N John CURRIN

Homes for army personnel in Waiouru are in line for an upgrade. Photo: New Zealand Defence Force

The New Zealand Defence Force is moving ahead with a $490 million expansion and upgrade of housing at its military training base in Waiouru.

The first $75m stage of the project will 50 new homes for military families on newly developed land in partnership with local iwi Ngāti Rangi.

The Defence Force (NZDF) says it needs 211 homes to support military and civilian personnel at Waiouru Military Camp.

It plans to modernise a further 161 homes in a second stage.

The poor state of Defence Force housing has made headlines in recent years, with homes described as cold and damp.

NZDF General Manager of Estate Strategy Phil Gurnsey, said the Waiouru camp needs warm, dry, modern housing to attract and keep personnel in Waiouru and look after their wellbeing.

“Over the next 25 years we plan to spend around $490m on our Waiouru housing estate including new builds, upgrades, maintenance and utilities costs in support of NZDF operations.”

Gurnsey said the housing programme would also provide the flexibility to post regular force members and their whānau to Waiouru at short notice.

Modern housing is needed to attract and keep personnel in Waiouru, the NZDF says. Photo: New Zealand Defence Force

Waiouru has been base for an army training area since World War II. According to Defence Force information, the military camp hosts about 500 civilian and military staff.

All Army soldiers complete 16 weeks of initial basic training in Waiouru.

The training area includes weapons ranges, military manoeuvre and live fire training areas, an urban training facility and a helicopter landing area. The facilities support all three Defence Force Services as well as other Government agencies and international partners.

Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton and Ruapehu District Council chief executive Clive Manley have met with senior Defence Force personnel to discuss supporting the development plan.

“By taking a proactive approach we can help ensure that any large-scale development proceeds smoothly, complies with legislative requirements, and are completed on time and within budget,” Manley said.

He said the council’s relationship with the Defence Force reflects a long history of cooperation and mutual assistance.

Gurnsey said the cooperation between the NZDF and the council would ensure Waiouru remained a thriving and supportive environment for both military personnel and local residents.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air

Te Mihinga Rose Brock was used to being a bit of a role model in the Army Reserves.

10 July, 2024

She stood out as a wahine trained in a combat trade role, and thrived while showcasing the New Zealand Defence Force over a series of recruitment webinars.

Now, Sub Lieutenant Brock, whose family comes from the Far North’s Utakura Valley in Hokianga, wants to develop her own path as a Royal New Zealand Navy warfare officer.

“Joining the Army and then the Navy have been the greatest experiences of my life,” she says.

After finishing at Carmel College in 2019, she enrolled at the University of Auckland, undertaking a degree in criminology and history. She joined the Army Reserve Force at the end of that year.

“A family friend of mine sold the dream to me,” she said.

“I always wanted to join the military, but I wanted to study at uni first. When I heard about the Army Reserves, I jumped at the chance to join.”

“I went to Waiouru to train as a gunner, then later joined the infantry. All my friends from the recruit course went that way, and the training exercises they (infantry) did seemed much more up my alley; on the range for shooting development, urban warfare drills, and so on.”

During the Covid-19 pandemic she undertook rotations at Managed Isolation and Quarantine Facilities while juggling full time study. She says it was a cool experience to meet and work with people from different units and services.

After university she got a full-time job at a recruiting firm, which suitably prepared her for her next posting.

“My Regimental Sergeant Major asked a few of us to recruit for our battalion, as our numbers were down. I started recruiting for 3/6 Battalion, then Army Reserves, then I got a short term Regular Force Engagement contract and ended up going to places and being a bit of a ‘poster girl’ for wāhine in a combat trade.”   

The role expanded to Sub Lieutenant Brock organising and hosting nationwide recruiting webinars and other events to encourage youth and wāhine.

“We’d get Army reservists from different trades to tell their stories, how they can balance being in the Army and being a cop, a lawyer, a nurse, or a parent.

“It was daunting at first, but very rewarding, and ended up being quite a successful endeavour. We’d have information evenings, where people would kōrero with us and ask questions.”

As a private in the Army Reserves, Sub Lieutenant Brock wanted more responsibility, and looked at commissioning as an officer.

“You know, it’s a funny story. Early on I hadn’t considered Navy, because I was terrified of the idea of being on a sinking ship. The Army was more about being rough and a bit dirty.

“My dad is a pilot and I liked the idea of aviation. So I never imagined myself being in either the Army or Navy, but I’m so glad I did!”

When considering the shift to Navy, she liked the multi-tasking roles taken up by Navy officers.

“There’s that balance of combat training but being very involved on a ship’s bridge, having that position of authority. Someone suggested being a warfare officer, and I could always pursue a career as a pilot at a later stage.”

Sub Lieutenant Brock graduated from Junior Officer Common Training at Devonport Naval Base in December.

As an officer, she likes the idea of building a rapport with her team, and being approachable if they need help or need to speak up.

“If I was able to give advice to my younger self, I would say – as clichéd as it sounds – that there’s no such thing as a closed door.”

“Take every opportunity as it comes and if you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way to overcome the challenges you face. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

Merv Tyree, then a vice-president of the South Canterbury RSA, views trees outside the branch’s former Timaru premises in 2017. The trees were subsequently cut down, which Tyree opposed, and the property sold, which he also opposed.
ESTHER ASHBY-COVENTRY / The Timaru Herald

https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350337258/veteran-merv-tyrees-varied-life-old-salt-gun-restorer

OBITUARY: One of a small group who restored a World War II artillery gun, fired in recent years for Anzac Day and other ceremonies, has died recently in Timaru.

Mervyn Tyree, known as Merv, was 85.

In 2018, Tyree together with John Smallridge, both former Royal New Zealand navalmen, and Terry Farrell, an ex-artilleryman who served with New Zealand forces in the Vietnam War, embarked on a project to restore a 1941 QF 25-pounder howitzer.

From 1967 the gun had been displayed outside the Beverley War Veterans’ Home in Timaru.

When the property was bought by the South Canterbury RSA, with the home demolished and new clubrooms built in 1975, the gun was retained and displayed at the entrance on Wai-iti Rd.

By 2018 the gun was in need of some “tender loving care”.

The group that restored the howitzer in 2018. From left are Merv Tyree, John Smallridge and Terry Farrell.
Doug Field / The Timaru Herald

Tyree, Smallridge and Farrell, all then members of the SCRSA, spent six months stripping, cleaning and restoring the gun.

“Merv was a key part of the process,” Farrell said.

“He had been a leading mechanical engineer in the navy and was very clever.

“He was able to put things together.”

Later in the year, after many years silent, the gun exploded into life again at the Aorangi range to commemorate New Zealand and Australian Vietnam Veterans’ Day and the Battle of Van Tuong.

Since then the gun has been been fired to mark numerous Anzac and Armistice days as well as Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee in June 2022 and her death later that year.

“Merv and our group gave the SCRSA and the community, something to be proud of,” Farrell said.

Tyree grew up on a farm near Pleasant Point and joined the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1956, serving for nine years as a diver as well as a mechanical engineer.

“He went to Antarctica on the Endeavour as part of an Edmund Hillary mission with [tractor manufacturer] Massey Ferguson,” his son Ken Tyree said.

This was the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition in which Hillary used the tractors to make his famous “dash” to the South Pole.

In 2016, Merv Tyree described the HMNZS Endeavour as “a wooden ship with iron men”.

From his time at Antarctica, Tyree brought back a jar of salt he found in 1959 outside Ernest Shackleton’s McMurdo Sound hut, which the famous British explorer had used between 1907-08.

“He kept the salt for more than 50 years, then gave it to the navy; now it’s kept on the bridge of the Aotearoa,” Ken Tyree said.

Merv Tyree handed the salt over when the HMNZS Aotearoa was launched at Devonport in 2020.

He served on navy ships to Malaya, during what was called the “Malayan Confrontation”, as well as to Korea, Singapore and the United States.

Merv Tyree with the jar of salt he found outside Ernest Shackleton’s hut in McMurdo Sound and which he gifted to the Royal NZ Navy.
Bejon Haswell / The Timaru Herald

On leaving the navy, Tyree worked in a range of jobs. He was a taxi driver, a concrete truck driver, and a self-employed welder; he made gear for Ken Tyree’s opal mining in Australia, and while in Australia managed a 6500-acre bloodstock farm in New South Wales.

“He came back from Australia in the late 1990s and bought a kiwifruit orchard in Waihi and increased the productivity 30%; he was a bit of a perfectionist,” his son said.

Merv Tyree then worked as a lift builder.

In 2013, he returned to South Canterbury and Timaru in style, driving a 13-tonne custom-built motor home that was fitted out with state-of-the-art equipment and named Endeavour after the vessel on which he had served.

Travelling in style: Merv Tyree inside his “ship on wheels” motor home in 2013.
John Bisset / The Timaru Herald

Tyree designed the luxury motor home himself and had it built to his specifications. When completed, the motor home was valued at between $700,000 and $800,000.

“The motor home was basically a ship on wheels,” Farrell said.

Tyree became a vice-president of the South Canterbury RSA and president of the Royal Navalmen’s Association South Canterbury branch.

“Over the years we socialised with family,” Farrell said. “Merv was a really nice, straight-up guy. He called a spade a spade.”

“He was amazing,” Ken Tyree said, “the best dad you could have.

“More than anything he became more of a mate as I got older.”

Merv Tyree pins a poppy on Alex Reid in Stafford St, Timaru, in 2018.
Doug Field / The Timaru Herald