The Royal Australian Corps of Signals (RASigs), the army faction responsible for communications and cyber capability, chose the Yarra Valley to celebrate its 100-year anniversary in 2025.
Former service members of the RASigs picked out Healesville for the occasion, spending a week in town before a formal dinner at Rochford Wines on Saturday 15 November, as well as spending time with the Princess Royal (Anne), who visited Australia and Simpson’s Barracks in Watsonia as the Signals Corps’ Colonel-in-Chief for the anniversary.
Healesville resident and former member of the RASigs Michael ‘Shane’ Porter said he hadn’t see a lot of attendees for w hile and a lot of them he met 40 years ago.
“They’ve all changed, we’ve all got older, a bit grayer, but just to see them again and make contact with some of them after we lived together, fought together or trained together has been really nice,” he said.
“To welcome them here to Healesville is magnificent, they’ve all been having a really good time, we’ve been down at the Terminus Hotel, they’re all supporting local.
“There’s been over 250 people here for this one week and they’re all staying in all the BnBs, the hotels, they’re out shopping today with their wives, so it’s really nice to showcase what we call the Yarra Valley has got.”
Mr Porter served for nine years from the age of 25 with the RASigs before two cerebral hemorrhages forced him to be discharged after spending three years at Simpsons Barracks in Watsonia, before spending some time up in Queensland and then stationed back in Melbourne.
Mr Porter said one of the biggest things he took from his time in the military was the importance of camaraderie.
“We all learn to live with people because we’re living with each other 24/7, you learn to learn the different skills of living together and building up team institutions that have been going for a long time, but it was really nice to meet a lot of different people, different ages and different backgrounds,” he said.
“Some of these people have been in the military for over 35 years, the longest serving person we’ve got in our corps has been a non-stop serving member for 47 years and he’s here visiting from Queensland this year.
“A lot of them are from Queensland, a lot of them have done Vietnam tours or tours to Afghanistan or Iraq, most of them now are retired but we still live and breathe what we learnt in the military.”
Mr Porter joined the military after being inspired by his father-in-law, who served for 25 years, including in Korea.
The Healesville reunion was organised by Bruce Long, who has served as the President of the RASigs Association in South Australia and is a board member of the RASigs official charity the Certa Cito Foundation.
Mr Long said they’d been to Healesville for a reunion before, back in 2016.
There’s a lot of people here who are not well and have still tried to do their best to get here though a lot have pulled out sadly as we’ve got so many people with cancers and all sorts of sickness,” he said.
“The last one we did was in Townsville in 2021, and we had a really good turnout for that, a couple hundred or so, but it’s always good to catch up with mates and there’s a couple of people here, I haven’t seen for 40 years.
“When you catch up, and especially when you spend your military life with a lot of them, it’s just exceptional and I think it gives everybody a few extra years of life because you get a bit of a purpose if you know what I mean.”
Mr Long fulfilled a lifelong dream when he joined the army in 1073, following in his father’s footsteps who was a Korean War veteran, and always wanted to be a signaller.
Mr Long said the friendships were what meant the most to him about his time in the military.
“After 20 years, I basically got out of the regular service and then kept in touch through the reserves and then moved into the other areas, it’s been pretty good but everybody here has got similar stories where they’re still involved and trying to bring people like the veterans together,” he said.
“When you’re in the services, you are on forever as a friend, that’s why it’s so great to catch up with these people.
“You’re digging holes and firing bullets and all sorts of stuff with people and then you don’t see them for 20 or 30 years but all of a sudden, here they are, though they don’t look the same, they look very old though I’m sure that’s something they’d be saying about me too.”
The Australian Army’s signallers also gathered at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance on 14 February this year to mark the 100th anniversary to the day of its formation.
Head of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals Brigadier Deane Limmer CSM said at the time that it had been a century of rapid change.
“For more than a century, the corps has been developing and responding to emerging technology, giving the ADF a competitive edge,” he said.
“Army signallers have been keeping the Australian Army and the ADF connected over the last century, leading the way in technology adoption and advancement at every turn.
“For a century, families have supported us and made sacrifices, making this year’s celebrations a show of gratitude for their part in serving alongside us. In 2025, we will celebrate, commemorate and connect.”
More than 100,000 signallers have served in the Corps since the First World War and today, the Corps has a workforce of approximately 3000 trained personnel, with an average of 300 personnel joining each year.
