Beatles, Kate Bush, Jean Michel Jarre, Enya
classics... Mass in B minor (JS Bach), Hall of the Mountain King (Greig), 5th Symphony
(Beethoven),
Romeo & Juilet Suite (Gounod), Nocturne E minor (Chopin),
Revolutionary Study (Chopin)
pops... House of the Rising Sun (Animals), Chase (Midnight Express), Maneater (Hall
& Oates),
Macarena (Monge/Ruiz), Boom boom boom (Vengaboys), Take 5 (Dave Brubeck)
movie...
Ben Hur, Cleopatra, Thousand and One Nights, El Cid, Diehard, Mad Max
actor...
Steve McQueen, Charlton Heston, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Nicholas
Cage
actress... Nicole
Kidman, Sissy Spacek, Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie
artist... Van Dyck, Weenix, Rubens, Hajime Sorayama
book... Desert Column (Idriess), Roget's Thesaurus, List of Changes in British War
Material
model... San Myint, Elle McPherson, Natasha Yi, Sung Hi Lee,
Soysouda
hobby... Travel
photography, Studio set photography, Graphic art, Camping out
Pet hate... Howard gun
'buyback', Hanoi Jane, Corrupt officials, Hypocrites
Utopia... Super-computer, optical fiber cable, 10 days in each week and 40 hours to
each day.
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