Army builds Lord Howe Island airstrip DPR/TV/1604

Sixty Army engineers have been given the task of building an emergency airstrip on Lord Howe Island, because a flying boat service will close down after twenty one years of operations. The engineers, from the First Field Engineer Regiment, based at Holsworthy, NSW, get their first glimpse of the Island after a 480 mile flight from Sydney. The engineers will act as the construction agency for the New South Wales Government, and the Department of Transport. The 3,300 grass airstrip they will build will be used by light aircraft, and in emergencies by planes such as the RAAF Caribou. Some of the Islands 260 residents watch as the troops go ashore...a change from the usual plane load of tourists. Rain squalls, which may hamper the engineers in their work, close in as an Army heavy landing craft draws into the beach carrying the heavy equipment needed in airfield construction. ...A bulldozer comes down the loading ramp... On the airstrip site, the Officer Commanding the engineers, Captain Tony Coyle, discusses construction with the Island's Assistant Superintendent, Mr Les King. The bulldozers start work...the first heavy machinery ever seen or heard on the Island. Engineers survey the lie of the land. Lieutenant Garry Barker of Box Hill, Victoria, uses a theodolite. For Army engineers, its a great life when their work takes them to an Island Paradise...