Tony Sonneveld OAM

摘要

I first met Tony 43 years ago when I attended the inaugural AINDT QLD Branch meeting, being chaired by this little old guy standing on a box so he could be seen above the lectern. I would have been 24 and Tony 27 at the time, so I'm not sure why I thought he was so much older than me. Tony remembered me back then as this tall, skinny guy (well, not skinny any more) and I mainly remembered the unusual box on wheels that he had attached to a leash. Apparently, the box was given to Tony by his army mates as a stir during National Service intended to enable him to inspect his troops hats on parade as they were all taller than him. I'm not sure exactly when Tony moved to Sydney, but he was the inaugural QLD Branch Secretary in 1973. He then joined the NSW Branch Committee later the same year. Tony went on to be NSW Branch President from 1977 to 1980 and Federal President from 1981 to 1983. He remained actively involved at Branch and Federal Committee levels right up to around 2008 to 2010. He also represented AINDT internationally on the ICNDT for around 23 years.