National Peacekeepers Day (September 14) has prompted memories of involvement in peacekeeping and the power of music in pursuing peace for IAN McLEAN, former officer commanding and music director of RMC Band.

IN the mid ’90s the Band of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, was sent to Bougainville to work with the multi-national Peace Monitoring Group (PMG). 

Our task was twofold – to provide entertainment for the men and women of the Australian Defence Force and their international colleagues stationed throughout Bougainville, and to present concerts aimed at further building trust between the peacekeepers and the local population. It was to be the first of three visits the band made to Bougainville. 

We discovered that the music preferences of the local population were for rock ‘n’ roll and reggae music, so we formulated concert programs and music groups around those parameters, being able to perform as a 20-piece band to present Christmas shows, but also able to break down into four independent rock bands. 

Thanks to the helicopters of the Australian Army Aviation Corps and various Royal Australian Navy vessels, we were able to traverse the length and breadth of the country utilising music to enhance the relationships already formed between the Bougainville people and the peacekeepers.

There were wonderful concerts in market places and on makeshift stages in villages where we combined with local musicians to play their music to delighted squeals of pleasure from excited audiences young and old. 

Our clever music arrangers might hear traditional thong and bamboo pipe songs being played, then would spend that night back at camp writing those tunes for our conventional western instruments so that we could join in with the Bougainville musicians the next day in combined concerts.

Two particular memories stand out. On our first trip, a Christmas/New Year deployment, I was asked if we could play a concert at a village halfway up a mountain. 

That particular village had engaged in the peace process and the village chiefs were involved in ongoing dialogue with the peacekeepers. However, a village at the summit of the mountain opposed all approaches to join the peace discussion table. 

It had been a tricky logistic exercise to set up for the concert with difficult, muddy and narrow roads to navigate and generators required to power the instruments to produce rock and reggae music, but soon the sounds of “Johnny B Good” and a multitude of Elvis tunes echoed throughout the village. 

Those in the recalcitrant village obviously heard the music and wandered down, curious to see what was happening. Peacekeepers, who had accompanied us for the concert, were finally able to strike up conversation with the people from that village using music as the link and the conversation starter. 

We returned to Bougainville for Anzac Day commemorations. How exhilarating it was to discover the mountain-top village was now actively participating in peace talks and that the peacekeepers credited music for bringing the factions together.

Pok Pok Island is off the coast, but peacekeepers had been unsuccessful in gaining access to the small island where the PMG had hoped to restore the education system. There were 15-year-olds who had been unable to attend school on a regular basis since they were in year 1.

The senior villager, Chief Peter, was an avid Elvis fan and somehow became aware of the concerts we were playing regularly in Arawa. He travelled to the mainland, attended all of our performances and invited the band to perform on his island. 

We set sail with a contingent of peacekeepers to Pok Pok, where we were enthusiastically greeted by Chief Peter and his elders. The ensuing concert and subsequent visits and performances broke down all previous barriers and provided the PMG with an entree to engage Chief Peter as an enthusiastic supporter of the peace process.

It brought great joy to members of RMC Band to subsequently collect donated education aids, ranging from pencils and colouring books to maths, English and geography books. Then, with assistance from the Rotary Club of Yass, have the material transported by container from Sydney to Arawa then to Pok Pok to become an integral element in the re-commencement of an education system on the island.

Hundreds of similar stories in the many theatres of operation in which Australia has joined in peacekeeping efforts – Indonesia, Kashmir, the Middle East, Cyprus, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, Bougainville, East Timor and Solomon Islands – will exist and many will revolve around the power of music to promote the pursuit of peace.

Ian McLean AM, CSC is a “CityNews” music and theatre reviewer.