Surveying in Indonesia DPR/S/151

The third phase of a major Australian foreign aid project got under way in Indonesia earlier this month with the arrival of 25 Army surveyors at Medan, the Sumatran northern capital. The soldiers are the advanced party of a 67 man team who will spend the next few months remapping about 20,000 square miles of the island. To be carried out in conjunction with Indonesian Army advisors, the task is a continuation of work carried out over the last two years. Already more than 55,000 square miles of the 164,123 square mile island have been mapped by Australian soldiers. The eventual aim of the project is to remap the entire island. Heavy supplies and stores for the project were ferried from Australia aboard the Army ship "John Monash" and discharged at Belwan, the port which serves Medan. Vehicles, fuel, technical stores and other supplies were flown in with the advanced party aboard an RAAF C130 Hercules transport aircraft. Centre of this year's operations will be a tiny headquarters alongside the airstrip at Medan. Indonesian authorities built an attap (palm frond) and wooden camp for the Australians which will be supplemented by tents when the Diggers move their stores in. The camp is set in a disused coconut grove. The main body of soldiers and RAAF supporting servicemen will arrive on May 11 aboard another RAAF C130 Hercules. Indonesia urgently requires the larger scale maps to allow planning to proceed for hydro-electric schemes, irrigation projects, transmigration schemes and other national objectives. Heading the project is Major Hugh Taylor, 45, of Fremantle, WA who has 25 years experience in militarymapping. Already an RAAF Caribou and an Army Pilatus Porter aircraft have commenced operations the first photographic sortie being flown by the Porter the day after it arrived.