New Zealanders arrive on Tasman exchange DPR/TV/913

Two C-130 Hercules Transports brought 142 soldiers of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment to Rockhampton, Queensland this week on their way to take part in an exercise in the Australian Army's Shoalwater Bay training area, north of Rockhampton. They are taking part in the seventh interchange between the Australian and New Zealand armies in the exercise Tasman series. The New Zealanders, after Customs and Quarantine clearance, moved to Shoalwater Bay by RAAF Caribou aircraft. Before the start of the exercise, the New Zealanders carried out familiarisation training with Australian M113 armoured personnel carriers and RAAF Iroquois helicopters; they also took part in lead-in operations to allow them to get used to the country in which they are working. In the exercise the New Zealanders are operating with 9th Battalion, The Royal Australian Reginment, from Woodside, SA. The battalion is being prepared for service in South Vietnam later this year. The New Zealanders arrived in the tropical heat of Rockhampton after leaving Christchurch with its 20 degrees of frost earlier in the day. The Exercise ends on September 20. (Also identified: Brigadier "Pat" Paterson, head of NZ Defence Liaison Staff, Canberra, ACT)