Ludwig, you may recall we sent either HMAS Manoura, or Kanmmbla to Indonesia with both their earthquakes. The first time, the big tsunami, they were welcomed by all who needed help.

The second time, when their "big men" had not run away, we were not welcome. The big men wanted to control who got what, & did not want our navy getting in the way of them exerting their authority.

We were told, "You go home, just send money".

Can you imagine how pissed off our sailors were when we could not manage to send either ship to help our own, after our cyclone. With places like Cardwell right on the beach, our amphibian capacity was what was needed.

It is certainly a strange country where the calls for foreign aid are louder than any to help our own.

I wonder if it can be that many have good prospects of profiting from foreign aid work?

Hasbeen: We were told, "You go home, just send money".

Actually that was the UN advisors. (ANZC Days are great aren’t they) I was talking to a half Colonel & a few of his officers that were there at the time this happened.

What happened was, The UN flew into Jakarta & took 3 months to setup in one of the expensive Hotels there. After 3 months they arrived on the scene & "ordered" the Australian Navy & support staff to leave as they were the ones with the expertise to handle disasters.

I believe after that there were some diplomatic exchanges & the Navy had to leave. (politely, of course) After that Aid was directed by the UN Staff & as Hasbeen says some "Bigwigs" from Jakarta. The people were fairly much left up to their own devises after that. The Local People then got angry with Australia for abandoning them. Go figure.