This paper by Mr C. G. Austin, Honorary Librarian, was read to The Historical Society of Queensland Inc. on Thursday 28 April 1949 and printed in the Journal of The ...
Naval history
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 ...
Radar in the South and Southwest Pacific as at Savo Island in August 1942
By R. W. Madsen This paper was prepared largely from notes made many years ago when I was at university and living with my grandparents. My grandfather, Sir John Madsen, ...
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 ...
Trouble in the Gulf – Historical and Geo-political Context
The Strait of Hormuz separates the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman; at its narrowest point this waterway is just 21 nautical miles across, from Oman to the south ...
Modern Day Pirates – Piracy under control in Asia
The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against ships in Asia (ReCAAP ISC) is a regional agreement between twenty countries, mainly Asian but including four European nations ...
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 ...
Occasional Paper 62: The Navy in South Australia from Colonial Days to the Present
September 2019 By Dennis J Weatherall JP TM AFAITT(L) LSM, Volunteer Researcher, Naval Historical Society of Australia It’s reputed that the first sighting of the southern coast of our Great South ...
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 ...
Letter: Up and Downers
We had quite a few responses to the article on Up and Downers in the June 2019 issue with the following which addresses most issues. Dear Editor I enjoyed the ...
Obituary: Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Sam Sakker, MBE, RANR (Rtd)
Sam was born in September 1937, in Harbin, the ice city of North Eastern China, but grew up in Tintsin (Tianjin), the coastal metropolis adjacent to Beijing. His parents were ...
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 ...
HMS Australia and the William Droudge Mystery
We know much about the WWI vintage battlecruiser HMAS Australia (I) and the WWII vintage heavy cruiser HMAS Australia (II) but very little about the first warship to carry our ...
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 60: Naval Gigs: Past and Present
August 2019 By Dennis J Weatherall JP TM AFAITT(L) LSM, Volunteer Researcher, Naval Historical Society of Australia Subsequent to the recent recovery of an HMAS Australia (1) Gig from bushland at ...
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 58: Postcards Home
July 2019 An interest in philately has led to a collection of post cards from a century past showing the Pacific colonies of the German Empire. These help bring to ...
Occasional Paper 55: Reuben Mitchell DSM, RAN – Survivor of HMS E14
June 2019 The following story is of an Australian Able Seaman whom some military historians believe should have been awarded the Victoria Cross for his courage and compassion while under ...
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 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 ...
‘Up and Downers’ save the day
By Bob Hetherington This story was first published in All Hands, the magazine for volunteers at the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM), and is reproduced with their and the author’s kind ...
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 ...
Four things people ‘know’ about swords
By John McGrath For the great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. ...
Prime Minister William Morris Hughes and his impact on Australian naval and maritime affairs: All at Sea with Billy
To the returning servicemen Hughes was ‘the Little Digger’ a symbol of Australian self-confidence. Geoffrey Button Formative years William Hughes, the father of William Morris Hughes, came from ...