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When I first walked in to Pelican Barracks the pungent smell took my attention away from the rest of the faults.
When we first arrived in East Timor, we lived in a building at the port that, for obvious reasons, we quickly named 'The Pizza Hut'. It was cramped and very noisy as it backed directly onto the busiest wharf in the country. The Pizza Hut was originally the passenger terminal for people entering and leaving East Timor by sea. It was simply a case of claiming a piece of floor and setting up a mozzie dome.After the United Nations took control of the running of the port, we were evicted and had to find a new place to live. We were allocated a pair of old, disused building opposite the Battalion headquarters. These buildings were soon to become Pelican Barracks.
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It turned out that the buildings were previously used as a makeshift medical centre and morgue. The size of the buildings was very small for the amount of people that had to live there for the next four months. Even so, not all of the space in Pelican Barracks could be used. The largest room there had been used as a morgue and, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get rid of the smell. This room was closed up and took on the name of 'The Stink Room'.
The SSM took control of preparing the new accommodation for the Squadron. Alterations were made to make it more livable, such as razor wire for security, portable toilets and showers, drainage and covers for leaky roofs. Some of the guys even liberated an air conditioner from somewhere.
The room they lived in was quickly renamed 'The Fridge'. After everyone had moved out of the port and settled in to Pelican Barracks it became our home. Any form of furniture was better than none so we utilised anything that we could find to make our stay more pleasant.
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The locals took great pleasure in staring through the fence at our strange way of life. Most people found themselves at the fence learning the Timorese language and their way of life. We became neighbours and we became friends.
The Dare Club became host to some eventful nights, including a toga party, crab racing, horse racing, a few trivia nights and the meetings with the Padre. Night time at the Dare Club proved to be popular, but not only with the soldiers. The locals enjoyed watching the nightly movies, especially if we put them on the big screen, and the toga night brought laughs by all as they watched from behind the barbed wire fence. They kept themselves entertained with the happenings at the Dare Club by clapping, laughing and encouraging and no one minded in the least.
Meal times meant a walk down the road to 9FSB where we also got to socialise with some different people. The local children made themselves more than known at these times begging for food and following us back to the lines until we relinquished our apples and cakes.
The accommodation was not much to look at but it became our home and we enjoyed the time we spent there.
We had it pretty good compared with some of the locals who slept in gutters and on the streets under pieces of corrugated iron. It could have been worse.
 Pelican
Barracksfrom the street. |
 The
CO at the Dare' Club. |
