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In this Episode Rufino relates his memories of a raid on Dili.

Rufino believes this assault was to rescue the Australian Consul David Ross who was kept under house arrest in Dili. There are no accounts of his being rescued or of any need to rescue him. From the Australian writings on the subject it sounds like this raid could have been the failed attempt to rescue two POW’s. Ptes Merv Ryan and Peter Alexander. In both accounts it was carried out by Tom Nisbet’s B Platoon, several points of interest are similar and the geography fits. The Japanese deaths are another matter. For this I refer you to the Hymn to Pinnochio written by one of the members of Sparrow Force.

In this episode Rufino relates a story about the reactions of the Liurai or king of Remexio, when he arrives one day with Tom Nisbet and his Company.

Rufino provides a glimpse into the everyday working relationships between the Timorese and the Australian soldiers in 1942.

This episode may take a minute to download.

In this Episode Rufino recollects the Japanese Invasion of 1942, on the 65th Anniversary of the Japanese Invasion in Dare above Dili, on the 19th February, 2006. This was also the date of the first death of WW2 in East Timor. Dare is the site of a swimming pool donated by the 2/2nd Association and opened in 1969.
40,000 Timorese died because of the presence of the Australian and Japanese forces in Portuguese Timor. You should also check out the poems written by Jim Smailes of the 2/2nd Company about the Australian landing and a poetic comment about honesty in war in the poetry category.

For another perspective on whether Australia should have compromised Portuguese Timor’s neutrality when they did, see David Scott’s ‘Unpublished Chapters‘ : The Reluctant Invaders’ and ‘All They Got Was Misery’ both are available in English and Tetun.

Introduction & all Episodes

A series of episodes selected from an extended interview with Rufino Correia in 2006. Thought to be the last surviving criado in East Timor, Rufino’s stories give an insight into the experiences and memories of a great old man.