Legatee WO2 Lachlan “Jock” Cameron (left) with fellow 2RAR soldiers (from
left) PTE Ben Westley, PTE Matt Perkins, PTE Brandon McTigue, PTE Connor
Nelson, PTE Kyle Mawson, PTE Lochlan Butler and PTE Ben Wright pose for a
photograph with Legacy widow Jean Johnson
Green Thumbs
Second to none!
EGATEE Lachlan
“Jock” Cameron got
as much, if not more,
than he gave by last
month conducting a
garden “tidy up” for
15 of the Townsville
Legacy Club’s widows.
Wearing his work hat,
he is CSM A Coy 2RAR
WO2 Cameron, and
he thought he might
be able to convince
“a handful” of his
soldiers to volunteer
to help with that task.
“I got them together
at the start of the day -
7am - and told them a
bit about Legacy and the
garden project,” he said.
“I asked for anybody
midday, 70 of them.
“That’s more than
90 per cent of our
company’s manpower
at the moment, it’s
fantastic,” Jock said.
It meant they could do
a little more than simply
“tidy” in each garden
and split into teams,
they tackled seven
gardens on the fi rst day
and eight the next.
“They have loved
it, but it has been
hard graft,” he said.
“I expected to be
missing about half
our number on the
second day, but
everyone turned up.”
Jock said the main
who wanted to
volunteer to help
turn up at midday.”
Jock and LCPL Sam
Newton had previously
“scoped” the work
that needed doing in
each of the 15 gardens
across the city and had
prepared a loose plan
of action, which could
be scaled according to
how much volunteer
manpower they had.
The turnout would
have raised a smile on
even the hardest sar-
major’s lips... almost
all of the men left in
A Coy and even some
from B Coy were
waiting for the CSM at
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problem for the widows
was that their gardens
had grown beyond the
point where they could
keep them under control.
“We did a lot of tree-
trimming and took
10 Unimogs full of
yard rubbish to the
dump,” he said.
But, while they
were “giving” to the
widows, the project
also gave back to the
CSM, shining a light
on the Battalion’s
potential future leaders.
“Most of the yard
projects are being run
by privates,” he said.
“So, there is a private
with fi ve of his mates
going in and doing the
job... and doing it well.”
Everybody wins.
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SEPTEMBER 2017 | 27