Brad Dunn
Maria Augustus-Dunn
Brad, Army - Musician
Maria, Family - Author
As a child, Brad never imagined any life other than a career in the army.
“I was that Sixties kid in a green helmet with a plastic gun, or a stick to use as a gun”.
The army lived up to his young dreams. He began his military career in the Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC). He was an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) driver at 17 and moved on to become a Vehicle Commander, an instructor, and then retired 33 years later as a Warrant Officer Class 1 and Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) of the RAAC.
“Why walk, when you can ride?” he asks, laughing.
“The army was always my family, and my home away from home,” says Brad.
Brad and Maria met, and married, when Brad had been in the military for ten years. They made the decision at that point to commit to Brad’s army career while Maria would adapt her life around this. However, she wasn’t prepared for their next step.
“Eighteen months after we were married, Brad came home from work one day and said those words that most spouses and partners dread, ‘I’ve been deployed,’” Maria says.
Brad was posted to Cambodia for a year. The country was in tatters and the United Nations was there to help conduct its first democratic election. Brad was a Troop Sergeant in a Signals Corps unit, which controlled radio traffic all over the country.
Being married to a serving soldier meant “keeping the home fires burning,” but Maria hadn’t expected this to be so tough, nor so soon. There was no internet or video calling, and not even a mobile phone. Letters could take up to six weeks to arrive and there was the constant worry of, “Is he OK?”
Maria set up a support network of like-minded people whose partners were away on deployment. However, nothing replaced the support that Brad and Maria could offer each other. What really got them through this time was the fact that they are both positive people who try to find the best in every situation.
“Brad is my strength. We support each other,” says Maria.
Brad successfully applied for a diplomatic posting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as Assistant to the Defence Attaché in the Australian Embassy. One of the requirements for the posting was that he learn to speak the Khmer language. Prior to moving to Cambodia, he was posted for a year to the ADF School of Languages at Laverton, outside Melbourne. Maria was offered the 12-month language course, alongside Brad.
“I wouldn’t have passed the language course without her. I knew she didn’t enjoy it but she stuck with it, for my sake,” says Brad.
“I could have left the language training at any time. But, when I was close to doing so, I focused on what I could do, rather than what I couldn’t. I’m not ashamed to say that I struggled.”
After four years in Cambodia, where Maria also worked in the Embassy, the pair returned to Melbourne. It was at this time that Maria’s vision suddenly became blurred and she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. While benign, it needed to be removed.
Their roles were suddenly reversed. Brad now became Maria’s strength and support.
Brad took seven months’ long service leave from the military and they bought a caravan to tour Australia. Maria gradually returned to good health. Their motto of Overcome and Adapt had served them well once again and they relished this time together.
Maria wrote two successful, light-hearted books; Married Quarter - Boots, Berets and Bloody Uniforms about life as a military spouse and Dunnarunna – A Retirement Dunn Right which tells of their life post-military, as full-time travellers on the road.
Their life as Grey Nomads has allowed, and encouraged, their individual creative bents. Brad has documented their lives through photography capturing rare glimpses of parts of Australia as well as quiet, reflective times with friends made along the way. It’s in these times that he enjoys accompanying himself, singing as he plays guitar. However, a stroke in 2019 put a temporary stop to this. He became, “a singer without a voice,” and struggled with this, as he was always “a big, army-voiced man.”
Maria now does the talking as both a writer and speaker, with Brad in the supporting role. He sells her books, takes photographs of this new direction in their lives and is always ready for a chat.
“Every day is a new adventure!” laughs Maria.
The pair are totally in accord with each other and their co-support for each other has never wavered.
“Think about your future…. talk about it…. think…… and paint a picture with your partner,” says Brad as his advice for a long-lasting and satisfying partnership.
“It’s waiting for you.”
@Maria Augustus-Dunn - Author
