FACE

Tour de Force - East Timor 4

August 9, 2002 to August 23, 2002

Tour De Force 4 to the newly independent Timor Leste was supported by the all female rock group Lash, vocalist Cassandra Eager and comedian ‘Jimbo’. With the addition of the very talented members of the Australian Army Band Sydney and the Pipes and Drums of the Third Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR), we gave our forces a series of concerts that they will not easily forget.

The tour included eight concerts in various locations in Dili and the Australian area of operations in the Western Sector of East Timor. In particularly hot and sticky weather all the performers and the support crew did a remarkable job in moving almost daily to new locations and setting up a large canopy, stage, lighting and tons of sound system equipment and then providing a really entertaining show. This was only the second time a Tour De Force had taken a complete full show to each of the major Australian troop concentrations. This again proved to a success, providing maximum opportunities for the troops to see the concerts.

On the way to entertain the forces in East Timor, the Tour De Force 4 troupe stopped off in Beagle Bay, Western Australia where the performers did a concert for the 250 soldiers working as part of the ATSIC and Army Community Assistance Program. This concert highlighted the tremendous work that Army engineers were doing in remote communities around Australia and was particularly opportune given that it was the centenary year of the Royal Australian Engineers and the Year of the Outback.

Performers