The Naval Historical Society was recently favoured with copies of two volumes of an unpublished five volume set comprising the autobiography of Rear Admiral Cumberiege. The volumes came from his ...
Naval history
Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps: Forerunner of the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service
By Dr J. K. Haken The Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps (WESC) was formed by Mrs. Florence Violet McKenzie in March 1939 at 9 Clarence Street, Sydney, months before WWII was ...
An American at War in the Pacific Memoirs of Chief Radioman John Ottomar Adams, USNR
A long standing member of our Society, David Mattiske, was a friend of John Adams who died early in 2017. David presented us with a self-published memoir of John Adams ...
Telegraphist William Wolseley Falconer RAN
By Richard Arundel* Telegraphist W.W. Falconer, who was the radio operator in AE2 when she penetrated the Dardanelles Straits in 1915, was born in Richmond, Victoria, on 14 October 1892 ...
Two Osborne Houses
To add confusion to our early naval history there are two residences named Osborne House which both became naval academies. The first of these was in England and the second ...
Naval Health Services Memorial
Over recent timeswhat was the Naval Health Services has undergone a significant transformation, becoming part of a unified Defence Health Services organisation. To many past members of the wider naval ...
They Also Served – LCDR Donald R Wilson, DSC, RANVR
Lieutenant Commander Don Wilson had a remarkable wartime career but as this was mostly spent on loan to the Royal Navy, there is little mention of his exploits in our ...
Naval Fuel Oil
By Peter Colthorpe With recent announcements that the redundant naval oil fuel installation beneath the Sydney Domain is to be used in an extension to the Art Gallery of NSW, ...
Portrait of the Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Jonathan Mead, AM, RAN
Portrait artist shave the luxury of many sittings with their subjects extending over hours, days and weeks, capturing just the right pose to illuminate expression and character. We mere scribes ...
Letter: The Kangaroo Symbol on HMA Ships
The picture of the commissioning of HMAS Hobart on the front cover of the December 2017 edition of the Naval Historical Review – particularly that of the red kangaroo symbol affixed ...
Letter: HMAS Patricia Cam families visit
The following email was recently received addressed to the President of the Naval Historical Society and your Editor from Michael Owen a Darwin based historian who operates Top End Heritage ...
Letter: HMAS Arunta and Operation Hamburger
Dear Editor The December 2017 edition of the NHR contains an article on the evacuation of Lancer Force from Timor by HMAS Arunta in January 1943. As my father was CO ...
Book Review: South Sea Argonaut – James Colnett and the Enlargement of the Pacific 1772 -1803
By Granville Allen Mawer. Published by Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2017. Paperback of 246 pages with black & white photographs, plans and illustrations. Available from booksellers and online from $44.00. ...
They Also Served – LCDR Norwood Pursey Morgan RAN
Three very ordinary looking cartons arrived at our office; within them lay dust covered volumes, the pages of which had not been turned in many a long day. But look ...
The Sydney Cove and her impact on early colonial exploration
In an article covering Part 1 of the Australian-Indian Relationship (NHR September 2017) mention is made of the ship Sydney Cove. While she was wrecked on her maiden voyage she ...
Lieutenant (SP) H.L. Billman, DSC, RANVR
By Hector Donohue Harold Leon (Bill) Billman had a relatively short war in the RAN of just three years, but as a bomb and mine disposal officer he was regularly ...
Officers’ Swords of the Royal Navy – A Brief History
By John McGrath Captain John McGrath, RN is a retired officer with a lifelong interest in naval swords. With Mark Barton he co-authored British Naval Swords and Swordsmanship published by Seaforth ...
Tales of the South Pacific, Broadway and a South Pacific World War II Museum
The South Pacific has a wondrous reputation as the home of tales from the sea, producing great characters such as Robinson Crusoe and Bligh of the Bounty. In later times ...
The Australian – Indian Relationship – Part 3
Previous editions of this magazine examined the Australian – Indian relationship from the establishment of the first Australian colony in 1788 to the conclusion of the Second World War. This ...
Another Coastwatcher – Ron (Dixie) Lee
As told to our Editor by Ron (Dixie) Lee The December edition of this magazine contained a story The Last Coastwatchersfeaturing James (Jim) Burrowes. Mention was also made of endeavours ...
Naval Health Services – an Introduction
By CDRE Liz Rushbrook, Director General, Naval Health Service I am pleased to participate in this retrospective glimpse of our Naval Health Service. The Service, like the RAN, came into ...
Book review: The Rag Tag Fleet (and George Franki)
By Ian W Shaw. Published by Hachette Australia, Sydney, 2017. Soft cover of 310 pages with black & white photographs. Available from booksellers and online from $32.99 but discounts readily ...
The World’s Fastest Ship
The RAN’s experience with catamaran hulls has been limited and has produced mixed results. The first experiment with catamaran hulled fibreglass minehunters, built by Carrington’s at Newcastle between 1986 and ...
Submarine Mining in the Australian Colonial and Commonwealth Armies
Dr J. K. Haken Mines and submarine mining are always associated with the Navy, but internationally and locally the early development was with the Army Engineers. Mines and underwater explosives ...
Australian Political and Military Strategies in the Second World War – to Lead or to Follow
This paper is by Mike Fogarty a former RAN officer and diplomat. In 2016, he completed an MA (Military History) at UNSW with ADFA. The war in the Pacific was ...