Yvonne Antoine at work in Print Hall WA Newspaper House. circa 1936

West Australian Newspapers Article 1942

Military Cross Citation

Bar To The Military Cross Citation.

Yvonne Antoine in the VAD Uniform 1941

Captain Ron Christian WX3093 M.C.and Bar 2/16 Battalion

RH Christian-MC

RH Christian-MCRH Christian-Bar

The story of my parents, Ron and Yvonne Christian (nee Antoine) is a fascinating account of events leading up to and during WW2.They first met in 1935 while both working at the West Australian.

Mum was a pay clerk at the West Australian Newspaper office at 125 St Georges Terrace. Dad was lining up for his pay in Print Hall (which has recently been restored to its original condition).
I recently took mum (95 years old last month) to see the Print Hall and she showed me exactly where the pay window was and can remember everthing very well. I decided five years ago to write my next big musical based on their story, which from that point in 1935 is so interesting.
I have been interviewing my mother in short sessions for the past 5 years, from 2009 -2013. She is still very alert and her memory is good at 95 years of age!

Photos and Articles from WW2.

Timeline:
My parents met in 1935 at The West Australian Newspaper, 125 St Georges Terrace Perth where they were both on staff.
They fell in love.
Mum joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment (Dalkeith) in about 1935/1937.
Dad proposed to Mum at the Embassy Ballroom in William Street Perth in 1939 just as WW2 was declared.
Dad’s best mate, Bret Langridge, was also keen on mum.
Dad and Bret joined the 2/16th Battalion when war broke out and went to train at Northam Army Barracks. They were subsequently sent to Syria in the Middle East in 1941.
In 1941 Mum was was one of those from her VAD detachment who volunteered for service in the Middle East. She was attached to the 7th AGH and travelled on the Queen Mary. She was later also attached to the 6th AGH.
Dad heard she was there and came down from the battlefields to the makeshift hospital where mum was stationed. They spent their “day off” together in Palestine. Bret Langridge was also there.
It was then they began planning a wedding, and Dad was keen to have it at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Dad’s Battalion was then brought home by Curtin to defend Australia. He went to Queensland where he trained with the 2/16 Batallion for New Guinea.
Mum stayed in the Middle East until February 1943 when her detachment returned to Perth. Dad returned briefly from New Guinea where he had been an integral part of the Kokoda Campaign as a Captain of the 7th Division 2/16 Battalion. He won his first Military Cross for bravery at Isurava/Abuwari when he helped plan the attack on Shaggy Ridge north of Kokoda and defeated a Japanese advancing party “with only the remnants of his platoon.”
Bret Langridge was killed at Kokoda – he and Dad had been close friends. They both became Captains and both contributed a lot to the successes of the campaign.

Bret had intimated to mum that if anything ever happened to Dad, he would look after Mum.
The irony is that Bret was killed in new Guinea and dad never got over it.

When the Kokoda Campaign had finished, he returned home briefly to Perth where he married mum at Star Of The Sea Church in Cottesloe on 26 February 1943. See AWM website reference here: AWM website.
She had brought Egyptian lace home from the Middle East, and her boss at WAN got last-minute permission from the Minister for the Army to be married out of uniform. This story was carried by the West Australian Newspaper and she had many offers from dressmakers to make her wedding dress in time for her wedding.

After the gruelling Kokoda Campaign, the Battalion was sent to Borneo to further stop the Japanese at Balikpapan, and Dad won his second Militay Cross for bravery.
Mum went back to work and transferred to the commercial staff as Secretary to the CO of Hollywood Hospital.

This is a very telling story about my parents’ early lives together. Recently the family came across some actual footage of the events at Kokoda on an ATN Channel 7 film made back in the 50s. Dad is actually interviewed on this programme which I have restored to DVD. It is a fascinating account from various people who served in the Middle East and in New Guinea. Please view this here. We Were Anzacs 1956.

Please also see photos taken by Yvonne Antoine in the Middle East on the AWM website.

The song Western Australia was inspired by the sheer beauty and vastness of this great state we live in. The message is simple; “it’s the best-kept-secret in this land, West Australians welcome you” and, “Let us join together with friends and family. To celebrate this great state and live in harmony.”

I wrote the song as an anthem to WA. The sheet music will be available here soon. The arrangements will be scored for full SATB choir, SSA choir, primary and secondary school choirs, and solo voice male/female with piano/guitar accompaniment. A full backing track will be available as well.

A recent interview with Today Tonight and the premiere of the song on Australia Day at Council House Perth launched the song, which has already received amazing reviews.The Spirit of WA Choir and Courtney Murphy performed the song at the the City Of Perth Citizenship Ceremony. The Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi gave the song the “thumbs up” as did many of the invited guests who met the choir at a reception afterwards.

Hear the song as sung by Courtney Murphy accompanied with vision from WA Tourism.

Photo: The Spirit of WA Choir at Council House WA with Courtney Murphy.

Video 1: WA Song

Video 2: Channel 7 Today Tonight Interview

Video 3: Council House perth WA. Spirit of WA Choir with Courtney Murphy live, Citizenship Ceremony, Australia Day 2013

Friday, 19 November 2010

60 seconds with … Rod Christian

Which bands did you play in, and when?

I started drumming in a band called Four of a Kind while still at school in Year 11 at Trinity College in East Perth in 1965. We used to play a lot of dances and university functions in the old Barrack St Jetty Rowing Club and all of the school socials. It was that year I started to teach myself guitar and (on guitar) formed the Jeff Phillips Fan Club band with Jeff Phillips. We regularly played at his fan club dances in South Perth.

When I left school at the end of 1966, I formed a band called The In-Pulse with Peter Waterman, Bob Hawker, Ian Love (of Cocos fame) and Dave Sears. (See photo above, Rod Christian far left.) This was a great band with harmonies and lots of work around the Perth scene. A regular gig was St Pat’s dance every Sunday night in Fremantle, plus dances and cabarets around town including The Italian Club in North Perth.

We often did river cruises to Point Walter on a Saturday night and supported bands at nightclubs in Perth. I played lead guitar along with Nigel Ridgway, Jon Burns, Ron Burns and Brian Ward in The Blue Brass at the Nanking restaurant in Belmont from 1968. We backed many international artists including The Platters, The Sitopal Sisters, Four Kinsmen, and Martin St James etc. This is where I learned to read music (basically by ear) and also to play bass guitar, as we used to swap instruments to keep the music going. It was a lot of fun working with Peter Harries, Kelly Green, Ian de Souza (now a prominent Fremantle artist) and Elaine Mort, amongst other local musicians.

In 1969 I left The Blue Brass and formed The Motivation with Russ Kennedy, Nigel Ridgway (then Maurie Pearson), Peter Waterman and John Quilty. In this band I played lead guitar and keyboards. We played the Swan Hotel circuit in Perth and many nightclubs including Top Hat, Ricki Tik, Two Eyes, The Colosseum and more. In 1971 I joined Triax at the Morley Hotel as bass player.

We played four nights a week and then we got the job as resident band at Contacio International in Scarborough. Here, Peter Harries and Kelly Green were the floor show artists and in 1973 Peter started his own nightclub, The Knight Klub in Como, where I joined him as musical director for the next nine years.

I still play in five different bands today including the original In-Pulse which works under the name Cruisin’ Rock ‘n Roll Showband with three of us original members still in the band!

What got you into rock and roll?

When I was seven years old, I lived in Claremont and the radio was always on. We listened to tunes like ‘Build Your Love on a Strong Foundation’, ‘The Battle of New Orleans’, ‘Tammy and Witch Doctor’. I absolutely LOVED these songs and could sing them back perfectly. The next-door neighbours were girls in their late teens and they were dating American sailors visiting Perth. The sailors brought 45 records over from the US and gave them to the girls who used to play them full bore on the stereo next door. My brother Bret and sisters Julie and Jan and I used to dance on the lawn. When I heard the sax solo in ‘Purple People Eater’ that was it! I had to play or be involved in music from that point on. We had an old piano and I could soon bang out the melodies of all these songs. From there I joined the junior choir at Trinity College and then the Senior Choir, then the ‘Four Of A Kind’ band and the rest is …

Is there a gig that really stands out in your memory?

There were many, particularly backing famous people. In the early days I was playing bass in the main backing band for Telethon with Ed Peters and Guy Bart and we used to back people like John Farnham, Cleo Lane, Johnny O’Keefe and Little Patti. It was all live to air, so exhilarating and at the same time frightening.

I remember being support band to Gary Pucket and the Union Gap and to the Deltones. A memorable gig was backing Harry Secombe at Perth Concert Hall and Warren Williams, Johnny Young, and Ray Brown in subsequent gigs. I also went to many great gigs including Peter Frampton, Doctor Hook, Boz Scaggs, Paul McCartney, and, more recently conducted a season of my own musical Cruisin at the Regal Theatre in Perth as Musical Director, with Glenn Shorrock in the lead role. I also write heaps of choral music. A memorable occasion was back in 2002 when 9000 people heard a world premiere of a song I composed called ‘Anthem for Unity for Australia’ at the Perth Entertainment Centre.

What was guaranteed to get audiences off their seats and dancing?

Rock and roll of course! The simplicity, the harmonies, the great string arrangements, the backup vocals all combined to make this a unique genre. I have a very broad taste in music but you can’t beat good old rock and roll. I particularly like the backbeat and the tempo of jive music.

Jive, Twist and Stomp (December 2010) is available from Fremantle Press.

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