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The Gatehouse was a small building on Labertouche Road. Originally built as a schoolhouse
in the 1800's and used in the 1960's, 70's and 80's by Labertouche
Skydivers as a place to eat, drink, sleep and make merry. The jumpers completely restored the old building and that included painting it in the Centre's trademark colours.
There were four rooms, a kitchen and some outbuildings that were used as bathroom, latrine and storage. Coming through the front door, you
stepped into the Gatehouse Jumpers Retreat, a large fireplace, comfortable old
chairs, a foldaway double bed and a mantelpiece with the inscribed
goblets that were presented to successful "Gatehouse Jumpers".
On the left was the door to the integrated bunkhouse that had twelve
bunks and was known as the "Gorilla Pit". Another door led to the
long narrow dining room with one big long table that had a strict order of
seating with the Chief Instructor at the head of the table. Jean Gillard
served her roast dinners to about 30 jumpers at this table and after dinner
it was the scene of many a hard drinking bout. Some of the "Cardinal
Puff" stories from this room are legendary and on several occasions the
log fire got out of hand and almost burned the place down. To the
south end of this room was the female bunkhouse; known as the
"Bird Sanctuary".
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An aerial view of the gatehouse after some trees were removed from the bottom right corner |
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The Ancient Order of Gatehouse Jumpers was inaugurated
at the 1966 Australian National Meet, in the days of Paracommanders,
Crossbows and PTCHs. A number of
Australia’s top competition jumpers led by Brian Brown, decided that they would
test their skills by jumping onto the front lawn of the Gatehouse.
Many of the gun jumpers at that meet were successful at landing on the lawn.
When the meet finished the local skygods preferred to jump
into the Gatehouse for their evening meal rather than drive the one
kilometre from the dropzone. The management of the Centre showed some
displeasure when the first load dropped in, but did not impose any penalties
upon those participating (these jumps were strictly illegal at that time). Later, when a way was found to get around the legalities, the
practice grew in popularity, and management introduced fines, but a survey
of the records reveals that the fines were always imposed on jumpers who
landed off the target area, never on those who landed on the lawn.
It is said that those landing on the lawn were usually handed a cold
beer immediately upon landing. The inscribed beer goblets that
stood on the mantelpiece tend to give some support to this rumour.
Some Gatehouse jumps were interesting enough to record
here. The first was on
the second jump day when Daryl Smythwick, a police constable, hit the front
of the house and bounced back onto the lawn. His canopy handling was
considered "sadagerous" (a parachuting term coined by John Clark meaning admirable) and
the members of the order voted thumbs up to admit Daryl. Daryl later moved into the area as Officer in Charge of
the local constabulary. The imprint of the sole of Daryl's boot was on the
front of the
Gatehouse, about 4 metres above the ground, plainly visible until the day the house was
demolished.
The next incident was when Clive Smith landed on the
roof of the house, took two quick steps and walked off the roof with his
canopy still inflated and landed on the lawn.
Although this was probably the first Australian BASE jump, the
members of the order voted thumbs down.
Clive was successful the next day and subsequently made many
successful Gatehouse jumps.
There was great controversy as to whether or not John
Clark should be admitted to the Order on his third try. Although
his first point of contact was on the path inside the enclosure, the gate
had been left open and John came screaming in downwind through the open
gate. There are still those who believe that Pope John pulled rank on the
Keeper of the Gate, who was a Cardinal, to ensure being admitted.
Alan Eden,
Steve Filak and Bruce Towers made it in at night in that order. Probably the most interesting twilight jump was when Gene
Bermingham was coming in at dusk and Claude Gillard decided to light up the
area for him and fired off a number of parachute flares which passed very close
to Gene's trusty PC. The spectacle was almost as colourful as
Gene's language.
Geoff Thomas made a sadagerous landing on his second
entry by hooking his PC around the big pine tree. A manoeuvre spectacular enough to be worth a fortune if it
were on film.
The first jumper to make it in on a C9 canopy was Dale
Davis on his second entry. Serge Witte made it in off a miss-spot from a Pilatus Porter at 15,000ft. Since he could not make it back to the dropzone, he called for the other jumpers in the air to act as witnesses and he and six other jumpers on the load made it in.
Loy
Brydon, world parachuting champion and holder of the patent on the TU modification, was on the
load and not being aware of the Gatehouse tradition, had tracked hard from
the 4,000ft break-off, made it back to the pit, and scored a dead centre.
He was somewhat pissed off when he heard about the existence of the
Order and was not able to make a Gatehouse Jump before leaving to rejoin
his unit in Vietnam the next day. He is the only honorary member
of the Order.
In 1969, Phil Edwards caused some debate among the
elders by hitting and demolishing the north fence. His feet went through the
fence. He was finally admitted when evidence was given that his bum hit the lawn
and his feet did not touch the ground on the other side of the fence.
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Phil Edwards extricates himself from the fence |
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Hal Fostervold, Claude Gillard, George Goetzke and Gus Gutshall after a jump into the Gatehouse |
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As can be seen, Billie put a couple of dents in the roof but true to his "you bend it, you mend it" attitude, he turned up the following weekend with three sheets of iron to fix the roof. It took three coats of paint to get the repair to match bright red roof paint but it was as good as new. |
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The first five person load to all land on the lawn was Jo Damien, Tony Duckworth, Bob Klissner, Roy Taylor and Peter Van Nugteren on the 25th March 1973.
Steve Filak holds the record for the largest number of
entries. Steve, Dave Tapp and Russell Jones all made it into the area more
than twenty times. Not far behind them were Roy Taylor, Bruce Towers, Clive
Smith and Rod
Wilson.
A
North Queensland jumper, won a Czechoslovakian PTCH-6 in the Australian Team Fund raffle,
and jumped it for the first time into the Gatehouse, the canopy snagged on a branch of the pine
tree and as his feet were about to touch down on the lawn the branch rebounded and left
him hanging outside of the enclosure, 3 metres off the ground.
He was left hanging there for 15 minutes while Bryn Hilman drove to
town and back to get film for his camera to take a photograph.
Roy Taylor and Bruce Towers were the only jumpers
injured on Gatehouse jumps. Roy
was dressed in a Dinner Suit with black tie in readiness for a formal
evening immediately after the jump. He
made a hook turn over the road and landed on the bitumen, breaking his leg.
Bruce Towers hit his face on a concrete post and put a small cut in
his forehead (he was wearing a helmet). Dave Tapp also hit his head on a concrete post but was saved by his
hard hat. The corner of the post took a three-inch piece out of the hard-hat
but left Dave unscathed. Dave’s head is a lot less robust than was his
hard hat and he may have been killed if he were not wearing it. In January 1982, Rob (Bugsy) Payne jumped in naked except for parachutes, he was on a load with Richard McCooey and Ray Patten. Claude must have been away from the dropzone.
There were
twenty-five jumpers admitted to the Order in the first year, 1968/69 saw twenty-two
more admitted and over the years, a little over one hundred jumpers were successful.
Towards the end of the Labertouche Era, management vigorously discouraged
Gatehouse attempts with intimidation and harassment. It was during this
period that the Gene Bermingham parachute flare incidents occurred. Whenever someone was
making a Gatehouse landing, flares were lit on the edge of the lawn (smoke
by day and magnesium by night), and on one occasion, Dave Tapp had several
rigging lines burned through by a magnesium flare. This harassment was successful in keeping out all but the most
determined Gatehouse jumpers and it is rumoured that this was a deliberate
strategy employed to keep the Order exclusive.
Victorian jumpers and particularly Labertouche
management came under some criticism because of the seemingly illegal nature
of the Gatehouse jumps. On many Australian dropzones, jumping into any tight
area was referred to as "Gatehousing" and the word carried
connotations of unsafe practice. The end of each competition jump day at Labertouche became a festive affair with the last three loads jumping into the Gatehouse. Only "D" licence holders dared board these loads. The reader should not get the idea that Labertouche was an "anything goes" dropzone. It was one of the most tightly controlled dropzones in the country. Gatehouse jumping appears to have been the only instance where the rules were bent a little. Technically, to make it legal, the target was placed in the paddock across the road and jumpers kept missing it and landing in the enclosure.
Gene Bermingham was almost
tarred and feathered by members of the
Order when he and Clive Smith cut down a number of trees on the far side of
the road making it easier to approach the Gatehouse from the northeast.
Immediately after this incident, anybody with more than five entries
was given permission to plant a tree anywhere on the property outside of the lawn area.
A number of quick growing gum trees were planted at the eastern end
of "Fraser's Strip" and "Bermo's approach" was soon
obliterated by these trees, even when they were only six metres tall, they
had been planted much closer to the lawn than those that had been removed. As the trees grew and ram air canopies became commonplace,
Gatehouse landings became increasingly more difficult because the 252 Parafoil
was the only ram air canopy that could
comfortably land in the area.
As a result; the number of new
members of the Order dropped off sharply.
The Gatehouse was demolished shortly after Labertouche Sport Parachute Centre was denied access to the airfield by a new Executor of the Alcorn Estate. The Alcorn family who owned Labertouche Airfield had been great sponsors of sport parachuting. Labertouche Skydivers salute Jack, Bill and Mary Alcorn all of whom supported sport parachuting until the day that each of them died. Their perseverance with city slickers who were ignorant of country etiquette when using paddock gates, taking dogs on the property without permission, etc., etc. was outstanding. They purchased the first Labertouche Cup Trophy and took an interest in the activities even though it was not always to their advantage. Centre Management were always welcome to morning tea with the family. Their support was a contributing factor to the development of sport parachuting in Victoria. |
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1. Brian Brown
(SA) |
60. Ron
Law (Qld)
87. Bob Klissner 25/03/73 88. Peter
Warren (Vic) |
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Some members of the Order
may dispute the above numbers because the number shown is a higher number than
the one they were given at the time of their jump. The reason for this is that the Keeper of the Gate was not always as
diligent as he should have been. Sometimes he recorded the entries in the
Gatehouse Log and on other occasions entered them on the Labertouche Master
Log. The above numbers are the
result of considerable research but may not be completely accurate. Any jumper
wishing to dispute the list may do so. However, should they want the
list modified; they should make sure that they have the jump recorded
in their log and can produce a credible witness to the date of their successful
Gatehouse Jump. The Keeper of the
Gate will be pleased to consider all submissions but cannot guarantee
acceptance into the Order. |
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Gatehouse jumping was partly responsible for the relaxation of Department of Aviation restrictions on tight display jumps in Victoria and subsequently in other parts of Australia. The Regional Director of the Department of Aviation visited Labertouche to witness a Competition and was taken to the Gatehouse to enjoy Jean's Devonshire Tea on the front veranda. Steve Filak and the "Golden Eagles" crew jumped in, all landing on the lawn, giving as their excuse for bending the regulations that they wished to give the RD a demonstration of their skill. The RD was suitably impressed and this combined with a film shown to the RD shortly before, when he was a guest at the APF Instructor Conference in the Melbourne Townhouse, convinced him that restrictions should be relaxed. Parachutists were soon jumping into the Royal Melbourne Show and a number of football grounds. |
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Approximately
one mile east of the DZ at Labertouche is the Gatehouse, headquarters of
Labertouche Sport Parachute Centre. The Gatehouse has a front
lawn, measuring maybe; 50 ft by 40 ft. Fenced on the north
and south sides by a picket fence and a barbed wire fence on the eastern
side, adjacent to a 30 ft wide roadway, which is in turn bordered by a
row of 20 to 25 ft trees. So there you have the background for this little story. For laughs we will now add one content little skydiver, at peace with the world and thinking of nothing more than a nice cold beer back at the gatehouse. The comp has finished for the day and all that stands between me and that beer is a half packed rig. Leader of the Gatehouse Jump Plot: "Hey man, want to come into the Gatehouse with us?". Contented Little Skydiver: Thinks "They won't get a load crazy enough to do that" and says "Sure I'll be in it". LGJP: "OK boy, you're on the second lift". CLS: Thinks "Gulp - Aw hell they'll call it off when one of those guys trees himself and another dents the roof of the Gatehouse". The first load takes off, amid catcalls and sly grins. A few minutes later two of the first load are on the lawn. CLS: Thinks "Gulp" Ten minutes later CLS is airborne with two other Gatehouse aspirants. "Don't forget to go for the beer can" says one. CLS: Thinks "He must be joking, I can't even see the lawn and we're only at 500 ft. Hey! Look at that pine tree it's grown 20 ft since I looked last. OH NO! they've parked their cars right on the wind line. Ah well, I can always abort at 500 ft". Several minutes later CLS is away and cranking at 2,200 ft. He thinks "Oh no! The spots good, damn, I'd better at least look as if I tried, don't want to abort too early. Let's see now, just keep tacking across the windline. Hmmm, recon this will do for an approach point, turn down-wind, let's have about half brakes now. Hmmm, looks good, glide angle seems okay, just got to shave that pine tree. THAT PINE TREE! What am I doing? This aint no clear soft pit. O0ooh, look at the size of that tree, must be at least 100 ft high now. Gee that picket fence looks viscous. Boy, the gatehouse looks big enough to have 30 rooms. What an idiot, I have committed myself, I'll have to go all the way in. OH NO! THE TREE! Phew.....Yipe...the roof of the house, I'm gonna buy iiiiiiittttt, phew, missed it and here come the lawn. How about that, I made it. Spectator: "Boy, I thought you were on the Gatehouse roof for sure". CLS, who has now become BWGJ (Big Wheel Gatehouse Jumper) "Who me? Nah, I had it made even before we took-off, nothing to it" Thinks "Gulp"
Dedicated
to those who got in:
To those who didn't:
And
to those who tried and tried and tried:
And
last but not least, to the only woman Gatehouse Jumper: The big tree is yet to be christened, will YOU be the one to make history?
The honour of creating the history question posed at the end of the above Australian Skydiver article probably goes to Doug Thomson. His is the first record of wearing the pine tree that can be found as yet. But this next picture gives testament to the fact that somebody else also wore the giant pine tree.
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Original Graphics and website design by Thom Lyons
2001 |
