Van Dyk, Robyn (Head of Research Centre, Australian War Memorial)

Places
Accession Number PR06073
Collection type Private Record
Record type Collection
Measurement Extent: 4 cm; Wallet/s: 2
Object type Diary, Postcard, Letter
Maker Van Dyk, Robyn
Place made Afghanistan
Date made 2012
Access Open
Conflict Afghanistan, 2001-2021
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

Collection relating to Robyn Van Dyk, Head of Research Centre, Australian War Memorial (AWM) whilst on a curatorial deployment to Afghanistan in October 2012.

Ms Van Dyk travelled to Afghanistan as part of the Australian War Memorial's Curators in the Field Program. Accompanying her on the deployment to the Middle Eastern Area of Operations (MEAO) with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) were Major Scott Morris (ADF escort), Rebecca Britt Acting Head of Military Heraldry and Technology AWM and the Official War Photographer Stephen DuPont AWM.

The collection consists of two wallets containing two diaries, a notebook, and assorted documents.

Wallet 1 of 1 contains a small brown leather diary dated 15 October 2012, Al Minhad Air Base Dubai (AMAB). The diary records training at AMAB; the flight from AMAB to Afghanistan; wearing Modular Combat Body Armour System (MCBAS); names, notes, observations and short biographies of personnel in Afghanistan. The diary also contains an outbound boarding pass, two Tarin Kowt base coffee shop receipts and four paper token coins used on all bases in Afghanistan.

This wallet also contains a thick black diary, the first entry dated 24 October 2012. Ms Van Dyk records meeting with Australian Army staff; the command structure of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF); the work of Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit Kandahar in addressing traumatic injury; medical and technological innovation; dining facilities; the role of the Australian Federal Police in Afghanistan; soldier graffiti including Australian artist 'Zero-Six' . While there she attends an Anzac Afghan Memorial Service at ISAF HQ Kabul and observes the Logistics Training and Advisors Team (LTAT). Ms Van Dyk includes notes on various oral history interviews she conducts with army staff including chaplain Major Keil Maslen, nurses Lieutenant Steven Grosser and Marty Graves, carpenter Sergeant Saxby, Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Bradford, Military Advisor of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan; Major-General Stephen Day, Chief of Plans for ISAF Joint Command in Afghanistan; Brigadier Roger Noble; Private Melissa Petricevich, LTAT; Tyson Nicholas of the J3 Mobile Training Team; Lieutenant-Colonel Coates UN; Colonel Trent Scott Commanding Officer 3RAR. At the end of the deployment Ms Van Dyk records the relief of removing the helmet and MCBAS. The diary also contains annotated photographs, receipts, notes and business cards.

Also included is a camouflage wallet with velcro TF66 patch (Australian Special Forces Task Force 66) which was a gift to Ms Van Dyk from Corporal Tim Bielski. Inside the wallet is a small Department of Defence Note Book containing notes made on deployment, names and contacts.

Wallet 2 of 2 contains a slim wallet of documents: a boarding pass from Al Minhad to Sydney dated 31 October 2012; 6 postcards sent from Afghanistan by Ms Van Dyk to the Research Centre AWM; one postcard sized flyer produced by the AWM to be given out to personnel in the field to encourage them to write their story; two greeting cards, ‘From Tarin Kowt Afghanistan’ sent to the Research Centre (each card has two paper dog tags with metal chain attached). One of the cards describes a rocket attack near Camp Holland during Ms Van Dyk's curatorial deployment. There are also two typed pages of information on records found within the MEAO.