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Sydney Morning Herald
22-07-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
From Black Hawks to $2 pool noodles: Inside the new Anzac Hall
Private Matthew Clarke had been deployed to Afghanistan for less than three weeks when an IED exploded under the armoured personnel carrier – a Bushmaster nicknamed Debbie – he was driving along a dry creek bed. The explosion broke 14 bones in his legs, ankles and feet. Another soldier was also badly wounded. Clarke was the first from his deployment in 2012 to be shipped home, but not the last: others would be killed or have limbs amputated. In uniform and wearing his medals on his first Anzac Day back home, Clarke was astonished when a woman stopped to ask him what medals he was wearing. Clarke replied he was one of 26,000 defence force personnel deployed to Afghanistan – Australia's longest war – from 2001 to 2021. Yet, the woman was confused. 'We'd been there for nine or 10 years, but she only related medals to World War I or II,' he said. When it opens in 2026, it is expected that a million visitors to the new Anzac Hall in the Australian War Memorial will be able to hear Clarke and fellow soldiers tell their stories, and see the battered Bushmaster on display in the new Afghanistan gallery that has been expanded from 60 square metres in the old hall to 700 square metres. The crew's unopened boxes of blue Gatorade (now filled with blue resin) can be seen on its roof racks with, among other objects, a makeshift sink. 'I've never seen anything like that in a museum,' Clarke told the Herald. In the late afternoon light of what will be a new peacekeeping gallery, the nose of a C-130 Hercules protrudes from a wall, as if it has plunged and crashed, a ghostly sight. But it is the F/A-18A 'Classic' Hornet, A21-022, that is the star of the show, displayed under a large opening that allows visitors to view it from above. The Classic is an earlier model than the 'Super Hornet' that starred in the movie Top Gun: Maverick. Shipped intact through Canberra by night, it was dropped into place in one piece using a 150-square-metre lift pit, an innovation designed for the project. The Hornet may have survived 6000 flying hours over Iraq and Syria in patrol and combat missions, but it is now wrapped in plastic and its tips protected with red pool noodles ahead of its debut appearance in the memorial. During its installation, Australian War Memorial logistics manager Kassandra Hobbs bought the pool noodles as a cost-saving measure to protect the old workhorse and reduce the chance of injuries to workers from its sharp edges, capable of taking out an eye. She bought 75 red, green and blue Funsafe pool noodles from the local Bunnings at $2 each, plus a couple of rolls of tape. At $162.44 all up, this was the best value in terms of collection protection, and would be reused. 'This cost is not exorbitant, considering the cost of having to fix objects if they were damaged,' she says. To prepare the large objects for display, and tell about 100,000 stories in the new hall, took some Anzac ingenuity, as employed by Hobbs, said deputy project director Christopher Widenbar. They also invented a 'rocket on a stick' of a kind unlikely to be found at the next Easter Show. When the museum was trying to conserve a WWII German V2 Rocket, for display on the top floor of the new hall, the cylindrical shape made it difficult to handle. So a spindle was fitted, allowing it to be rotated, rotisserie-style. Widenbar said this reduced the risk of injury, winning a safety prize along the way. Anzac Hall is the most ambitious in scale and size of the changes under way at the memorial. Initially proposed by former prime minister Scott Morrison, Anzac Hall is the third stage of the $548.7 million expansion. Creating a space to display 43 large technology items such as the Hornet and Debbie the Bushmaster, and cover Australia's involvement in Afghanistan, the Middle East from 1990, as well as peacekeeping from 1947, has meant soldiering on despite criticism. Executive project director Wayne Hitches gave this masthead a hard hat tour of the new Anzac Hall's column-free spaces. There are two floors comprising 7000 square metres of exhibition space, and Hitches said the team turned to a bridge manufacturer in Newcastle to build reinforced precast concrete Super-T beams, eliminating the need for columns in the 100-metre-long hall. The beams, each 33 metres long to span the hall and weighing 64 tonnes, made their way into the lift pit via an 800-tonne crane. Designed by Cox Architecture, which won an architecture competition, and implemented by project architects DJAS, the plan for Anzac Hall eliminated columns so that there would be no constraints in moving large objects. Hitches said: 'It's a bit of an engineering marvel, but they're also in line with what you would see underneath a bridge or a freeway.' A new roof shaped like the rays of the rising sun badge worn by the army is in place. Loading A giant wall made of sandstone from the quarry near Gosford faces the original facade of the heritage buildings, but the two are not allowed to touch. A Black Hawk helicopter will hang above the cafe. Criticism of the project included opposition to the unnecessary demolition of the existing Anzac Hall, built in 2001 and designed by Denton Corker Marshall. It won the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for public architecture. It was also criticised as too big, that it flaunted normal approval processes, did not do enough to consider the heritage status of the old building, and The Guardian journalist Paul Daley likened it to Disneyland. Australian Institute of Architects national president Adam Haddow says the politics are similar to those surrounding the sale of the Sirius public housing block in Sydney's The Rocks to turn it into luxury accommodation. 'You get to a point where the project is the project, and you need to judge it based on how well the architect has responded to the brief and the delivery of a building,' Haddow said. 'We can still disagree with the original premise. And we can always believe that the original national award-winning building Anzac Hall should never have been demolished, but the politics is the problem. Not the design. 'There's the importance of the building after the argument.' Haddow said both Sirius and the War Memorial had turned out better than expected. The completed underground southern entrance, with its oculus and parade ground, by Studio SC (formerly Scott Carver) won four architecture awards in the ACT. The project was shortlisted last week for three national awards. War Memorial director Matthew Anderson said Herald war correspondent and historian Charles Bean envisaged the AWM as more than a memorial. 'He didn't just want us to know what they did and where they did it – he wanted us to know how they felt when they were doing it,' he said. 'There is an unbroken line from those who leapt from the Ascot landing boat at Gallipoli on the afternoon of April 25, 1915, to those who now sign the Tarin Kowt wall to record proudly their service in the Middle East Area of Operations. 'That is our 'why'. Today's veterans are owed nothing less and, frankly, they have waited long enough.' Australian War Memorial senior curator Dr Kerry Neale said the large objects, such as the Hornet, would not exist without the servicemen and women. 'We needed a space that would keep the memorial true to its mission, true to what Bean wanted, which is to interpret and share the experience of Australians at war. We can't end that at Vietnam … because that's not when Australia's experience of war ends.' The displays were far from a Top Gun: Maverick approach, she said. 'We look at the devastation that air strikes cause, to the coalition, the enemy, it's all compounded, and we're saying that the Hornet as a piece of technology is quite impressive, but all the people who work on them, and all of the consequences and repercussions, are part and parcel of the Hornet story.' To show the human elements, the Hornet display includes a mannequin wearing the flight suit of a tall pilot like Group Captain Michael Grant, who had to fold himself into a small space for 10 hours or more. It includes his P bag – a pocket-sized emergency loo, which folds up like an adult diaper and uses the same crystals. Neale said: 'They had them in their flight suit pockets, and would need to use them to relieve themselves. There was no pulling off to the side of the road.' On the ground nearby, a mannequin represents a soldier dressed in shorts in 50-degree heat who works to repair and refuel the plane. A large image of Dave Burgess' anti-war slogan, No War, painted on the Opera House sails in 2003 is portrayed near the Hornet. Widenbar said the larger galleries allowed the memorial to tell a more comprehensive story. Take Afghanistan: for the first time, it would include the voice of the diaspora community, and Afghans who were helped or hurt by what Australians did. The new galleries will tackle war and peacekeeping through stories, and will touch on the allegations in the Brereton report including Ben Roberts-Smith, and Isis brides. 'Why the hell did Australia go to war there? How is it connected to terrorism and 9/11? So we can actually talk about what Australians did in the various stages,' he said. Loading That ranged from combat, reconstruction and then the evacuation, which Widener said was happening as curators were finalising the selection of objects. 'We were almost trying to capture the end of a story that was happening live.' At the end of the tour we cross the walkway across the atrium that connects the new Anzac Hall to the original heritage building. Everything is designed so that the dome can be seen from every point, including from Parliament House, Hitches said. 'If you opened all the doors of the prime minister's office, you'd see the war memorial.' He said it is to remember the cost of sending people off to war.
The Age
22-07-2025
- General
- The Age
From Black Hawks to $2 pool noodles: Inside the new Anzac Hall
Private Matthew Clarke had been deployed to Afghanistan for less than three weeks when an IED exploded under the armoured personnel carrier – a Bushmaster nicknamed Debbie – he was driving along a dry creek bed. The explosion broke 14 bones in his legs, ankles and feet. Another soldier was also badly wounded. Clarke was the first from his deployment in 2012 to be shipped home, but not the last: others would be killed or have limbs amputated. In uniform and wearing his medals on his first Anzac Day back home, Clarke was astonished when a woman stopped to ask him what medals he was wearing. Clarke replied he was one of 26,000 defence force personnel deployed to Afghanistan – Australia's longest war – from 2001 to 2021. Yet, the woman was confused. 'We'd been there for nine or 10 years, but she only related medals to World War I or II,' he said. When it opens in 2026, it is expected that a million visitors to the new Anzac Hall in the Australian War Memorial will be able to hear Clarke and fellow soldiers tell their stories, and see the battered Bushmaster on display in the new Afghanistan gallery that has been expanded from 60 square metres in the old hall to 700 square metres. The crew's unopened boxes of blue Gatorade (now filled with blue resin) can be seen on its roof racks with, among other objects, a makeshift sink. 'I've never seen anything like that in a museum,' Clarke told the Herald. In the late afternoon light of what will be a new peacekeeping gallery, the nose of a C-130 Hercules protrudes from a wall, as if it has plunged and crashed, a ghostly sight. But it is the F/A-18A 'Classic' Hornet, A21-022, that is the star of the show, displayed under a large opening that allows visitors to view it from above. The Classic is an earlier model than the 'Super Hornet' that starred in the movie Top Gun: Maverick. Shipped intact through Canberra by night, it was dropped into place in one piece using a 150-square-metre lift pit, an innovation designed for the project. The Hornet may have survived 6000 flying hours over Iraq and Syria in patrol and combat missions, but it is now wrapped in plastic and its tips protected with red pool noodles ahead of its debut appearance in the memorial. During its installation, Australian War Memorial logistics manager Kassandra Hobbs bought the pool noodles as a cost-saving measure to protect the old workhorse and reduce the chance of injuries to workers from its sharp edges, capable of taking out an eye. She bought 75 red, green and blue Funsafe pool noodles from the local Bunnings at $2 each, plus a couple of rolls of tape. At $162.44 all up, this was the best value in terms of collection protection, and would be reused. 'This cost is not exorbitant, considering the cost of having to fix objects if they were damaged,' she says. To prepare the large objects for display, and tell about 100,000 stories in the new hall, took some Anzac ingenuity, as employed by Hobbs, said deputy project director Christopher Widenbar. They also invented a 'rocket on a stick' of a kind unlikely to be found at the next Easter Show. When the museum was trying to conserve a WWII German V2 Rocket, for display on the top floor of the new hall, the cylindrical shape made it difficult to handle. So a spindle was fitted, allowing it to be rotated, rotisserie-style. Widenbar said this reduced the risk of injury, winning a safety prize along the way. Anzac Hall is the most ambitious in scale and size of the changes under way at the memorial. Initially proposed by former prime minister Scott Morrison, Anzac Hall is the third stage of the $548.7 million expansion. Creating a space to display 43 large technology items such as the Hornet and Debbie the Bushmaster, and cover Australia's involvement in Afghanistan, the Middle East from 1990, as well as peacekeeping from 1947, has meant soldiering on despite criticism. Executive project director Wayne Hitches gave this masthead a hard hat tour of the new Anzac Hall's column-free spaces. There are two floors comprising 7000 square metres of exhibition space, and Hitches said the team turned to a bridge manufacturer in Newcastle to build reinforced precast concrete Super-T beams, eliminating the need for columns in the 100-metre-long hall. The beams, each 33 metres long to span the hall and weighing 64 tonnes, made their way into the lift pit via an 800-tonne crane. Designed by Cox Architecture, which won an architecture competition, and implemented by project architects DJAS, the plan for Anzac Hall eliminated columns so that there would be no constraints in moving large objects. Hitches said: 'It's a bit of an engineering marvel, but they're also in line with what you would see underneath a bridge or a freeway.' A new roof shaped like the rays of the rising sun badge worn by the army is in place. Loading A giant wall made of sandstone from the quarry near Gosford faces the original facade of the heritage buildings, but the two are not allowed to touch. A Black Hawk helicopter will hang above the cafe. Criticism of the project included opposition to the unnecessary demolition of the existing Anzac Hall, built in 2001 and designed by Denton Corker Marshall. It won the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for public architecture. It was also criticised as too big, that it flaunted normal approval processes, did not do enough to consider the heritage status of the old building, and The Guardian journalist Paul Daley likened it to Disneyland. Australian Institute of Architects national president Adam Haddow says the politics are similar to those surrounding the sale of the Sirius public housing block in Sydney's The Rocks to turn it into luxury accommodation. 'You get to a point where the project is the project, and you need to judge it based on how well the architect has responded to the brief and the delivery of a building,' Haddow said. 'We can still disagree with the original premise. And we can always believe that the original national award-winning building Anzac Hall should never have been demolished, but the politics is the problem. Not the design. 'There's the importance of the building after the argument.' Haddow said both Sirius and the War Memorial had turned out better than expected. The completed underground southern entrance, with its oculus and parade ground, by Studio SC (formerly Scott Carver) won four architecture awards in the ACT. The project was shortlisted last week for three national awards. War Memorial director Matthew Anderson said Herald war correspondent and historian Charles Bean envisaged the AWM as more than a memorial. 'He didn't just want us to know what they did and where they did it – he wanted us to know how they felt when they were doing it,' he said. 'There is an unbroken line from those who leapt from the Ascot landing boat at Gallipoli on the afternoon of April 25, 1915, to those who now sign the Tarin Kowt wall to record proudly their service in the Middle East Area of Operations. 'That is our 'why'. Today's veterans are owed nothing less and, frankly, they have waited long enough.' Australian War Memorial senior curator Dr Kerry Neale said the large objects, such as the Hornet, would not exist without the servicemen and women. 'We needed a space that would keep the memorial true to its mission, true to what Bean wanted, which is to interpret and share the experience of Australians at war. We can't end that at Vietnam … because that's not when Australia's experience of war ends.' The displays were far from a Top Gun: Maverick approach, she said. 'We look at the devastation that air strikes cause, to the coalition, the enemy, it's all compounded, and we're saying that the Hornet as a piece of technology is quite impressive, but all the people who work on them, and all of the consequences and repercussions, are part and parcel of the Hornet story.' To show the human elements, the Hornet display includes a mannequin wearing the flight suit of a tall pilot like Group Captain Michael Grant, who had to fold himself into a small space for 10 hours or more. It includes his P bag – a pocket-sized emergency loo, which folds up like an adult diaper and uses the same crystals. Neale said: 'They had them in their flight suit pockets, and would need to use them to relieve themselves. There was no pulling off to the side of the road.' On the ground nearby, a mannequin represents a soldier dressed in shorts in 50-degree heat who works to repair and refuel the plane. A large image of Dave Burgess' anti-war slogan, No War, painted on the Opera House sails in 2003 is portrayed near the Hornet. Widenbar said the larger galleries allowed the memorial to tell a more comprehensive story. Take Afghanistan: for the first time, it would include the voice of the diaspora community, and Afghans who were helped or hurt by what Australians did. The new galleries will tackle war and peacekeeping through stories, and will touch on the allegations in the Brereton report including Ben Roberts-Smith, and Isis brides. 'Why the hell did Australia go to war there? How is it connected to terrorism and 9/11? So we can actually talk about what Australians did in the various stages,' he said. Loading That ranged from combat, reconstruction and then the evacuation, which Widener said was happening as curators were finalising the selection of objects. 'We were almost trying to capture the end of a story that was happening live.' At the end of the tour we cross the walkway across the atrium that connects the new Anzac Hall to the original heritage building. Everything is designed so that the dome can be seen from every point, including from Parliament House, Hitches said. 'If you opened all the doors of the prime minister's office, you'd see the war memorial.' He said it is to remember the cost of sending people off to war.
The Star
30-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
China's envoy urges Australia to resist US pressure on military spending
FILE PHOTO: This handout photograph taken on March 30, 2022, and released by the Australian Defence Force shows Australian Army soldiers in Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles are on standby to conduct evacuation tasks with the local State Emergency Services due to rising flood waters in the New South Wales town of Lismore. Australia spends a little over two per cent of its gross domestic product on defence and is under pressure from the US to raise that to 3.5 per cent. - Australia Defence Force/AFP CANBERRA: China's envoy to Canberra urged Australia not to be "incited' by NATO's support for US demands to sharply raise defence spending and instead cooperate with Beijing to resolve regional disputes. Ambassador Xiao Qian, in an opinion article published in The Australian newspaper Monday, wrote that both Australia and China rely on the same trade routes and have a major stake in safeguarding maritime security. He emphasised their roles as key trade partners with "highly complementary' economies. "Dramatically increasing military spending places a heavy fiscal burden on the countries involved, undermining their efforts to boost economies and improve livelihoods, and further straining a global economy already struggling with weak recovery,' Xiao said. He added some countries at events such as the Group of Seven summit and the recent North Atlantic Treaty Organisation meeting have "hyped up the so-called China threat narrative,' to increase defence spending "and even incited Australia to follow suit.' Australia spends a little over two per cent of its gross domestic product on defence and is under pressure from the US to raise that to 3.5 per cent. The centre-left government has pushed back, pointing out it has already increased outlays. At a higher level, Canberra is trying to balance the increasingly confrontational relationship between the US and China, which are respectively Australia's historic security ally and its biggest trading partner. Australia likely wants to avoid raising defence spending excessively and antagonising Beijing. "As I often hear from Australian friends, 'we have hundreds of reasons to be friends, and none to be enemies',' Xiao said. NATO leaders last week agreed to increase defence spending to five per cent of GDP and renewed their "ironclad commitment' to mutual security as they aim to push back against an increasingly belligerent Russia. The US wants allies to take up more of the fiscal burden for their own defense so it can focus more heavily on China. Australia's Labor government has managed to rebuild ties with Beijing after they plunged into a deep freeze, which included punitive trade actions against some Australian goods in 2020. The fallout was triggered by the then centre-right government calling for a probe into the origins of Covid-19. "China and Australia are friends, not foes. This should never have been in question,' Xiao said. "China has been always developing bilateral friendship and co-operation with the utmost sincerity and patience, and we hope Australia will work with us in the same direction.' - Bloomberg
Toronto Sun
20-06-2025
- Toronto Sun
'You should not be here,' judge tells Windsor man nabbed with trunkload of drugs, guns
A sign outside the Superior Court of Justice building in downtown Windsor is shown March 31, 2025. Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star A bright young Windsor man with dreams of medical school has high hopes for the future — despite now boasting a criminal record involving drugs and guns. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'You should not be here, you can make something of yourself,' Superior Court Justice Brian Dube told Hussein Al Hayawi, 28, at a sentencing hearing on Thursday. It has taken more than five years for justice to be served after police pulled over a vehicle with a broken headlight in early 2019. Inside the trunk was a Bushmaster rifle — the judge described its look as 'menacing' — and two shotguns, along with ammunition. Also seized: 45.6 grams of cocaine, 18.3 grams of methamphetamine and 293 grams of cannabis. Since the arrest of the then-22-year-old, Al Hayawi has spent close to 2,000 days under what his lawyer described as 'strict house arrest.' On Thursday, however, he was brought to court from jail. Without any details being revealed, the judge was informed Al Hayawi has another criminal case pending, but this week's matter is considered a first-time offence. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Following a trial last fall, Justice Dube released his ruling earlier this year that found Al Hayawi guilty on 11 counts, including possession of a restricted weapon and unauthorized possession of firearms, as well as possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. Citing the 'very obvious connection' between drugs and guns in criminal enterprises, the 'commercial motivation' behind the amount of drugs involved, as well as the need for the court to send a message, federal drug prosecutor Mitchell Witteveen called for a five-year prison sentence. He described the offence as 'mid-level trafficking.' Defence lawyer Jack Lloyd said the Crown might 'scream and shout denunciation and deterrence' but he described his client as a 'youthful first-time offender' who was a good student with plans to go to medical school. But then 'something goes wrong' in 2019. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Greed could have been that motivation to turn to crime. 'I'm sure he wanted to make … pretty good money,' Dube interjected at one point, although the judge also pointed to a 'very positive' pre-sentence report and family character letter that described a 'loving, respectful and hopeful person.' The defence called for a conditional sentence of two years less a day to be served in the community. The judge's decision on punishment is expected in the fall. Justice Dube said Al Hayawi made 'some very dangerous choices' and that a 'very concerning fact' in the case was having an offender driving around Windsor with three firearms in the trunk of his car. With his parents and sister sitting in the public gallery, Al Hayawi stood and addressed the court: 'I'd like to apologize. I'm a person of this community.' He said he has goals which include leaving Windsor to 'prepare for my future' before contributing again to the community. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Justice Dube described Al Hayawi — born in Toronto and a high school Grade A student who played football and volunteered at his local mosque — as someone he doesn't usually encounter in the local courts. 'You are unlike a lot of people I deal with … many of those people don't have the wherewithal to make it,' he said, adding Al Hawayi had already 'given up a significant portion of his young life because of his poor choices.' As another mitigating factor in determining an appropriate sentence, the judge referred to 'multiple violations of the accused's Charter rights,' which had been the subject of an earlier, but unsuccessful, application by the defence to have the charges tossed. Lloyd told the Star after Thursday's proceedings that those violations included how police conducted the vehicle search, how Al Hayawi was arrested and then detained. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Read More If the judge shows leniency in sentencing, it won't be the first time Al Hayawi would appear to have gotten a big break from the justice system. Two years ago, a prosecutor in a different courtroom advised a Windsor judge the Crown was staying a first-degree murder charge against Al Hayawi in connection to the Nov. 28, 2022, fatal shooting of Daniel Squalls, 24, in the 800 block of Hanna Street East. Windsor police arrested Al Hayawi a few days after that shooting. His lawyer later told the Star his client had been caught up in the murder investigation while being the subject of ongoing police surveillance in connection to a guns and drugs case. After months on the run, Malique Calloo was arrested by U.S. authorities in July 2023. He's scheduled to go on trial next March for first-degree murder in the killing of Squalls. At the conclusion of Thursday's proceedings, Al Hayawi's father leaned into the prisoner box and kissed his son as his mother stood nearby in tears. dschmidt@ World Columnists World Toronto & GTA MMA
ABC News
17-06-2025
- Automotive
- ABC News
Man injured in army vehicle rollover near Australian military training area
A man has been taken to hospital after an army vehicle rollover near a major Australian military training ground in central Queensland. Emergency services were called to the St Lawrence Road section of the Bruce Highway at Ogmore about 2.20pm after a Bushmaster truck rolled. The Queensland Ambulance Service said one man with minor injuries to his leg was treated by paramedics and was taken to the Rockhampton Hospital in a stable condition. At 4.30pm, a Queensland Police spokesperson said the Bruce Highway remained open to motorists. The incident happened just north of the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area, located about 100 kilometres north of Rockhampton. The Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area is a large area primarily used for military training exercises by the Australian Defence Force [ADF] and the Singapore Armed Forces [SAF]. The Bushmaster is a Protected Mobility Vehicle that serves many roles in the army. It can deploy up to ten troops and it's armoured V-shaped hull protects its passengers from landmines and other explosive devices. The ABC has contacted the Department of Defence for comment.
