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New Standard for 1st Armoured Regiment |
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| You have to hand it to those tankies, when they turn up to farewell an old Standard and accept a new Standard, they do it in style. | ||||||
| A significant
event in the ceremonial life of the 1st Armoured Regiment was enacted
out on Saturday 13th July 2002 at their Robertson Barracks, Palmerston,
NT home. The Queen’s representative, Governor General Reverend Peter
Hollingworth, presented the unit with a new Standard.
Saturday morning,13th July 2002 dawned clear and warm as it always does this time of the year in the Top End. The 1st Brigade Parade Ground was the venue for what promised to be an actioned packed morning. Tpr Mick Hannaford’s Centurion Tank 169017 was a silent but impressive sentinel. The official guests were all duly received on parade and then it was down to business. The traditional invitation to inspect the Regiment was offered by CO Lt Col Gus McLachlan and was conducted as usual in the comfort of a M113 APC. The old Standard was then uncased and trooped through the ranks in a Recce Troop vehicle escorted by Paratus Cup winning troop, Callsign 12. The Regiment then dismounted and formed up and the old Standard, carried by SSM A Sqn, WO2 Greg Reardon, was marched off to the plaintive strains of Auld Lang Syne. |
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The customs and traditions of
receiving a Standard date back to the Middle Ages, likewise the ceremony
for the "Laying-Up" of Standards also has its own customs and
traditions. By tradition, once a Standard has been
replaced, the retired Standard and pike are to be laid up and left to,
in time, disintegrate (dust to dust) and are not to be reconditioned or
refurbished. They may, however, be placed in an evacuated glass case
after a symbolic laying up period of not
less than five years. It is customary for a retired Standard
to be laid up on the first Sunday after receiving a new Standard. Due
regard for its symbolic significance and preservation is achieved by
laying up in sacred buildings such as Cathedrals, Churches or Military
Chapels. With the retirement of the old 1st
Armoured Regiment
Standard, a
Laying-Up Ceremony was conducted on the 14th July at the Lone Pine
Chapel, Robertson Barracks. This ceremony had great significance, as the
Standard was the first to be placed in the new Chapel. In the same ceremony the
Regiment’s Guidon, which formerly resided in the Northern Territory
Parliament House, was also laid-up in the Chapel. |
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| The old
Standard, on parade for the last time at a formal dinner.
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The old Standard is trooped through the Regiments ranks in Recce Troop’s Callsign 7A | The new Standard is bought forth to be introduced to the Regiment. | The new Standard lies on piled drums and is blessed by the Robertson Barracks padres prior to being presented to the Regiment . | |||
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Most details and images from http://www.ausmil.com/~raacavic/webpage8.htm |
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Standard and Guidon laid up in Lone Pine Chapel, Robertson Barracks, Palmerston NT |
