Brigadier James Harold Townley, AM

2^nd March 1939 – 22^nd October 2019

Jim rarely spoke about his ancestry although both his father and grandfather served in uniform. His grandfather, Captain William Townley, served as a police magistrate, a superintendent of Queensland prisons and commander of No 2 Battery Queensland Volunteer Artillery in Ipswich. His father, Kenneth Russell Townley, also served in uniform as a legal officer during the World War 11 war crimes trials held on Manus Island. Kenneth Townley went on to become a judge in the Supreme Court of Queensland.

Jim decided on a career in the Army and entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on the 9^th February 1957. He graduated into the Royal Australian Artillery on 14^th December 1960.  As daughter Sally recalls: 

“Like a lot of boys who came to Duntroon, he met and married a Canberra girl, in this case, my beautiful Mum, Wendy. Lucky for him he chose the kindest, most caring and compassionate lady in the world.”

He joined 4th Field Regiment RAA and served in 103rd Field Battery and accompanied that Battery to Malaya in 1961.  The Battery joined 26th Field Regiment Royal Artillery (RA) as part of the 28th Commonwealth Brigade and whilst in Malaya the Australian officers were rotated through Vietnam a couple at a time for a week or ten days. Jim spent eight days, 14th to 22nd June 1963, in Vietnam.

At the end of 1963 the Townleys moved back to Australia to Holsworthy and Jim joined the 1st Field Regiment RAA. At the beginning of 1965 he moved to 131st Divisional Locating Battery at North Head and then returned to Vietnam in April 1966 as Officer Commanding the Detachment 131 Divisional Locating Battery.

He left Vietnam on 18th August on posting to a Gunnery Staff Course at the Royal School of Artillery, Larkhill followed by an attachment to British Army on the Rhine (BAOR) as a gunnery  instructor. On return to Australia in 1968 Jim assumed instructor duties at the School of Artillery, North Head until 1970. He was detached to Headquarters Australian Forces Vietnam from 30th April to 28th May 1970.  In June that year Canberra called and he was posted to Army Headquarters as a Staff Officer Grade 2, Directorate of Artillery.

I first met James Harold Townley in Townsville in 1971 when he was appointed   Battery Commander (BC) of the 106th Field Battery RAA. It was a meeting that was to be the beginning of a lifetime friendship. Jim arrived in the 4th Field Regiment before Wendy. I was his Battery Captain and had spent a week with him and I was keen to meet his better half.

On the night of Wendy’s arrival the Ahearns were dining with Stephen and Carolyn Yates. We had two kilograms of prawns and cold long neck beer bottles and some white wine. Around the street we trudged to the Townley house carrying all the provisions only to find the abode cloaked in darkness; not a light anywhere. Not to be deterred we cast pebbles at the windows and after several salvos a finger pulled down the venetian blind and we received a mumbled but clear”Piss off!”

We retired hurt to Yates place and had just cracked a bottle when there was a knock on the door; Twas Jim, hair still wet from a shower and once again he clearly mumbled “Wendy says to come back”.

I learned from Jim a favourite expression – “Piss ants" -a term JH used frequently to describe those he considered to be acting irresponsibly in any given situation.  I have unashamedly adopted this descriptive noun and used it just as extensively.

Laconic springs to most minds when describing Jim Townley. Master of understatement and a dry wit as evidenced by his description of arrival in Vietnam on HMAS Sydney in 1966:

“On arrival in Vung Tau Harbour, the ship was visited by General Westmoreland, the American force commander. He arrived in a highly polished Huey with a couple of equally highly polished aides. We all looked very shabby by comparison. Australian greens and jungle hat do not lend themselves to stylishness.”

Also illustrated by his observation when he and Barry Campton were hunkered down in the mud and rain in the middle of the Task Force area on 18 August 1966 and the fin of a recently arriving mortar bomb stuck out of the ground yards from them. “Geez that was effing close Yogi”

In late 1971 the advance party of the Battery arrived in Singapore to join the ANZUK Force. Until 1971 the British Commonwealth maintained a presence in Malaysia in the form of the 28th (Commonwealth) Infantry Brigade:  the force Jim had served with in 1961. In 1971 it was announced that a new arrangement would see Australian, New Zealand and British troops remain in Singapore and Malaysia under an Australian commander of two star rank. The troops were to operate under the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) between Singapore , Malaysia , UK,  Australia, and New Zealand.

The ANZUK Force was tri-service and consisted of 7,500 uniformed personnel from the three services as well as 4,750 locally employed civilians. The arrival of 106 Field Battery RAA in Singapore in January 1972 to join 1st Light Battery RA “The Blazers” in Nee Soon Barracks marked the formation proper of 28th ANZUK  Field Regiment The Commanding Officer was a British scholar and gentleman Lieutenant Colonel Trefor Jones-not a misspelling; his name was Trefor.  His Second-in-Command an Australian Gunner of reputation, Major Noel Delahunty, MC with Major Bill Hills RA commanding 1st Light Battery and the loquacious Major Jim Townley commanding 106 Field Battery RAA. HQ Battery was a polyglot mix of Brits, Australians and the odd Kiwi.

The next two years were filled with hard work, fun and laughter.  Families were folded into the life of the Regiment and Jim’s son Peter recalls, when he was a child that some of his fondest memories of his Dad included:

“Living in Singapore. 

Tom Hills and I getting a dressing down for lighting that fire in the valley between our houses.

Tom Hills and I getting a dressing down for throwing condom flour bombs during the military exercise at Nee Soon.

Parties that you and Mum held in Singapore.

In 1974 the battery returned to Australia after Australia withdrew from the ANZUK Alliance. Jim and family moved to Queenscliff and Jim became a student at the Army Command and Staff College. Following Staff College Jim was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and posted to Canberra as Staff Officer Grade 1 in the Directorate of Artillery. He became Commanding Officer of 1^st Field Regiment RAA, Brisbane in January 1977. Greg Gilbert remembered those days vividly:

 “I had my first conversation with Jim,...when I rang him at the end of 1977 to arrange my imminent arrival as the BC HQ Bty.

What a delightful posting that was. Jim was always available, always approachable, and always willing to listen to new ideas – except when I asked him to change  the painted sign in front of the battery building from Headquarter Battery to Headquarters Battery on the basis there was no such noun as Headquarter. He declined my request and I recall the word pedantic might have passed his lips.”

I caught up with Jim again in 1980 when he was the Australian Exchange Officer at the US Army’s Training & Doctrine Command Combined Arms Test Activity, Fort Hood in Texas and I was on the staff of the Australian Army Attaché in Washington. Joint Services Staff College in Canberra was the next port of call and after graduating in July 1981 Jim was promoted Colonel and served in Army Headquarters as Director Combat Development Army and then Director Royal Artillery.

Western Australia beckoned and Jim became Commander 5^th Military District from December 1984 until January 1985 when he returned to Canberra; Operations Branch Army Office as Director Combat Development. A sojourn to the UK followed with Jim attending the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1988 and returning to be promoted Brigadier and appointed as the Commandant of the Australian Army Command & Staff College in Queenscliff, Victoria in 1990

Back to Canberra in 1992 and a stint in Logistics Division followed by two years as Director General Operations and Plans in Army Headquarters. Jim retired from the Army in Canberra on 1^st March 1994. A great military career that spanned 38 years; a career that would not have been possible without the unwavering support of Wendy and his family. Daughter Sally put it succinctly:

“They made a great team and had an amazing life together, travelling Australia and the world, while Dad held many postings in the Australian Army. It’s a curious life for a family as many of you here would know. Every 12 months or perhaps two years, Dad would come home and announce that we were moving to Brisbane.  Or Canberra. Or Queenscliff. Or the USA. Or Singapore. Etc,Etc, Etc.”

The Townleys retired in Canberra and Jim obtained a degree in international relations from Deakin University. He also accepted the position as chair of the RSL National Conditions of Service Committee and represented the RSL at hearings of Defence Force Remuneration.  I can testify to Jim’s diligence as chair of that committee as I answered the telephone one day and found myself a committee member. Jim and I also shared a passion for golf (as did Wendy) and we both played together regularly at Fairbairn Golf Course until he joined Royal Canberra and I joined Federal.  Jim, a far better golfer than I, went on to be the Captain of Royal and spent many fruitless attempts to get me to join the club. The call of the North came loud and clear and Jim and Wendy answered it and moved to Southport, Queensland. Naturally their new abode backed onto the Southport Golf Course and just as naturally, after a few years, Jim became Southport’s Captain.         

Jim’s loss generated a host of tributes from family as well both the military and civilian friends and colleagues. Not all can be included but the tribute from George Mansford, a notable infantry man and poet extraordinaire, needs to be recorded.

“Our army is comprised of many Corps and one of them is the beloved Artillery which was fortunate to have such a warrior as Jim Townley wearing its proud badge.  In both peace and war, he proved himself as a dedicated professional and a brother in arms, fair dinkum, true blue. Jim was very well known in military circles and well respected by those who served under his command from his time as a junior leader to a very senior commander.  ln war, Jim, as a Gunner was at times a God. He orchestrated and directed the supporting artillery fire for those in danger and need of support.

He was a comrade to be totally relied upon and always demonstrated both humour and quick wit when needed most. There is no doubt in my life's observations that this dedicated warrior in his time did more for his country and profession of arms that most.  He possessed a magic armoury of wit and personality. Jim was Jim, and always a strong handshake and if not seen for a while, a powerful embrace which was and always will be the ways of such warriors who place a high value on camaraderie.

I can but hope there are many more Jim Townley's ready to take his place. Until we meet the final rendezvou