JULIAN Mattay this week donated $1000 out of his own pocket to the embattled Mount Gambier Community Returned and Services League in honour of his late brother.
A career soldier and prolific photographer, Julian’s older brother Andrew Mattay captured around 5000 photos during his service in Vietnam.
Mr Mattay told The Border Watch his act of generosity was inspired by the community spirit of his brother.
“I was aware the local branch of the RSL was struggling financially and I wanted to help out in some way,” Mr Mattay said.
“Andrew was always community spirited – I just like to sort of carry on and do it in his place.”
A Mount Gambier resident of 33 years, Mr Mattay was born to Hungarian and British parents and spent his formative years in Hobart.
The Mattay brothers, their two sisters and parents fled Budapest in the mid 1940s.
“We were a family of four children and my dad was a professional soldier with the Hungarian army,” Mr Mattay said.
“When it became obvious Hungary was going to be overrun by the Russians, my dad borrowed an army truck, packed up whatever goods he could and wound his way through Hungary to escape with his young family.
“My mother was English so we were able to get through a few checkpoints.”
Mr Mattay said influential English relatives provided a character reference which allowed the family to build a new life in Hobart.
“We became displaced persons in Germany for about three and a half years before English cousins in Hobart sponsored the family to move to Tasmania,” he said.
“We arrived in early ’49.”
Both Julian and Andrew completed their schooling in Hobart before Andrew was accepted at the Officer Cadet School in Portsea, Victoria in 1959.
“Andrew was four years older than me – he graduated from the cadet school and joined the 3rd Battalion in Brisbane in 1960,” Mr Mattay said.
“He served in Borneo during the Indonesian confrontation policy with the newly formed Malaysia in the early ’60s.
“He completed a short stint as an observer before a full year with the 7th Battalion in Vietnam in 1970.”
Andrew served with distinction in both Borneo and Vietnam and the thousands of photographs he captured during his tour of Vietnam offer a rare view of military life.
“He was a very prolific and competent photographer,” Mr Mattay said.
“He took an estimated 5000 photos for operational and record purposes – he documented the experience of the Battalion.
“When he retired he donated many of his war photos to the war museum in Canberra and he lived to regret that because he didn’t read the fine print – he passed over copyright so he could no longer do anything with those photos.”
Mr Mattay said while his brother returned from Vietnam in relatively good mental health, many of his friends were less fortunate.
“I was in the first draw of national servicemen but my marble didn’t come up – I had a few pretty good mates whose marbles did come up,” he said.
“One committed suicide after turning into an alcoholic- he was a very charming, gifted, athletic fellow before the war.
“Troops came back from Vietnam and they were spat upon and abused and that affected the returning soldiers.”
Following his service in Vietnam, Andrew Mattay continued his military war studies at the Royal Military College of Canada and was promoted to the rank of Colonel in 1983.
He served in the Middle-East in 1985 and was elevated to the post of Army Commanding Officer Tasmania.
After he retired in 1996 he remained actively engaged in military journalism and photography.
“He went to quite a few hotspots taking press photos,” Mr Mattay said.
“He once admitted his time in Serbia was the only time he was seriously frightened for his life – he was arrested and thrown in jail for taking photos in a restricted area.
“Outside of that he led a fairly quiet life.”
Andrew died in 2004 at age 63.
“The memories are good whether they are sad or otherwise,” Mr Mattay said.
Mount Gambier Community RSL president Bob Sandow expressed his sincere gratitude to Mr Mattay for his generosity.
“My brother also served in Vietnam but he didn’t come home,” Mr Sandow said.
“We both do things that our brothers can’t do and I’m so grateful to accept Julian’s generous donation.
“In 100 years this club has donated a massive amount of money back to the community – it’s nice to have a little money flow back this way.”
