From 6TTU to Vietnam – An APC for Australia
Helen Meyer (Army veteran, war widow and executive producer of radio program Service Voices) and multi-award-winning film-maker Ashley Starkey obtained a DVA Saluting Their Service Major Commemorative Grant to produce an eight-part documentary radio broadcast and a documentary film called From 6TTU to Vietnam – An APC for Australia. The productions are about the men who travelled to the northern Queensland town of Innisfail in 1964 to participate in 6 Tropical Trials Unit, known as 6TTU. It’s a story that has somehow slipped from our military history records. Very little is known about it.
This project was inspired by Helen’s husband Wally Meyer’s service in 6TTU.
From 6TTU to Vietnam – An APC for Australia is a documentary that will appeal to all, not just ex-military. Rather than a technical examination of the vehicles involved, it’s down to earth, and draws on archival photos and film about Innisfail and the soldiers who were stationed there, living in hotels among the civilian population for a year in the mid-1960s to conduct tropical trials on wheeled (truck and Land Rover) and tracked vehicles. These trials saw the introduction of armoured personnel carriers (APCs) into the Australian Army. These APCs and their variants went on to serve Australia well for more than 50 years.
The radio broadcast and documentary film were produced in collaboration between Service Voices (Radio Adelaide) and Starkey Productions. Participants are all Army veterans of 6TTU. It has been screened in Victoria, NSW, ACT, Queensland and South Australia, and is coming to more venues throughout Australia during 2023.
In December 2022, the project was announced as a finalist in the Excellence in the Innovative Programming and Content category in the Community Radio Awards 2022.
The National Military Vehicle Museum (NMVM) in Edinburgh, South Australia is proposing to screen the film in February (date to be confirmed), and public are welcome to attend. Some of the RAASC and RAAC veterans who participated in the film will also attend a special screening for 1st Armoured Regiment at Edinburgh Military Base.
Enquiries: ash [at] starkey.net.au (ash[at]starkey[dot]net[dot]au) or helen.meyer [at] radioadelaide.org.au or for NMVM screening, call (08) 8285 3011
