Welcome to the website of the 8th Intake, Junior Recruit Training Establishment (JRTE), HMAS LEEUWIN.  The 'Mighty 8th' Intake served from January to December 1964. We are a proactive intake, having had reunions in Sydney 1994 (30th), Perth 1999 (35th), Canberra 2004 (40th) and Brisbane 2009 (45th).  Our 50 year reunion was very successfully held in Wollongong in April 2014, followed by our recent 53rd in Canberra.   The next reunion has  been delayed somewhat due to the COVID virus, but members will be advised when plans are put in place.  Please enjoy your visit and leave a comment in the Guestbook should you be seeking any 8th Intake members or if you know the whereabouts of our 'Lost Souls', the members of the Intake we have not yet been able to contact. Scroll down for more info on various subjects. Tom Hillar Research Project - The Letter

Follow this link to view the 50th Anniversary Lanyard

Tom Hilliar - Motorcycle Obsession. I've been a long time motorcyclist. We had an extremely innocuous gang at Albatross consisting of Myself , Benny Goodman, Ian Quinn and several other "Desperates". In 2006 I decided to build the bike I'd always wanted to build. I bought a registered running wreck. Frame, engine, and swing-arm from my mate Mario who runs Thunderbike Motorcycles here in Perth. The rest I either made myself or had  made. I could have bought a very decent vehicle for what I  spent on it over time. I thought it didn't turn out too badly for something built by a former Pussers Greasy Detestable (Cook) I hope you can find a spot for it on our website. Regards Tom Hilliar. Enclosed photo of the red bike is the one I wrote of previously. The orange one is my "other" bike. Before and after photos. 20 years of neglect and  150,000kms.I did all the work on this one myself. Flushed the engine out with a couple of oil changes 4 years ago and it hasn't  missed a beat. Note the $60 dollar Supercheap Auto paint .job and the home  brewed stainless steel side and injector covers. Regards Tom Hilliar.

Freedom of the City (Fremantle 1964) from Tom Hilliar I recently posted a few things on our website regarding our time at Leeuwin. I extracted this photo from our Rogues Gallery where it was headed Fremantle??.We marched down Fremantle High Street and were about to emerge in front of the Town Hall in the photo. We were 6x23 = 138 all from the Mighty 8th. We were given Keys to the City? (Freedom of the City?) This was all at 24 hours notice with no dress rehearsal. CPO's Bill Rodgers and Steve Stockoe appear to be heading us up. The other one is the street as it is now. I took the rest across to Garden Island last weekend.The one of HMAS Stirling has Terry Rowell's Submarine Escape Tower to the right of centre. I hope you can find some where on our Website to put these. Regards Tom Hilliar.     Gun Barrels From the Front of Drill Hall in 1964 Do you remember the 2 big muzzle loaded gun barrels on wooden blocks in front of the Drill Hall at Leeuwin. They had been salvaged from a Dutch Shipwreck along the coast somewhere (TheBatavia?? Zundorp?? Other??) and bought to Leeuwin for temporary storage. I am going to the Fremantle Shipwreck Museum in the next few days to see if I can find their current whereabouts. Regards Tom Hilliar. I went to the Fremantle Shipwreck Museum today and there they were! After the ship was wrecked there was a mutiny. A large number of passengers and crew were murdered. A lot of the mutineers were eventually hanged and disposed of in various gruesome ways. Regards Tom Hilliar.

An old bubbly mate sent me this pic of Mike Shotter and I thought you may wish to put it on the site. He is in a nursing home in Tassy somewhere. Regards Bob Green

Vale Robert John 'Bob' Jeffreys OAM - R94235 (28 June 1948 to 09 January 2019) Bob passed away on 9th January 2019 at age 70.  Please navigate to entries in the 'New Guestbook' on the main page for more information.  Farewell Bob, you will be missed.  Our condolences go out to Barb and family.         Bob at Brisbane Reunion 2009                'Navy News' Bob, circa late '70s   Melcom Arthur CROSS R94185 I note your site looking for people from HMAS LEEUWIN 1964. Amongst those people is Melcom Arthur CROSS (you spelt his first name wrong, its an unusual spelling). Melcom CROSS mysteriously disappeared 30 years ago during his shift as a cabbie in Sydney, see articles attached. I have recently been handed the (re opened) Missing matter to try and locate him. Strike Force GROVENOR relates. His family would like to locate him or at least get some kind of closure on the matter. Whilst completing a name search on Google I saw your site. Are you able to tell me if you have received any information on him (no piece of information is too small). I am also seeking to find out who his mates may have been, and if they had any contact after he left the Navy. I am at work today until 4.00pm and then not back till Monday 25th June. Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated. Regards, Juliette IRVING Detective Senior Constable Kings Cross LAC

Canberra Reunion 2017 - Photos I have posted some reunion photos from November last year to the website.  Follow this link or access them via the 'Reunions' menu above. http://leeuwinclassof64.org/53rd_Photos.htm Regards John Curbishley 06/02/2018   Rodney George 'Jim' Quick OAM Congratulations to Jim Quick (ex CPORS) for his award of an OAM in the Australia Day 2018 Honours List. A well deserved award "For service to Veterans and their families". Jim and Pat are currently on a short cruise in Australian waters and should be arriving in Adelaide today, we wish them well. BZ Jim. Regards John Curbishley 26/01/2018. Jim, I went into Perth yesterday to visit DVA. On the way there I visited Elizabeth Quay. This used to part of Langley Field. It is right at the spot where we formed up to march at the Perth Reunion. This bloke is in temporary residence there. The current plan is for him to be eventually installed on Rous Head , which is the northern entrance to Fremantle Harbour. He's hefty lad. Weighing in at 5 tonnes with base. The reason I sent it to you is that I can't work out how put the photos on the 8th Intake website. Hopefully you have the expertise to do so.  Regards Tom Hilliar. Vale Lindsay George Bettess R94167 Jim Quick had a call from Tom Hilliar over in the West yesterday Tom advised that the Cooks Website states that Lindsay Bettess of Emanuel Drive Seaford died from a heart attack on 13/5/17. Tom also advised that Lindsay was cremated at Bunerong Cemetery on 18/5/17.   Reunion Washup from Jim Quick Fellow Mighty Eighth, Thank you to all of you who were able to attend over the weekend for making it such a successful event. I want to also thank you for your generosity for your gift to me and also in the collection for our Website. We raised sufficient funds to give John Curbishley enough to restore our website to its former glory. Some in attendance on the weekend asked me to forward the address of our site so here it is: http://leeuwinclassof64.org/ It was apparent that quite a few members visit the site but do not leave a comment in the Guestbook. I urge you to leave a comment so that other members know you are alive and well, even just a Gooday would do. It is our website so we should reward Curb's good work by using it to keep in touch. Now to the good news. It was agreed by those in attendance that the next reunion would be held on Remembrance Day 2020. Ray Niland and a team of able assistants have agreed to conduct the reunion in Tweed Heads. Well done gentlemen. Best Regards to all. I look forward to getting together again in 2020 already. Jim Quick   Mighty 8th Members Please use the following link to the new guestbook I have started: New Guestbook   Leeuwin Development Plan Howie Vandervord has forwarded the proposed development plan for Leeuwin now that the Government have sold it for shopping/housing development. As the endorsed development plan runs to 35 pages, it is a little large to copy to this site. However, you can read all about it by following this link:   For a copy of the Leeuwin Vision Plan click here.

Web design by John Curbishley
Last updated Monday 7 June 2021