Staff Cadet Mother’s Account

A Brief Relevant Background:

The following hand-written 1-page letter is the account from memory by the mother of Duntroon Staff Cadet (SCT) Steven RIDD, whom from March 1987 had voluntarily resigned from the Royal Military College.

SCT RIDD had served in RMC’s Army officer training at the same time as SCT Cadet Julian KNIGHT.  SCT KNIGHT had already served part-time in the Army Reserves at Puckapunyal, so he had been familiar with Army Infantry/APC training, whereas SCT RIDD had had no Army background, but only school cadet experience (Lance Corporal at age 19).  SCT RIDD states that he had privately enlisted into RMC simply to fly helicopters (rescue/transport helicopters, but not attack helicopters).   Both cadets had fathers who were/had been Army Officers and both cadets were born in Melbourne and had attended exclusive private Grammar (high) schools in Melbourne – Julian at Westbourne Grammar School, Steven at Camberwell Grammar School.

The two were in the same January 1987 Third Class (freshmen) intake, RMC-allocated to the same ‘Kokoda’ (training) Company, same Platoon 15, same Section 45.  Their respective individual living quarters were situated just three doors down the corridor from one another on the same ground floor level of Kokoda’s barracks, located off the RMC parade ground over near the Obstacle Course.

Logically, these two staff cadets trained together in most of the field exercises, parade drills, physical training (PT) and basic infantry studies between January and March 1987 during the two months that SCT RIDD was enrolled at RMC.   Logically also, the two became good friends, battling similar hardships from the torment of the senior cadets of Kokoda Company (“the enemy”).  Steven upon intake was aged 22, whilst SCT KNIGHT however was aged just 18; being a significant maturity gap at that age.

Although the RMC Third Class training was Infantry basic training at that early stage (of the then 18-month course), SCT RIDD had been enrolled as one of just 3 ‘Aviation Cadets’ of the 500 numbered intake.

He had previously applied for Duntroon before his Year 12 Higher School Certificate exams passed in 1982, but failed to make the January 1983 intake due to fed-back immaturity from the RMC Selection Board.  Steven would repeat his application to RMC twice more for the next two subsequent 6 monthly intakes of July 1983 and January 1984, for the similar reasons.  He failed RMC selection three times in a row.

However, what changed was that through 1986, Steven decided to venture overseas, to gain maturity and ended up learning to fly the R22 helicopter at the small regional Ardmore Aerodrome south of Auckland in New Zealand, acquiring flight theory training plus acquiring 30 hours actual flying to solo level.  It would be this travel experience worldliness and his newly acquired helicopter piloting skills that would enable Steven to finally be accepted into RMC on this his fourth (and to be his final) attempt.

So, the following is that letter by Steven’s mother from her memory of the time of mid-August 1987 immediately following the Hoddle Street mass shootings committed by Julian Knight, just  weeks after SCT KNIGHT’sd formal discharge from RMC and from the Australian Army.

The traditional flowing writing style by that previous generation may be difficult to read by current day readers, so one provides the following verbatim ‘translation’ of that letter in typed text as follows:

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“26th May 2021

To Whom it may concern,

 

The year was 1987.   I remember receiving a phone call from a man representing the Military College at Duntroon.  He did introduce himself but I can’t remember his name or rank.

He told me that if I went to the media about anything to do with Duntroon, he would make sure that I and your younger children would never receive a passport, work in a government Office, or receive any assistance from the Government in the future.

I agreed, as I didn’t want to involve the other children & also at the time I had no idea why he was threatening me.

He never made any reference to Julian Knight & I was completely unaware of the friendship between my son Steven Ridd & Julian Knight while they were at Duntroon.

It wasn’t until years later that Steven was able to talk about what happened at Duntroon, it was then that I made the connection between the phone call and Duntroon Julian Knight.

Judith Harding”

(letter certified by a JP as a true copy of the original document, 11-Jan-2022)

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Further Explanation:

 

• The phone caller to Steven’s mother was almost certainly the then RMC Commandant MAJ GEN Murray Blake in August 1987
• Steven by that time had been previously honourably discharged from the Army at Watsonia Army Barracks (Melbourne) on Friday 22nd May 1987 at 2pm
• Steven had commenced civil fixed wing flying training towards a Private Pilot License (Fixed Wing) – a cost-effective precursor to training for a commercial helicopter pilot license
• Steven’s mother Judith took the call from the Ridd family home at 21 Clapham Street in Balwyn (Melbourne) on her own
• Steven by then was back in Queensland set to embark also upon a sabbatical venture to Far North Queensland to skills train and build a year’s sea-time to obtain a Commercial Coxswain Ticket in Brisbane and to then work toward a coastal maritime career further up north
• Duntroon management’s threatening call to Steven’s mother was an example of the RMC bullying culture.  It was immoral, low-brow, disgraceful, and unnecessary.  Yet after Hoddle Street, RMC was in desperate PR save-face lockdown.   Apparently, the day after Hoddle Street, RMC called and emergency all-college parade assembly to threaten all cadets with instant dismissal if anyone went to the media about former SCT Julian Knight
• Whilst Steven was working as a deck hand in Townsville, he recalls on the morning of 9th August 1987 walking along Flinders Street Mall past the newsagency and noticing the news headlines on a sandwich board showing Julian Knight on the front page associated with a “massacre”.  Steven’s immediate sentiments were that the media would be tracking Steven down due to his close friendship to Julian.  Duntroon made sure that never happened.
• The truth is worse than fiction