Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy
Chief Pretty Officer
Maritime Logistics Supply Chain (Ret)
I spent my early years in the Pickering Brook, Carilla and Bartons Mill area. My father was a Prison Officer at Bartons Mill Prison where we lived in a large white house just outside of the prison itself.
My memories of the area are fading with time, however I do remember going to Pickering Brook primary school in the back of a caged prison truck, we called the monkey bus. I suppose it was called that because kids would hang off the cage like monkeys as we went along.
I remember the playground near the staff houses at Bartons. There was an old van body there. I recall slipping off the roof and catching my trouser on an edge. Not sure how long I was hanging upside down for, but it felt like forever at the time. Great laugh for the other kids, not so much for me.
We eventually moved down the road to a house located inside Vincenti’s orchard in Pickering Brook. Which was at the bottom of a steep hill. I remember my brother Brett making hill trollies from fruit boxes and pram wheels and getting me to be the crash test dummy. I recall one incident where I careered down the hill, snapped the steering rope and slammed into our little fibro house, leaving a large hole after my extraction. I learnt to ride my first bike whilst living in the orchard house, crashed into a few fruit trees until I got the hang of how to use the brakes.
Eventually we rode our bikes into school, getting there early so we could have races around the Carilla Town Hall. We left the area when I was still in grade two, I think. After a lot of years doing a variety of jobs, I followed the older brothers into military service. Having been rejected once by army for having glasses, twice by RAAF for having glasses and acne and once by Navy for having too long hair style and beard and knowing nothing about the Navy, I eventually enlisted into the Navy on 14 Mar 1994.
My first posting was to 817 SQN at HMAS Albatross in Aug the same year I discharged from HMAS Moreton on 11 Jun 2016. Along the journey I saw active service in the Persian Gulf twice onboard guided Missile Frigate HMAS Newcastle and Frigate Helicopter HMAS Parramatta. I served sea time on Destroyers HMAS Hobart and HMAS Brisbane, Guided Missile Frigate HMAS Melbourne as well as Landing Ship Heavy HMAS Tobruk. My shore posting included various roles at HMAS Albatross, HMAS Kuttabul, HMAS Platypus, HMAS Stirling, Defence Plaza Sydney, and the highlight of my career 3 years at RANLO Singapore.
I am proud of my service and that of my brothers and our father before us.