By Colin Randall Colin is a Committee member, volunteer researcher and tour guide of the Naval Historical Society of Australia with a particular interest in the history of Garden Island. ...
Possession Island
Possession Island is a small and now uninhabited island of 500 hectares lying 17 km to the southwest of Cape York, but it has great significance to our nation. Just ...
Timor Submarine Rescue Operations
One of the most significant rescue operations of Australian military forces occurred after the Japanese had overrun Dutch colonial western Timor in 1942. At this time Timor, seen as a ...
HMAS Sydney (III) and her Propellers
We recently became aware of two propellers from HMAS Sydney (III) not far away from one another in the Shoalhaven. One was at the recently named Jervis Bay Maritime Museum ...
A Christmas Story
The naval service of Temporary Lieutenant Ernest Joseph Huson Christmas RANVR was for a relatively short time and this was mostly overseas. His story is historically interesting but misfortune follows ...
Trouble in the Gulf – Historical and Geo-political Context
The Strait of Hormuz separates the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman; at its narrowest point this waterway is just 21 nautical miles across, from Oman to the south ...
Modern Day Pirates – Piracy under control in Asia
The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against ships in Asia (ReCAAP ISC) is a regional agreement between twenty countries, mainly Asian but including four European nations ...
Escape from Singapore – the Last Boat Leaves
The June 2019 edition of this magazine contained an article The Naval Evacuation of Singapore – February 1942 which lists MV Kembong amongst forty-five vessels that escaped. Her captain is ...
HMS Australia and the William Droudge Mystery
We know much about the WWI vintage battlecruiser HMAS Australia (I) and the WWII vintage heavy cruiser HMAS Australia (II) but very little about the first warship to carry our ...
Occasional Paper 60: Naval Gigs: Past and Present
August 2019 By Dennis J Weatherall JP TM AFAITT(L) LSM, Volunteer Researcher, Naval Historical Society of Australia Subsequent to the recent recovery of an HMAS Australia (1) Gig from bushland at ...
Occasional Paper 58: Postcards Home
July 2019 An interest in philately has led to a collection of post cards from a century past showing the Pacific colonies of the German Empire. These help bring to ...
Occasional Paper 57: The Naval Ode and Laurence Binyon
July 2019 There are moments when we first gaze upon a work of art, whether in the pictorial or written form, and are drawn to its beauty and are inspired. ...
Occasional Paper 55: Reuben Mitchell DSM, RAN – Survivor of HMS E14
June 2019 The following story is of an Australian Able Seaman whom some military historians believe should have been awarded the Victoria Cross for his courage and compassion while under ...
Prime Minister William Morris Hughes and his impact on Australian naval and maritime affairs: All at Sea with Billy
To the returning servicemen Hughes was ‘the Little Digger’ a symbol of Australian self-confidence. Geoffrey Button Formative years William Hughes, the father of William Morris Hughes, came from ...
Chinderah Bay Antiques and Museum of the Seas
The September 2018 edition of this magazine reported on the closure of the Sydney Maritime Model Museum and the disposal of its considerable content of maritime artifacts. It is therefore ...
The debt owed to the Norwegian Merchant Service and MV Herstein
What if anything what does Norway, at the far end of the northern hemisphere, have to do with the wartime security of Australia? As this story unfolds the answer is, ...
They Also Served – LCDR Frank Derek Simon RD RANR (S)
Sixteen-year-old New Zealander, Frank Derek Simon, came to Australia in 1936 to take up an apprenticeship with a local shipping company. He stayed with his aunt and uncle in Sydney ...
Occasional Paper 45: HMAS Adelaide – Boarding Party, Persian Gulf 2004
The following story was first published in the June 2007 edition of the Naval Historical Review. At the time, very little news about the RANs day to day activities was ...
The First Direct Wireless Messages from the United Kingdom to Australia
On 22 September 2018, marking the centenary of the First Wireless Message from the United Kingdom to Australia, a ceremony was held at the Sydney suburb of Wahroonga, outside the ...
HMAS Canberra (1) and her White Ensign
Some months ago the Naval Historical Society (NHS) was approached by Mrs Kylie Lee from Toowoomba, who from her mother’s estate came into possession of a white ensign from HMAS ...
One hundred Australians awarded the Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award under the Imperial honours system, is awarded to members of the armed forces for gallantry in the presence of the enemy. While it ...
The Hospital Ships Buenos Aires Maruand Wah Sui
Was the sinking of hospital ships isolated incidents which could be put down to mistaken identity or were they deliberate acts of destruction by those who had thrown away the ...
Admiral Sir George King-Hall – The last Royal Navy Commander-in-Chief of the Australia Station
Admiral Sir George King-Hall, the last Royal Navy Commander-in-Chief of the Australia Station, was a proponent of an Australian navy and friend to Rear Admiral William Creswell. Sir George came ...
They also Served: LCDR Mike Hickie DSC, RN & RAN, Rtd
Michael (Mike) Timothy Hickie had an extraordinary naval career in both the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy extending from 1936 to 1983; with a two year gap, this ...
David McFall and the Maritime Model Museum: Shutting up Shop
This article has been compiled with input from Angus McFall, Kevin Anstis and Richard Francis. David McFall, who was well known in maritime circles, passed over the bar on 4 ...