About: Rene “Dikko” Dikkenberg
Dikko is a graduate of Port Moresby High School and joined the Royal Australian Survey Corps in the early 1970’s. His maths skills weren’t all that great but the recruiters seemed impressed by the fact that he could speak English, Dutch and Melanesian Pidgin. He went on 14 Mapping Operations and got the ASM for service in PNG. Surveying where no white man had ever been and he lived amongst the head hunters in the upper reaches of the Nomad River. Following jungle paths he accessed their villages with 30 native porters behind him carrying his gear. Snakes and crocodiles and villages riddled with leprosy made for an interesting time.
He has served with the Army News for over 20 years. His cartoon strip ‘On The Ball’ was also in the Sports Pages of the Adelaide News and he illustrated the book ‘Understanding Cricket’ which sold out when first published in 1985 and again in 2006. He has drawn just about everyone including the Governor General. Radio also had its appeal and he wrote 12 radio serials which were read in peak time Breakfast Radio when the station had 40% of the listening audience or 400,000 people. On Saturdays he also did live radio broadcasts at the local football and a summary of the matches live to air.