Matthew Robinson
Photographer unknown. (1999). Matthew Robinson first deployed to East Timor in September 1999 as part of the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET). Photograph sourced by Matthew Robinson.
Matthew Robinson was 18 years old when he climbed off a Hercules aircraft in East Timor.
“I saw my first dead body, in a gutter,” he said.
“As an 18-year-old it was pretty eye opening. It was my first time overseas, with the big boys, with real bullets, thinking that at any stage you could get into a contact. I knew it was dangerous, but at the end of the day you are doing what you are trained to do, and all that’s in the back of your mind is that if anything happens, you’ve just got to get in there, and help your mates out.”
Matthew had been in the army for just 12 months when he deployed to East Timor in September 1999 as part of the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET). It would be the first of his three deployments to East Timor.
Today, Matthew is a supervisor with commercial plumbing company O’Neil and Brown in Canberra. He is proud to be one of the veterans working on the Australian War Memorial’s Development Project to help tell the stories of modern conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
The project is close to his heart. He comes from a long line of servicemen and servicewomen and grew up in a military family. His parents served in the Royal Australian Air Force, and two of his uncles served in the army; one died in a parachute accident. His paternal grandfather was also in the army, and his maternal great-grandfather served on Gallipoli during the First World War.
“My great-grandmother used to give me a gold coin and tell me stories … and I knew from a very young age that I was going to join the army,” he said.
“I grew up in Hervey Bay and right across the road from our house was bushland … so I was always in the bush – building shelters, trying to look for animals, and just having fun.”
Inspired by his love of the bush, and his family’s military history, he joined the army cadets at school and then enlisted in the army in 1998 at the age of 17.
“I felt drawn to the army, and at that point in my life I knew I wasn’t going to go to university or get a trade; I just wanted to be in the bush.
“I applied halfway through Year 12, thinking it was going to take a long time to get through, but I got a letter in July saying I’d been accepted, and that my Kapooka date was the 4th of August.
“I had to make a decision then and there: am I going to decline and finish year 12, or am I going to do it? I realised that at that time there were only three ways out of Hervey Bay – jail, university or the military – so I chose the military, and I have never regretted it.”
After he finished training Matthew was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, in 1999 and was sent on his first deployment in September.
“When we first heard about going to Timor, we didn’t really think that much of it,” he said. “I had just turned 18 and we found out we had eight hours to move. And so, eight hours later, I was on a Hercules going to Dili. I was right at the back of the Herc, and I had this massive pack. The pack weighed as much as I did, and so for the whole flight I was trying to prop myself up on the seat. By the time we landed, my back was wrecked, and I was so tired from trying to stay upright.”
Matthew’s unit was one of the first to be deployed once the airfield at Dili had been secured by members of the Special Air Service Regiment. In East Timor his role was to restore law and order and end the widespread violence and destruction that had broken out following the August referendum that showed overwhelming support for independence from Indonesia.
“I was in the second Herc in, and we piled out thinking we were going to get shot up as soon as we got out, but the doors opened, and we didn’t cop any rounds,” he said.
“The SASR piled into their long-range patrol vehicles, and took off straight for Dili, and all you could hear were gunshots in the distance.
“I was given a machine-gun, which is odd because I was the smallest guy there, and then we started patrolling into Dili itself.
“Our company, Bravo Company, then travelled from Dili to Batugade on the coast in the back of a bucket – an armoured personnel carrier – along a windy coast road, straight to this old Portuguese castle which still had cannons.”
He remembers patrolling the area and learning about the history of East Timor.
“We secured Batugade, and then we pushed up into the hills closer to Balibo,” he said. “Getting four hours sleep was a bonus, and that’s when Charlie Company decided to push up to make sure the Indonesians knew we knew where the border was. We were on overwatch on a hill and could hear everything, and we were keen to get in there and help.
“That was all in the first month, and then we punched up to Balibo and learnt about the history of the Balibo Five. I never knew anything about it till then, but we saw the house where the Australian journalists were killed, and so that was then on a lot of guys’ minds…
“It was a massive history lesson for me. We learnt all about the invasion in 1975, the massacre in Balibo, and the history of Australian service in East Timor during World War Two.
“All these ancient blokes were coming out of the hills, telling us about Australian soldiers, and Sparrow Force, and East Timor itself. It really helped us, and we got to help these guys out.
“Being 18 at the time, it was massive… We just patrolled, day in, day out, until we got the word to go. You put in the hard yards, and you’re absolutely wrecked. But I have fantastic memories.
Matthew returned to East Timor again in 2001 as part of UNTAET, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, and again in 2006, as part of Operation Astute following unrest between elements of the Timor Leste Defence Force.
“I had a 20-year reunion, and people were focusing on all the hard times, but I couldn’t remember them, all I could think of was the funny things… insignificant little things, but you remember them more than patrolling for 12 hours a day. I’m very happy that I got to do what I did.”
Source: Claire Hunter, The Australian War Memorial, 24 February 2021.