Geckos set to celebrate 10th Anniversary
A DECADE on from its inception , Lavarack Barracks will , later this year , stop to say “ thank you ” to the man who established Geckos , LTGEN ( ret ) John Caligari . A plaque erected during the official “ launch ” of the facility declares the official opening to have been on May 22 , 2007 . Problem was that Geckos wasn ’ t actually fully operational at that point ( it was , by his guess , about 60 per cent ready ) and the then Commander of 3rd Brigade , BRIG Caligari said he hoped to “ officially ” open the facility a few months hence . It never happened , but nonetheless , a tree and a plaque were planted in the grounds of the newlyrenovated building at the “ launch ” and there were lots of happy Defence families on hand to indicate the idea was going to be well received . Newly-appointed Chief of Army LTGEN Ken Gillespie did get to officially rename the centre “ Geckos ” after the name suggested by a 3CSR soldier . A dedicated family centre was an important ambition for BRIG Caligari . He had seen the effect of a lack of united family support at home during the 1993 deployment to Somalia , contrasted with the extraordinary success of a wives ’ club organised when he led a 1RAR Battle Group deployment to East Timor in 2000 . The 1RAR deployment was similar to the situation at 3Bde in 2007 in that the 1RAR Sergeants ’ Mess was to be demolished to make way for a transport facility . ( Geckos was established in a building slated for demolition , formerly the 2 / 4 RAR Officers ’ Mess ). In 2000 , the 1RAR wives ’ group , led by the spouse of a 1RAR
WO1 Nicky Rothwe
corporal , was able to do exactly as it wished with the old sergeants ’ mess , painting , rearranging internal walls and generally setting it up exactly as wanted . “ It was a wonderful success ,” LTGEN Caligari said . When he got to 3Bde as Commander , he faced two years with multiple deployments from the Brigade and wanted to have that sort of facility to help unite the homefront . He won permission to keep the building , and , with unwavering support from the Base
34 | AUGUST 2017