I received the following email from
Bill Marcroft...
(My email to him is below 
his...)From:
bill.marcroft@iinet.net.au <bill.marcroft@iinet.net.au>
Sent: Tuesday, April 9, 2024 9:49 AM
To: 'Rick Pengilly' <roman134@bigpond.com>
Subject: RE: NIRIMBA & MOBIs - Success From Endeavour, Rev 2 Update for Review & Comment
Hi Rick,
Many thanks for that, and it has been on my mind to contact you for quite some time. I’ve checked out your RAN Skilled Hands website on many occasions over the years and probably grabbed a few photos here and there. I’m aware that the Quiet Room became the Senior Apprentices Bar (had a few beers there in 7th term) and I decided not to mention it (like many other things). One of the challenges I faced was trying to cover a lot of ground but not making it too long (or wordy), noting that it originally started off as a PowerPoint speakers presentation.
When Bob Mummery put out the call for photos I promised to share the story with everyone. As I started assembling the story I realised that some explanatory words would need to be provided, and in the end, those words essentially became the speaker’s notes for the readers to see. In this revision two version I’ve added still-shot photos that I’ve extracted from the old Skilled Hands at Sea recruiting movie made about 1960 (available on You Tube). That allowed me to provide a better range of photos inside various workshops, 259 Bldg and classrooms which helped to answer some of the feedback I received from the original version. I’ve also tried to give a bit of a changeover explanation of the end of the original apprenticeship scheme and the SAILSTRUC introduction. I avoided going into the post 1972 period as was just too hard and my detailed knowledge of it was insufficient to cover it, and besides that, it was probably covered adequately in CMDR Wilson’s Skilled Hands at Sea book.
You’ll observe that the yacht gets a brief mention, and also its resurrection by your team later on. Again, this was only briefly covered as that was all that it takes for a trip down memory lane. I generally avoided mentioning names and excessive details for simplicity.
I realise that all MOBIs will have differing memories and that we all had variable experiences whilst at NIRIMBA. I’m certain that many people will view things differently to me and this is most likely due to the constant evolution of NIRIMBA’s opening in 1956 until it was decommissioned in 1994. To address all of those changes and details would require a lengthy book.
Any errors you see please let me know and I’ll look at correcting them if get the inspiration for another revision.
I do have a large collection of NIRIMBA photos, mainly from the 1956-1972 period that I need to sort through and make available to everyone (another promise I’ve made along the way). Perhaps your website may be the ideal place for that. It will take a bit of time to finish sorting through what I’ve got (lots of duplicates in different directories).
I’ll keep in touch.
Best Regards,
Bill Marcroft
0407 456 476
--------------------------------------------------------------
From: Rick Pengilly <roman134@bigpond.com>
Sent: Monday, 8 April 2024 22:56
To: 'Bob Mummery' <mobi_rbm@mobibob.online>;
bill.marcroft@iinet.net.au;
bswa8516@bigpond.net.auCc: John Kelly <jkelly36@bigpond.com>; Chris O'Keefe <coke1917@bigpond.net.au>
Subject: RE: NIRIMBA & MOBIs - Success From Endeavour, Rev 2 Update for Review & Comment
That’s great, Bill, BZ, well done, it certainly covered many memories of my 4 years there, thanks Bob, for drawing our attention to it.
I’ve uploaded it to my Cloud (OneDrive) and posted the info/ link to RAN Skilled Hands so the troops can download it…
I noticed a couple of minor typo’s which I’ll forward on to Bill, oh, and in my time (13th MOBI Intake,) the ‘Quiet Room’ became the
Senior Apprentices Bar..!
Best Regards,
Rick Pengilly - Mobile (0450) 046 785
W.J. 'Rick' Pengilly Ex- CPOMTH3 - RAN - 13th MOBI Intake - HMAS Nirimba - R.A.N.A.T.E. - July'62 to July'74 -WEBMASTER-
www.RAN-SkilledHands.org An un-official NAVY Forum for all ex- MOBIs, Muppets, Phasies, Mechanicians, DENS and other Direct Entry Tradespeople of the ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY
_________________
Rick Pengilly
WEBMASTER
Ex-CPOMTH3
R42630
13th MOBI Intake
July'62 to July'74
HMAS Nirimba - HMAS Melbourne - HMAS Cerberus - HMAS Tarangau - HMAS Lonsdale - HMAS Tarangau - HMAS Nirimba - HMAS Brisbane
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you'll notice from the two emails 
referenced in my post 
(BTW, it should be noted, I believe wisely, that Bill has avoided 'opening up a can of worms', and expanded/ unimportant trivia in general, by choosing not to identify individuals in the many 
On my cursory overview, however, I've spotted a few 'typos' and I do think it worth 
I have had three attempts to send the following 
each time, 
so whilst I realise this will reach 
regular 'log-ons', 
all...!
or you can email him on 
above, 
or the cover of the current edition below, 