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 ...
History - WW2
The Dominion Yachtsmen Scheme: Australian Volunteers in the Royal Navy 1940-45 – Part 1
By Janet Roberts Billett Following the outbreak of war with Germany on 9 September 1939, the losses for the Royal Navy in ships and men through repeated U-boat and air ...
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 ...
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 ...
HMAS Kiama 1944 – 1946, HMNZS Kiama 1952 – 1976
By Dr J. K. Haken The development of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was restricted by financial constraints, exaggerated by the onset of the Great Depression and Recovery Years. The ...
An Essay on the Royal Australian Navy’s Involvement in Support of the Compromised SRD Operations in Timor 1943-1945
By Sub Lieutenant Nicholas Seton RAN …I feel so sad. What a waste – what a stuff up. It makes one feel a little bitter about the poor intelligence andcommunications ...
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 ...
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 ...
Battleship Mikasa – Restoration
By Colin Randall After many years of visiting Japan for coal business I took my family on a holiday to this interesting country. One of the sites visited was the ...
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 ...
Letter: They Also Served– LCDR Frank Derek Simon RD RANR (S)
Mike Turner says he found the article on Frank Simon (March 2019) most interesting, particularly the Merchant/RANR(S) overlap. However, one small error is noted on page 22: It is ...
The Naval Evacuation of Singapore – February 1942
Singapore – a bastion of the British Empire, an impregnable fortress, fortified to withstand attack and prevent siege. With that in mind, thoughts of evacuation were therefore unnecessary. What the ...
HMAS Reserve in the Liberation of the Philippines and the Not-so-Little Tug that Could
By Paul Baker On Christmas Day 1944, just as the 34 members of the crew of HMAS Reserve celebrated the occasion aboard their ship in San Pedro Bay in the Philippines, ...
The German Raider HSK Stier and the American Freighter SS Stephen Hopkins
Many volumes have been committed to the deadly encounter between the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German raider HSK Kormoran. Depending on which side of the fence you sit, this ...
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, ...
The Admiralty Islands
By David Mattiske Recent announcements that the United States will partner Papua New Guinea and Australia on an initiative to further develop a naval base on Manus Island has aroused ...
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 41: SS William Dawes – A Ship is Burning (1942)
This account records an incident in the Japanese submarine campaign off Australia and the efforts of the RAAF and VAOC to protect coastal shipping. As the attractive blonde 17 year ...
The Transition to War: HMAS Perth and the Canadian West Coast Destroyers
By Roger Buxton In the late northern summer and autumn of 1939 HMAS Perth and the Canadian West Coast destroyers HMC Ships Fraser, Ottawa, Restigouche and St Laurent were making the transition from ...
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 ...
HMAS Sydney sailor Crosses the Bar – John Ravenscroft (1921 – 2018)
By Greg Swinden On 19 July 1940 one of the RAN’s more famous actions was fought in the Mediterranean. HMAS Sydney’s destruction of the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni, and putting ...
RAN controlled minefields in World War 2
By Mike Turner and Hector Donohue Very little has ever been reported about the controlled minefields laid at ports along Australia’s east coast in 1942 as part of Australia’s defence ...
Occasional Paper 40: Secret History of the First Australian to be given Penicillin
On Thursday 9th August 2018 the ABC 7.30 Report broadcast a story by Tracy Bowden about the first use of penicillin in Australia. Tracy has given permission to the Naval ...
Occasional Paper 35: Loss of HMAS Parramatta (II): First Hand Accounts
September 2018 Recently the Naval Historical Society of Australia was favoured with two handwritten letters from survivors of the sinking of HMAS Parramatta (II) off Tobruk overnight 27 November 1941. ...
Occasional Paper 32: HMAS Voyager (I) or What’s in a Coat of Paint?
August 2018 During WWII ships of the RAN were painted in a number of different colour schemes as these photos of Voyager illustrate and information on both peacetime and wartime ...