Produced by United News, it features the speech made by General Douglas McArthur. The background music is “With Honour Crowned”. ...
History - WW2
The HMAS Australia II Story by Kez Hasanic
Online presentation about HMAS Australia II by Kez Hasanic. The HMAS Australia II Story ...
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 ...
A Warship named Bradman
By John Smith One would have thought that the Australian Fleet would have been proud to have a warship named BRADMAN to honour our most famous cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman. ...
HMAS Quickmatch to the Rescue
Also published as Occasional Paper 156, March 2023 By Max Hayles and R.C.H. Mason The first part of this story by Max Hayles appeared in the June 2007 edition of ...
Leonard Roy McLeod – Soldier and Sailor
A recent photograph of some veterans at the 75th anniversary celebrations of the great Battles of Leyte Gulf showed Rear Admiral Guy Griffiths and ex-Able Seaman David Mattiske who both ...
Derek Holyoake and the torpedoing of HMAS Hobart in 1943
Derek Holyoake enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy on July 8, 1940 at the age of 16 and was serving onboard HMAS Hobart when she was torpedoed on July 20, ...
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 Remarkable Cavaye family
A colleague from the United Kingdom conducting research into wartime submarine losses recently contacted the Society seeking information on the Australia- born captain of HMS Tempest which was lost in ...
Port Clearance Parties – the Australian Connection
By Hector Donohue Port Clearance Parties, or P Parties, were established in the Royal Navy (RN) in late 1943 and were trained to clear the ports and harbours of Northern ...
George Hermon Gill: Writer of History
The name George Hermon Gill might mean little to a new generation of men and women serving in the RAN but in your careers you will almost certainly come across ...
Memories of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
News of the death of Prince Philip was received with great sadness when he recently crossed the bar just short of his century. Not only was he a magnificent consort ...
Occasional Paper 113: A Sailor’s Life in the Mediterranean, 1940/41: Pictorial Record
An insight into the lighter moments in the life of Stores Assistant Gordon Hill who served in HMAS Vendetta from September 1938 until May 1941. ...
Occasional Paper 112: The Hollywood Fleet in Sydney Harbour
How four luxurious gin palaces became hard-working heroines of the Battle of Sydney Harbour. By Neale Philip ...
Occasional Paper 109: First Command
A recollection of a first submarine command experience by Captain Goodwin Felton Gower of the South African Navy was provided by his son Allen Gower who lives in Sydney. ...
The Navy’s Secret War in the Pacific
This article was the first to appear in the very first issue of the Australian Naval Historical Review in 1971. It retains its historical interest, and is very much in ...
Occasional Paper 103: Brisbane rejoices as the US Navy comes to town (March 1941)
On 25 March 1941, a US Naval squadron visited Brisbane on a three-day goodwill visit. The United States had not yet entered the Second World War – Rear-Admiral Newton ...
Occasional Paper 104: Changi and the HMAS Perth Survivors
By Max Thomson HMAS PERTH survivors were the subject of a special request tabled to authorities when Changi prisoners of war were released in Singapore following Japan’s surrender in 1945. ...
Book Review: Atomic Salvation
Atomic Salvation by Tom Lewis. Big Sky Publishing, Sydney, 2020. Soft cover, 352 pages with b&w photographs. Booksellers at $29.99. In this book the author constructs an argument supporting the ...
Captain Valentina Orlikova – Soviet Maritime Hero
By Alexandra Murtazaeva Readers may remember Alexandra who while completing her studies in Australia helped out as a volunteer at the Boatshed. Now back at home in Moscow, she tells ...
The Solomon Islands Part 2: from WWII to Present
This article forms part of a trilogy covering the history of the Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island. Part 1, discussing the Solomon Islands from European discovery to the Second World War, ...
Exmouth Gulf – Submariners’ Haven
By Colin Randall Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia In 1618, the Dutch East India Company ship Mauritius, under command of Willem Janszoon, landed near North West Cape and named Willem’s River, ...
A Tribute to Ordinary Seaman Edward Sheean VC RANR
After many years of failure to gain recognition for the heroic deeds performed by Ordinary Seaman Edward Sheean, the posthumous award of his Victoria Cross came as a sudden but ...
Occasional Paper 94: Lieutenant Commander Mackenzie (Mac) Jesse Gregory RAN (Ret): 9 February 1922-27 August 2014
By Rex Williams, President Victorian Chapter of the NHSA As President since 2003 and active member during the period Mackenzie (Mac) Gregory was at the helm, Rex grew to love ...
Occasional Paper 92: First Royal Australian Navy Victoria Cross: Ordinary Seaman Edward “Teddy” Sheean.
By Dr John K Haken The Victoria Cross for Australia continues the traditions of the Imperial Victoria Cross as our highest award for bravery. Like several other Commonwealth countries, Australia ...