FORMER Australian Defence Force chief General Peter Cosgrove returned to Innisfail this week to mark the second anniversary of Cyclone Larry.

The retired general spent today and Thursday marking the occasion by catching up with former Operation Recovery Taskforce volunteers and workers.

The informal visit signalled a closure to the enormous task for the man who was appointed to the Far North`s Operation Recovery Taskforce following the the Category 4 storm.

"It is looking good," he told The Cairns Post.

"I believe that people can look around and look at things and feel proud, it feels like a job well done."

General Cosgrove shot to fame, when in 1999 he led the international taskforce in the peacekeeping mission to East Timor.

He later was named first Chief of Army and later Chief of the Defence Force.

It was a far cry from his declaration in 1999, as the recently promoted commander of Australia's 1st Infantry Division, that he would never rise any further and would soon be out of the army.

Yesterday he said that he counted Innisfail's massive reconstruction effort effort as one of the truly amazing things he had accomplished in his career.

"In the military you're taught to plan for the worst and hope for the best," he said.

"But after looking at situations like this (Innisfail) and Dili and working with some of the best people we often began to plan for the best.

"I think you can never discount the ability to come together, work together and overcome adversity like that of Australians," he said.

He was tasked with the mammoth logistical exercise of overseeing reconstruction of the 17,000 sq km area devastated by Cyclone Larry.

General Cosgrove retired from the army in 2005.  

 

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