By Cheryl Timbury. This paper was first published on 6 February 2012 by the First Fleet Fellowship Victoria Inc ©. John Palmer (1760 – 1833) the first Commissary-General of New ...
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Book Review: The Scrap Iron Flotilla
The Scrap Iron Flotilla by Mike Carlton. William Heinemann Australia. Paperback of 448 pages. rrp $34.99 On Sunday September 3rd 1939, history was tumbling over itself. In the mess decks ...
Book Review: The Hunt for the Storozhevoy; the 1975 Soviet Navy Mutiny in the Baltic
The Hunt for the Storozhevoy; the 1975 Soviet Navy Mutiny in the Baltic. By Michael Fredholm von Essen. From Helion Books, Europe At War Series No 19. Published 2022. This ...
Book Review: The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania and Mutiny in the South Pacific.
The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania and Mutiny in the South Pacific. This 327-page paperback edition written by Brandon Presser was published by Icon Books of London in ...
Warrant Officer of the Navy
The previous incumbent, WO Deb Butterworth OAM CSM & Bar, held this prestigious position for three years until December 2022 when WO Andrew Bertoncin OAM became the tenth Warrant Officer ...
An Australian minesweeper goes to Cyprus
The following arises from the article A Magnificent Greek Warship published in the December 2022 edition of the Naval Historical Review which explored the history of the Greek museum ship ...
Battle of the River Forth: Britain pays full Military Honours to German Aircrew
By Carole Welch One of our United Kingdom readers was recently going through some family mementoes and asked if we would be interested in this story emanating from the early ...
The Big Guns of Tarawa
By Walter Burroughs The December 2022 edition of this magazine contained an article A Lonely and Dangerous Vigil regarding New Zealand Coastwatching operations in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Comments ...
The Newport Medieval Ship Project
This article originally appeared in the Magazine of the Institute of Conservation (ICON News) Issue 101, August 2022 and is reproduced, with minor amendments, by kind permission of the author ...
Royal Australian Navy: Fleet Reviews over the Years
By Dr J.K. Haken A Fleet Review is a British tradition where the monarch inspects the massed ships of the navy. It originally occurred when the fleet was mobilised for ...
The Sydney Harbour Invasion
By Colin Randall Many Australian harbours are defended against enemy attack and none more so than Sydney, which has had shore-based fortifications since the days of the First Fleet. Potential ...
The Enterprising Enderbys
By Walter Burroughs The English Civil War During the 18th and 19th centuries the name Enderby was well-known in shipping circles in Great Britain and its colonies in America and ...
The Australian GAF Nomad aircraft
By Steve Chaplin In this article the author continues the history of Skywest Aviation which appeared in the December 2022 edition of this magazine. The Australian designed and manufactured Nomad ...
Remembering Platypus and the Mothballed Fleet
By Vince Fazio We recently became aware of a proposal to upgrade the Watsons Bay Wharf and have written of our concerns (see Letters) to the Manager of the Project ...
Letter: Rookwood Cemetery
Dear Editor, The similarities between the Rookwood Cemetery, described in the article by Mark Bundy (December 2023 issue, p. 31), and the Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, England, caused me to ...
Occasional Paper 154: The Expedition to Malaita
The following is a chapter from the biography of Harvey Wilmot, ‘I’ll tell the world’ written by his son Jeff Wilmot. Harvey Wilmot served as a telegraphist in the Royal; ...
Occasional Paper 155: Patrolling Northern Australia
By John Jeremy The work of patrolling the seas to the north of Australia has become a major task for the RAN and the Australian Border Force. It is easy ...
The bizarre story of HMAS STALWART and 300 tons of rotten onions
In 1939 Sydney had a shortage of onions. A period of drought had affected the Victorian crop, and in order to fulfil the demand for the 20, 000 tonnes of ...
Letter: A Christmas Story
In the December 2019 edition of this magazine we ran a ‘Christmas Story’ relating to the naval service of Temporary Lieutenant Ernest Joseph Huson Christmas RANVR. Lieutenant Christmas was in ...
Letter: Ben Boyd National Park
An email was received from a member relating to the story contained in the September 2022 issue of this magazine What’s in a Name: The Ben Boyd National Park. This ...
Letter: MV Fairsea and Fire at Sea
Dear Walter, Great news that you have defeated those devilish termites, and returned to your home base (the Boatshed). The interesting article in the September Review on MV Fairsea by ...
Book Review: Portrait of a Working Dockyard
Portrait of a Working Dockyard. This photobook by Berylouise Mitchell comes in a limited edition, handmade in A4 landscape format by Australia’s premier photobook printer MomentoPro in Sydney and sells ...
Book Review: Flying Stations II
Flying Stations II. The Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Air Arm 1998-2022. This fine book edited by Lieutenant Commander Desmond Woods OAM RAN is published by the RAN Fleet Air Arm ...
Book Review: Australia’s Secret Army.
Australia’s Secret Army. A story of the Coastwatchers, the unsung heroes of Australia’s Armed Forces during World War II is told by Michael Veitch, published by Hachette, Sydney, 2022. Soft ...
A Lonely and Dangerous Vigil: New Zealand and Coastwatching in the Second World War and RNZN Involvement 1939-1945
By Michael Wynd In Australia we possess a plethora of material on Coastwatchers but know very little of a similar operation on the other side of the Tasman. This fine ...