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History - Between the wars
The Last Naval National Serviceman – Part II
By Robert Stephenson Part I of this series appeared in the September 2023 edition of this magazine. Since that issue the following information has come to light. With the outbreak ...
Occasional Paper 154: The Expedition to Malaita
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The HMAS Australia II Story by Kez Hasanic
Online presentation about HMAS Australia II by Kez Hasanic. The HMAS Australia II Story ...
Singapore Dockyard: The ‘Truncated Scheme’ and construction of the ‘missing’ wharf walls 1938–1941
By Bernard Mennell This article was published in the May 2019 (Vol 24/No 1) issue of Dockyards, the newsletter of the Naval Dockyards Society (UK) and is re-published with kind ...
The Navy and the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic
The world is currently combatting the Coronavirus 19 (COVID 19) which originated in China and has now spread throughout the globe. So far, Australia has fortunately been spared the worst ...
Occasional Paper 76: The Navy and the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic
By Greg Swinden The world is currently combatting the Coronavirus 19 (COVID 19) which originated in China and has now spread throughout the globe. Australia has fortunately been spared, so ...
Before her time – the tale of Navy’s first female sailor
Twenty-one years before the first Women’s Royal Australian Navy members (WRANs) entered service due to a shortage of telegraphists during the Second World War, a young Tasmanian girl was enlisted ...
The Special Service Squadron – An episode in the peacetime history of theRoyal Navy 1923-1924
Rohan Goyne The ‘World Cruise’ of a special service squadron of the Royal Navy was an inter-war episode of flag waving across the world’s oceans from arguably a declining world ...
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 43: The Press vs RAN Cricket Match 25 January 1933
Following the 1932-33 Ashes series held in Australia in which English captain Douglas Jardine employed ‘Bodyline’ tactics to combat the batting skills of Don Bradman a much lighter match was ...
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 ...
Book Review: HMAS Canberra – Casualty of Circumstance
By Kathryn Spurling, Publishers New Holland, Sydney, 2016. Paperback, 255 pp with b & w illustrations, maps and portraits. Available most bookshops from $33.00 with discounts available. The author served ...
Commander Frederick Campbell Darley 1886 – 1926
Frederick Campbell Darley was born at Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, NSW on 12 February 1886, the eldest child of Cecil West Darley (Public Works Engineer) and Constance Leila Annette Darley (nee ...
Weather Signals
By Leyland Wilkinson I recently came across a guide to ‘Weather Signals at Sydney’ which was produced by the NSW Section of the Ex-Naval Men’s Association and could be purchased ...
Book review: The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service since 1945
By Peter Hennessy and James Jinks, Publishers Allen Lane, 2015, Hardcover & Paperback, 864 pages. RRP from $30. To many people the submarine is a mystery – what do they ...
First to Command!
Commander Norman Hamon Shaw OBE, RAN The first graduate of the RANC to command a warship By Commander Tony Vine, RANR Norman Shaw was born in Perth Western Australia on ...
Petty Officer Fredrick Harold Harvey and Colombian Naval Service
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. Benwell in ...
Petty Officer Fredrick Harold Harvey and Colombian Naval Service
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. Benwell in ...
Able Seaman William Arthur Alfred Nye (1904-1974)
As told by his son William Douglas Nye The last (June 2016) edition of this magazine contained an article relating to the life story of CPO William Henry Nye. In ...
‘Simply a Question of Duty’ A Coastwatcher in Northern Australia Part 1: Coastwatching Before World War II
By John Harris Around Australia’s northern coast and islands before and during World War II a small band of civilians in remote locations was asked to volunteer as official Coastwatchers. ...
Steam Picket Boats: Some Reminiscences
In the last (September 2015) edition of this magazine we asked Leyland Wilkinson, the author of a Letter to the Editor on Picket Boats if he might favour us with ...
Winston Churchill and the Navy
As fifty years have now elapsed since his passing this article may serve as a small tribute to the memory of this great wartime leader. A meteoritic rise upon the ...
An Isolated War Grave: Warrant Officer John Henry Davies
This article was first published by the Military History & Heritage Society of Victoria and is reproduced with their kind permission and that of the author. In the far north ...
HMAS Encounter (1905 – 1932)
HMS Encounter served on the Australia Station and was later commissioned into the RAN. She played a vital role in defence of the eastern coast of Australia, and the anti raider patrols in the South West Pacific. She was regarded as “more beloved than any other unit of our fleet”. ...