Dennis Martyn

This is not an autobiography of my life, but rather a story of how I got to where I am today. This story begins with me being born and raised in Moree during the early 60s. This was a tumultuous time for upheaval and change within our society. With little education and scant knowledge of the outside world, I joined the Army at a young age. This was the biggest learning curve I have ever experienced. There was to be no more carefree days with friends and family, whom I left behind, but never forgot. The days were strict, educational, and filled with camaraderie regardless of culture.

This experience turned into many years of dutiful service, both in Australia and overseas, in warlike operations. These actions developed my sense of self and duty to others and to our country. This continued upon my leaving the Army and joining the Queensland Police Service.  It is not without a great family, and a special wife and great children behind me that this service could have been given.

I must mention that my family had a proud history of service to this country and the Army from both my Uncles, Ray and Ted Rickards who served in WW2 and unfortunately felt the wrath of the Japanese as POWs for over 3 years. My father was also a National Serviceman for Korea in 1952.  Over my developing years, stories were hard to come by, but the stature and the reverence and sense of duty I observed, which was provided by them and given in return by others, was something I wanted to emulate. The Army provided me with further education and many chances for advancement based upon merit and not based upon who or what you are.

At one time, during my service, I was speaking to a friend from Mungindi who happened to be in the same unit as I was. Between us both and with input from everybody who was in earshot, we all agreed upon these pearls of wisdom:

“It must be stated that as time goes by, there will be more and more interracial relationships, which brings to the fore, people of all cultures. This by no means provides a higher platform for any one culture to override the other within the family unit. Conversely, no link to any culture within the family unit should be forgotten or not recognised. This will ensure, into the future, that no one culture will be forlorn of ownership. Moreover, as time goes by and more acceptances of interracial couplings are accepted, then a pure race of ancestry will become more difficult to establish”.

If a group of lowly ranked soldiers can come up with this philosophy, then I can confidently say that serving your country in our Defence Force is a great career. It will provide a marvellous basis for advancement, allowing you to achieve whatever you want and giving you a sense of belonging.