O'Connell, Garth (Corporal, b.1975)

Collection associated with the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) service of 2808946 Corporal Garth O'Connell, 2008. O'Connell enlisted in the Australian Army in 1995 and was posted to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps as a private. While continuing his service in the Army Reserves, O'Connell joined the Australian War Memorial (AWM) as a permanent member of staff in the Education section in 2000.

By 2008, he was working in the AWM's Military Heraldry and Technology Section. In July that year, Corporal O'Connell deployed to the Solomon Islands on Operation Anode rotation 16, Australia's contribution to RAMSI. The mission, which began in 2003, was a multi-national police and military response to ethnic violence and civil and economic unrest in the Solomon Islands. The collection consists of a postcard O'Connell sent to his colleagues in the Military Heraldry and Technology Section during his deployment. He thanks them for sending a care packing containing chocolates and a "giant Commando comic" and writes that he looks forward to returning to work with them in the New Year. O'Connell also references colleague Nick Fletcher, a Senior Curator who was in the Solomon Islands at the time to collect items for the AWM's collection. On the front of the postcard is a picturesque artificial island in Malaita, where O'Connell jokingly alleges Fletcher relaxed, "waterskiied" and was housed in luxury accommodation while "us diggers ... have to sleep in leaky tents."

O'Connell returned to Australia in December 2008. In 2016, he deployed to the United Arab Emirates as part of a joint AWM-Australian Army History Unit curatorial team to collect information on and artifacts associated with Operation Accordion, the mission supporting Australian Defence Force operations in the Middle East.