Salt Horse – Memoir of a Maverick Admiral, Claude Lionel Cumberlege. Published by Whittles Publishing Ltd, Dunbeath, Caithness KW6 6EG, Scotland. Admiral Claude Cumberlege RN wrote his memoirs in 1936-38, ...
Biographies
Captain Jack Bolton Newman RAN – The Grandfather of Information Warfare Officers and RAN Communications
By SBLT Cináed Finall RAN We are pleased to publish this essay, which was written in 2023 in support of the inaugural Information Warfare Officer Course dux award. Cináed joined ...
Book Review: Shanghai Demimondaine – From Sex Worker to Society Matron.
Shanghai Demimondaine: From Sex Worker to Society Matron. This biography by Nick Hordern was published earlier this year by Earnshaw Books of Hong Kong. Paperback 262 pages available from Amazon ...
Book Review: The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania and Mutiny in the South Pacific.
The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania and Mutiny in the South Pacific. This 327-page paperback edition written by Brandon Presser was published by Icon Books of London in ...
Occasional Paper 148: Nautical School Ship Sobraon and Bernard Kieran – one of the great early Australian swimmers
By Lorraine Fildes HMAS Tingira was commissioned on 25 April 1912 to provide early naval training for young recruits to the Navy. The Tingira was originally called the Sobraon and ...
Book Review: Once a Sailor
Once a Sailor. Soft cover of 324 pages by Ray Rees. RRP $32.95 also available from author Ramon.Rees@yahoo.com.au. Published by Vivid Publishing, Fremantle WA 2021. The author joined the RAN ...
Book Review: Dark Secrets – The True Story of Murder in HMAS Australia
Dark Secrets – The True Story of Murder in HMAS Australia. Paperback 320 pages by Robert Hadler, published by Wilkinson, Sydney, 2020. Discounted at about $23.00 Murder in the Royal ...
Salute to Three Good Men
During the recent festive season, the Naval Historical Society of Australia lost three long term members whose service to the nation and community in peace and war is a fine ...
Book Review: Prince Philip Revealed
Prince Philip Revealed by Ingrid Seward. Published in 2020 by Simon & Schuster, available in hard cover, paperback and e-book. Her Majesty the Queen, whilst speaking at the Banqueting House ...
Book Review: Guy Griffiths: The Life and Times of an Australian Admiral
Guy Griffiths: The Life and Times of an Australian Admiral. Paperback by Peter Jones, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2021. After the highly effective Vietnam deployment of HMAS Hobart in 1967 ...
Book Review: Right Man, Right Place, Worst Time
Right Man, Right Place, Worst Time. By Betty Lee, Boolarong Press, Tingalpa, Queensland, 2019. Paperback, 318 pages, with sketch maps and photographs. Available from booksellers and publisher rrp $32.00. Along ...
Book Review: Mutineers – A True Story of Heroes and Villains
Mutineers – A True Story of Heroes and Villains. Paperback of 320 pages by Robert Hadler, published by Wilkinson Publishing Pty Limited, Victoria 3000. Available from booksellers, rrp $28.75. The ...
Book Review: Teddy Sheean VC – A Selfless Act of Valour
Teddy Sheean VC – A Selfless Act of Valour. Paperback of 379 pages by Tom Lewis. Big Sky Publishing, Newport NSW, 2021. Also available as an eBook. The author played ...
The Creer Brothers in the RAN
Reginald Charles (Ferrers) Creer (1881-1958), and Herbert Victor Creer (1881-1969) ...
Book Review: Believe it or Not – The Bill Ripley Story
Believe it or Not: The Bill Ripley Story. By Stuart Ripley. In two volumes of 800 pages, these hard cover books are produced to a high standard. Available from ripleysturat@gamil.com, ...
Book Review: Radio Girl
Radio Girl. By David Dufty. Allen and Unwin, Sydney 2020. Paperback of 301 pages. rrp $29.99. ISBN 978 1 76087 665 4 This biographical work details the life of Violet ...
Warrant Officer of the Navy
Handover Ceremony On 22 November 2019 a ceremony was conducted in the courtyard outside Russell Offices in Canberra to mark the handover of the important position of Warrant Officer of ...
Book Review: Collins of the Sydney
By Tony Macdougall, published by Clarion Editions, 77 Lewis Street, Mudgee, NSW 2850. Tel: 02 6372 1387 or email: macdougallburns@bigpond.com.au. A quality paperback of 576 pages with many photographs ...
Special feature interview with an incredible veteran on the 80th anniversary of WWII
Alan Jones hosted a special feature interview to mark 80 years since Australia joined World War II. On September 3, 1939, Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced to the nation that ...
Occasional Paper 61: From a Periscope to a Cricket Pitch in a Matter of Days: The Surreal Nature of War
August 2019 By Florence Livery My father, Panos (known as Pino) George Livery died in 1996. Fortunately for us, he left behind a very rich source of history, his World ...
Occasional Paper 59: Francis James Ranken
July 2019 Early Career Francis James Ranken was born in 1864 at ‘Saltram’, Eglinton, near Bathurst. He was the eldest son of James Australian Ranken and was educated at All ...
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. ...
Matthew Flinders: A personal assessment
Peter Ashley (2005) perhaps encapsulates an apt description of Flinders as a person: Driven, ambitious, sometimes arrogant and occasionally reckless, few navigators had a greater share of misfortune than Captain ...
Occasional Paper 53: Petty Officer Fredrick Harold Harvey and Colombian Naval Service
May 2019 As told by his son CMDR Vic Harvey, RAN, Rtd Fredrick Harold Harvey was a proud Geordie lad, born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s suburb of Benwell, on 13 August 1899. ...
Occasional Paper 46: Lieutenant Kenneth Robert Hudspeth DSC, RANVR
Lieutenant Kenneth Robert Hudspeth, Distinguished Service Cross and 2 Bars, RANVR, WWII Lieutenant Kenneth Robert Hudspeth, RANVR was one of many Royal Australian Naval personnel whose service in Royal Navy ...