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The 9RAR National Executive was formed to provide a point of co-ordination between the State representatives and the Patron MAJGEN A.L. Morrison. The National Executive should be seen as a point of dissemination for information which may be of interest to other state representatives or members. It also serves the purpose of providing direction on national matters which may otherwise cause disagreement between any of the state branches. |
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Major General A.L. (Alby) Morrison AO, DSO, MBE Alan Lindsay Morrison was born in Sydney on 15th August 1927. He was educated at Waverly College in Sydney and at the Royal Military College Duntroon from where he graduated into Infantry on 10 December 1947. He served in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan in 1948 with 66 Australian Infantry Battalion (later retitled as the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR)). He served in Korea, first in 1950-51 with 3RAR and again in 1952-53 with Headquarters 28th British Commonwealth Infantry Brigade. Later he served with 1RAR in Sydney from 1962-64 and with 9RAR, a battalion he raised in 1967-68 in South Australia and commanded in Vietnam from November 1968 to December 1969. During his Army career he attended the British Army Staff College Camberley, England in 1959 and the Royal College of Defence Studies in London in 1975. He instructed at the Royal Military College Duntroon for 1956 to 1958 and at the Australian Staff College in Queenscliff, Victoria from 1965 to 1967. As a Brigadier he commanded the 1st Brigade in New South Wales from January 1976 to March 1977 when he was promoted to Major General and appointed Commandant of the Royal Military College Duntroon, a position he held for four years. For a short time in 1981 he was Chief of Personnel of the Australian Army until he left to become the Services member of the Repatriation Commission. He retired from full time work in Mat 1989. In retirement his interest in the Royal Australian Regiment has remained strong. From 1986 to 1993 he served in the Honorary Appointment of Colonel Commandant of the Regiment and also as the National President of the Royal Australian Regiment Association. It was during this period that he established the The Royal Australian Regiment Foundation and became its Inaugural Chairman. Previously in 1979, when he was the Commandant of the Royal Military College Duntroon, General Morrison founded the Duntroon Society. General Morrison has been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his service in Korea, awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his command of 9RAR in Vietnam and made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his work in the Army over 36 years, particularly as Commandant of the Royal Military College. General Morrison and his wife, Margaret, have two children, a son and a daughter, and five grandchildren. At the time of writing one of his sons, David, had just finished a posting as the Commanding Officer of 2RAR and is now the Deputy Commandant of the Jungle Warfare School at Canungra. |
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Lieutenant Colonel B. J. Vickery (Ret'd) Brian James Vickery was Senior Postal Clerk at Murwillumbah in New South Wales when he was called up for National Service in 1966. He was flown to Sydney and bussed to Singleton where he commenced his recruit training at 3rd Training Battalion. He applied for and was accepted to attend the Officer Training Unit at Scheyville which commenced immediately. Brian served his first posting after graduation at Holsworthy, as a platoon commander with 1RAR, who had recently returned from their first tour of Vietnam. He was the posted to the Infantry Centre at Ingleburn before securing a posting to 9RAR in July 1968 again as a Platoon Commander. He toured Vietnam with 9RAR, being the only National Service Officer to do so, this was considered extraordinary in a battalion that comprised sixty percent national servicemen. Brian returned to Enoggera Barracks in Brisbane, Queensland with the battalion and was promoted to Lieutenant and posted as a company second in command. In 1970 Brian was posted to Canungra, Queensland where he spent two years as an instructor on Battle Wing. He was posted to New Guinea from Canungra but was diverted to a staff Officers posting in Darwin where he spent two years on Headquarter 7th Military District. In 1975 he was posted as a Captain on an exchange posting with the Brigade of Gurkhas in Hong Kong. In February he, and his family, joined 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles in the New Territories of Hong Kong. After one year Brian and family accompanied the Gurkha battalion to Brunei for a year of tropical training. On return to Australia Brian was again posted to Holsworthy to join 5/7RAR in the Mechanised Infantry Trial. Alby Morrison was the Brigade Commander at Holsworthy at this time. Brian was the Senior Instructor of Field Wing at Officer Cadet School in Portsea, Victoria in 1979-80 and attended Staff College at Queenscliff also in Victoria in 1981. He served staff postings with Headquarters Field Force Command and Headquarters Training Command before being posted as the Commander 1st Logistic Support Group in Sydney. The most distinguishing aspect of Brian's career was that he held command postings at each of his rank levels. Brian was instrumental in raising the 9RAR Association (NSW) and presided over it for ten years.
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