We recently became aware of two propellers from HMAS Sydney (III) not far away from one another in the Shoalhaven. One was at the recently named Jervis Bay Maritime Museum ...
Naval history
The Pong Su Incident – April 2003
By Dennis J. Weatherall The end of the Vietnam War resulted in the arrival into Australia of Vietnamese refugees with the first, known as ‘Boat People’, arriving in Darwin on ...
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 ...
Occasional Paper 68: Bristol Sycamore HR50/51
This paper, first published by the Sea Power Centre – Australia provides an overview of the service history of the Bristol Sycamore rescue and training helicopter operated by the RAN ...
Occasional Paper 69: The Naval Garden on Garden Island, Sydney
December 2019 By Colin Randall Colin is a volunteer researcher with the Naval Historical Society of Australia and a tour guide for its heritage tours of the Hill. He lived ...
Occasional Paper 65: Sailors, Soldiers and Two Wars. From HMCS protector to South Africa
October 2019 The following story was written by Dr Anthony Stimson BA Hons B Ed PhD, who has extensively researched the history of the Boer War including the South Australian ...
Occasional Paper 64: HMCS Protector – 1900 to the Present
October 2019 By Kingsley Perry, Committee member, Naval Historical Society of Australia Occasional Paper Number 62 about the navy in South Australia from colonial days included reference to the acquisition of ...
The Admiral, the Ironmaster, the Timber Merchant and the Property Developer
This is a story of three men drawn together by the magnetism of a beautiful young artists’ model. Emma Hart, a country girl very much in the image of a ...
Early History of Somerset and Thursday Island
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 ...
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 ...