Tour de Force - East Timor 10

July 22, 2007 to July 27, 2007

This tour was the first to Timor-Leste since March 2005 and was a great success. Although there was considerable frustration getting the tour party into country, everyone maintained great spirits. When we got to Timor-Leste, all our frustration dissipated as we were received with open arms and quickly realised we were in for a great trip. On the first night we gave the first of six performances to our forces who are working so well with the Government of Timor-Leste to restore peace and stability to their country.

Our program was quite intensive with two performances a day for all but the first day which only had one. The members of the Band of the 1^st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR Band) did an excellent job of setting up and dismantling the staging, sound and lighting for each location, as well as providing some excellent music for the performances. While the setting up was going on, our magnificent civilian artists got the opportunity to visit the Jesus statue, do some shopping and most importantly sit and chat with our troops before jumping up onto stage to perform to very appreciative crowds.

On the last full day, as the 1 RAR Band set up for our big public concert in Dili Stadium, the civilian artists flew by Blackhawk to Gleno in the centre of Timor-Leste. Due to time restrictions, the performance for the infantry company located there was limited to an hour. Their comment on the performance? ‘It was great, but we wanted more!’ What a buzz the artists had on the flight back (although some were a little green when we landed) as the pilots skilfully manoeuvred their aircraft through the rugged mountain terrain.

A brief interlude in the middle of the day occurred when all the civilian artists were introduced to the Prime Minister, John Howard, who was there in Timor-Leste to celebrate his birthday. Then it was off to the Dili Stadium for sound checks before the concert that night, and what a wonderful concert it was. The two masters of ceremonies for the night were both local personalities who had the crowd of about 1800 in fits of laughter for most of the night. All done in the national language of Tetum, the show lasted for three hours and included traditional dancers, a traditional band, two local bands, our civilian artist and concluded with the 1 RAR Band.

I have to take my hat off to all involved in this tour for their great sense of humour, good grace and excellent performances.