By Brooke Twyford This paper was provided courtesy of Australian National Maritime Museum volunteers. It was published in the June 2020 edition of ‘All Hands’, the Australian National Maritime Museum ...
Occasional papers
Occasional Paper 84: Operation Musketeer – the 1956 Suez Crisis, RAN Members’ Involvement
This paper was written by Society volunteer, Commander Martin Linsley RAN Rtd. Its genesis was a list of the RAN participants in the Suez Crisis compiled by Mike Fogarty a ...
Occasional Paper 83: Current Australian Ship Naval Building Projects
This story, which was first published in the Australian Naval Architect, Volume 24 Number dated 2 May 2020 is reproduced with thanks to the Australian Division of the Royal Institution ...
Occasional Paper 82: The Kerr ‘Sydney-Emden’ Medal
This paper, was first published by the Naval Historical Society of Australia in the March 2013 edition of the Naval Historical Review. On 9 November 1914 the RAN cruiser HMAS ...
Occasional Paper 81: Recognition for Scrap Iron Flotilla
The Society was recently gifted a package of assorted papers and photographs collected by the late Petty officer Arthur James Collins. Collins was called up in January 1938 and served ...
Occasional Paper 80: The Early Years (1970-1971) of HMAS Brisbane (DDG-41)
The following paper was delivered by Captain Ralph T Derbidge MBE RAN (Retired) at a reunion (mostly of commissioning crew members and those who deployed to the Vietnam War in ...
Occasional Paper 79: The Loss of HMAT Ballarat
The following are personal accounts by soldiers embarked in the transport ship HMAT Ballarat on 25 April 1917. Both stories were published on Thursday 19 July 1917 in the Bendigonian ...
Occasional Paper 78: Two Proud Ships: HMAS Brisbane (I) and HMAS Brisbane (II)
The following is an address given by Captain Ralph T. Derbidge MBE RAN (Retired) on Monday 19 October 2015 at the Australian War Memorial. The occasion was the dedication of ...
Occasional Paper 77: HMAS Assault. WWII Combined Operations Directorate Establishment – Port Stephens NSW
By Dennis J Weatherall JP TM AFAITT(L) LSM – Volunteer Researcher HMAS Assault, also known as the Amphibious Training Centre to American personnel, was a combined operations establishment for training ...
Occasional Paper 76: The Navy and the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic
By Greg Swinden The world is currently combatting the Coronavirus 19 (COVID 19) which originated in China and has now spread throughout the globe. Australia has fortunately been spared, so ...
Occasional Paper 75: The Vietnam War and the Royal Australian Navy
The following address was delivered by Captain Ralph T. Derbidge MBE RAN (Retired) at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance to mark Vietnam Veterans Day on 18 August 2010. It describes ...
Occasional Paper 74: World War 2 Arrived on the Australian Mainland
March 2020 By Dennis J Weatherall JP TM AFAITT(L) LSM – Volunteer Researcher Dennis Weatherall attended the recent 78th Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin, also known as the “Battle ...
Occasional Paper 73: Ballarat or Ballaarat? Badges and Flags: Divisive or Not?
March 2020 This paper is based on a 2017 Royal Australian Navy FaceBook post and correspondence with the well known Vexillographer and Society member, John Christian Vaughan. John has provided ...
Occasional Paper 72: Spitfires in the RAN
The Supermarine Spitfire was the most well-known of the World War II era fighter aircraft but by the late 1940’s was quickly becoming obsolete. In October 1948, 15 ex-RAAF Spitfires ...
Occasional Paper 71: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) – Entering Troubled Waters
The following summarises a presentation given to the Sydney Branch of the Company of Master Mariners and Australian Institute of Navigation & The Nautical Institute South East Australia Branch first ...
Occasional Paper 70: The Ship’s Garden – GARDEN ISLAND
By Colin Randall Colin is a Committee member, volunteer researcher and tour guide of the Naval Historical Society of Australia with a particular interest in the history of Garden Island. ...
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 ...
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 ...
Occasional Paper 63: Malta Revisited: Wartime Memories of HMAS Vendetta’s Malta Sojourn in World War II
September 2019 We are indebted to ex Supply Assistant Gordon Hill for this wonderfully illuminating description of his wartime service in the destroyer HMAS Vendetta when based at Malta. His ...
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 ...
