The following report has been compiled by Mark Meredith, one of our members, following a recent visit to the Treloar Centre. The Australian War Memorial (AWM) has a conservation and ...
History - general
Rookwood
By Mark Bundy Thanks to Estelle Muspratt from the Office of Australian War Graves and Harry Johnston-Lord from the Friends of Rookwood, we have been able to provide the following ...
The Admiral was a Lady
By Geoff Barnes This article first appeared in the Australian National Maritime Museum Newsletter All Hands Issue No 1161 dated September 2021 and is reproduced by kind permission of the ...
Good Aussie Red takes over from French Champagne in Christening Royal Navy Ships
The previous edition of this magazine contained an article on the remarkable relationship between the Queensland Mining Magnet William D’Arcy and Admiral of the Fleet Lord John (Jacky) Fisher. Towards ...
Book Review: “Safe to Dive – Submarine Support in Sydney 1914 to 1999”
“Safe to Dive – Submarine Support in Sydney 1914 to 1999” by John Jeremy was published by The Naval Historical Society of Australia in 2023, under licence agreement with the ...
Book Review: Royal Yachts Under Sail
Royal Yachts Under Sail by Brian Lavery, Seaforth Publishing, Bransley, 2022. A well-presented hardcover using quality paper enhancing colourful pictures and illustrations. While only 160 pages it packs a huge ...
Getting in and out of the Naval College
The June 2023 edition of this magazine contained an article Tristan da Cunha and a Tribute to John Smith, providing a shortened version of the remarkable life story of Commander ...
Australian Fleet Reviews 1788 to 1914
By Ross Gillett As an island nation, fleet arrivals and naval reviews have formed a major part of Australia’s naval history and tradition. Sydney Harbour and Port Phillip have provided ...
Regal and would-be Regal Yachts
In the era just past we became accustomed to hearing of the Royal Yacht Britannia and there was a tinge of sadness when obsolescence and economies led to her demise. ...
Occasional Paper 162: Port Phillip’s Fleet Review 1920
By Ross Gillett “In the perfect beauty of the crisp autumn afternoon, the Prince of Wales made his triumphant entry to the homeland of the Anzacs in the Australian destroyer ...
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 ...
The Newport Medieval Ship Project
This article originally appeared in the Magazine of the Institute of Conservation (ICON News) Issue 101, August 2022 and is reproduced, with minor amendments, by kind permission of the author ...
Royal Australian Navy: Fleet Reviews over the Years
By Dr J.K. Haken A Fleet Review is a British tradition where the monarch inspects the massed ships of the navy. It originally occurred when the fleet was mobilised for ...
Letter: Rookwood Cemetery
Dear Editor, The similarities between the Rookwood Cemetery, described in the article by Mark Bundy (December 2023 issue, p. 31), and the Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, England, caused me to ...
The bizarre story of HMAS STALWART and 300 tons of rotten onions
In 1939 Sydney had a shortage of onions. A period of drought had affected the Victorian crop, and in order to fulfil the demand for the 20, 000 tonnes of ...
Letter: Ben Boyd National Park
An email was received from a member relating to the story contained in the September 2022 issue of this magazine What’s in a Name: The Ben Boyd National Park. This ...
Book Review: Portrait of a Working Dockyard
Portrait of a Working Dockyard. This photobook by Berylouise Mitchell comes in a limited edition, handmade in A4 landscape format by Australia’s premier photobook printer MomentoPro in Sydney and sells ...
A Magnificent Greek Warship
Found in a Charity Shop Within the folds of gentle green hills and quiet countryside of mid-Wales, far removed from the sea, lies St David’s College Lampeter, part of Britain’s ...
The River Clyde: The cradle of British shipbuilding and the birthplace of the Royal Australian Navy
By CMDR Tony Vine RAN Rtd The River Clyde in Scotland has long been described as the cradle of the British shipbuilding industry and in 1909 it became the foundation ...
The Greatest Event in our Time – Moon landing
By Doris Shearman ‘I Think It’s Gonna Be a Long Long Time’ – from Elton John’s 1972 iconic song ‘Rocket Man’ about an astronaut preparing for a space mission. Introduction ...
Occasional Paper 151: The Christmas Books
By Geoff Barnes This story first appeared in ‘All Hands’, the quarterly volunteers’ journal at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Our thanks to the ANMM Volunteers for allowing us to ...
Occasional Paper 152: HMAS Rushcutter
On 1 August 1940, the Naval Depot (sited in Rushcutters Bay Park, Sydney) was commissioned as HMAS Rushcutter. This former Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base has an illustrious past. It ...
Occasional Paper 146: Early Naval Training
On Wednesday, 1 October 1913 the Sydney Mail newspaper featured the following detailed report on early naval recruiting and training. Just three days later, on 4 October, Sydney Harbour would ...
Emperor to General: the last days of Napoléon Bonaparte
By Fairlie Clifton In 2021 at the time of the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon, the author of this article was reminded that Napoleon’s surrender to England had ...
Presentation and Dedication of an Australian White Ensign at St Johns Church Birchgrove on Sunday 19 June 2022
With kind permission of the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral M.J. Noonan AO RAN, the Naval Historical Society of Australia presented an Australian White Ensign to St John’s Church Birchgrove, ...