By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Ian Hardy is among Australia’s first international peacekeepers.
The 79-year-old retired policeman, of Narre Warren South, recently re-visited his tour of duty as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).
Back in 1964, he was part of the first contingent of Australian police in Cyprus.
He had stepped off the plane as a fresh-faced 26-year-old – along with 39 other police – recruited to help control tensions between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot regions.
He was one of the first volunteers, keen for exotic adventure.
Among his first thoughts were: “What the bloody hell have I got involved in?”
The UN station was on the ‘Green Line’ – a buffer zone between the territories to the north and south.
Mr Hardy said they were peacekeepers without police powers. They could just observe and report, and resolve conflict without getting into conflict.
They were issued with mere revolvers in the face of sub-machine guns, rifles and armoured cars.
“They made great paperweights,” Mr Hardy said of the revolvers.
He remembers patrolling, lunching and talking to the different sides of the dispute, as part of the mission’s years of negotiation efforts.
“You didn’t pick sides. You had to be totally independent.”
During one investigation, the officers got a tip-off about a missing UN attache, who had been known to be friendly with the Turks.
They were told the diplomat was kidnapped by Greek Cypriots, shot and dumped in a mineshaft with a vehicle on top of him.
The tomb was then allegedly incinerated and filled in.
Mr Hardy remembers investigators deciding upon the suspected location – a filled-in mineshaft up in the hills.
“We spent three days digging out one of the holes. As far as is known, he is still missing.”
Things have changed markedly since 1964. Donkeys and carts have been replaced by freeways, four-hut villages are now towns with tall buildings.
Movement between the territories is now more relaxed, but Cyprus’s reunification still remains elusive.
Since 1964, Australia has contributed more than 1600 officers to the UNFICYP.
Ex-Foreign Minister Alexander Downer even once stepped in. If he’d been successful, maybe he would have been Alexander the Great.
At a sunset ceremony on 16 June, Mr Hardy and a contingent of former peace-keepers, dignitaries and senior police marked the upcoming withdrawal of Australian officers from the station.
As the only representative from the original mission, Mr Hardy proudly lowered the Australian flag at the station for the last time.
A memorial was also unveiled for the three Australian peace-keepers killed on duty in Cyprus.
It was worth the 22-hour sleepless plane trip to and from the island, Mr Hardy said.
“All in all, it was a tremendous pleasure for me to be there.
“Everybody made a great fuss over me.”
The AFP was set to withdraw its officers at the end of June.
