By John Harris Japan’s sudden entry into WWII, threatening the whole Pacific region, galvanised Naval Intelligence into immediate action to formalise and expand the old pre-war Coastwatcher program in coastal ...
Publications
HMAS Melbourne in WWI – a Diarist’s Perspective
By Kingsley Perry George Henry Iles was born at Norwood, Surrey on 11 December 1883 and later joined the Royal Navy where he became a cook. On 14 October 1912 ...
HMS Vanguard– The Battleship That Never Arrived
By Alf Batchelder On 6 March 1948, the Melbourne Argus reported that ‘…never before in modern times has the sea-going strength of the Royal Navy been so low.’ After recent ...
Bill Boas and the Waree
Cyril Maurice (Bill) Boas was born on 10 December 1899 at Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, in southern India. He was the first of four children born to Captain John and ...
Letter: Admiral John Gore at Lake Bathurst and Goulburn
Dear Sir, Many thanks for your delightful article on ‘John Gore of Lake Bathurst’ – NHR September 2015. You mentioned James Hassall and the lineage of that pioneer Anglican family. ...
Letter: SMS Kometat the Witu Islands
Dear Editor I enjoyed the story The Witu Islands – Were they the Wolf’s Lair in the September 2015 edition of the ‘Review’. This led me to look up an ...
River Cruises and the Big River
By Leyland Wilkinson There are many rivers in the world with clear access from the open sea for ocean going vessels, and over the years units of the Royal Australian ...
Japanese surrender at the end of World War II
By Mike Turner A bombing/mining blockade campaign against mainland Japan in 1945 was very successful. By June Japan recognised that she was defeated, and all she could do was negotiate ...
HMAS Brisbane in the Far East 1925
By Greg Swinden The inter war period (1919-1939) is often considered a time of little activity for the RAN, but in reality the fleet was constantly active. One of the ...
Aurora: the Ship that Started a Revolution
By Walter Burroughs Many great maritime nations have been able to preserve fine examples of their prestigious naval vessels. Most of us have been brought up on tales of the ...
Australian War Brides at Sea
By Liz Colthorpe In the autumn of 1946 the British aircraft carrier HMS Victorious undertook possibly her most unusual task, in transporting approximately 700 Australian war brides to their new British ...
The Missing DDG
By John Smith A question was recently posed why hull number 40 is not used by HMA Ships. The DDGs Perth 38, Hobart 39 and Brisbane 41 are to be followed by the ...
The New Guinea Diary of LCDR Clarence Hansby Read, RANR 1914-1915
The manuscript of Read’s diary was acquired by the Mitchell Library in 1919 for the sum of £30. It lay undisturbed for nearly a century until transcribed into digital format ...
‘Simply a Question of Duty’ A Coastwatcher in Northern Australia Part 1: Coastwatching Before World War II
By John Harris Around Australia’s northern coast and islands before and during World War II a small band of civilians in remote locations was asked to volunteer as official Coastwatchers. ...
Book Review: Not a Real War – A Sailor’s Experiences in a Soldier’s War
Not a Real War – A Sailor’s Experiences in a Soldier’s War by Paul Longley. Published by Book Pal, Brisbane, 2015. Paperback, 224 pages with b & w photos. Available ...
Letter: The Hammerhead Lives
The following interesting letter has been received from our member Roy Kingston of Castle Hill. On 10 September I had the privilege of attending the ‘launch’ of the public display ...
Book Review: Endurance
Endurance by Tim Griffiths. Published by Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2015. Softback, 354 pages, rrp $29.99. The cover picture of an ice-bound Endurance is published one hundred years after the loss ...
Commander J. M. Jackson, RN – Sixteen years on the Australia Station
By Leyland Wilkinson On 18 March 1918 the Sydney Morning Herald briefly reported the death in England on 7 March of Commander J .M. Jackson, RN. It stated: He had ...
The Development of Catering in the RAN and the Role of Victualling Allowance
By CMDR Robert McNeill, RAN, Rtd. The role of an effective food service system in navies has been prominent for centuries. That is, a viable fighting force needs to be ...
From Russia with Love – Baron Nickolai Miklouho-Maclay
The late 19th century rumblings of colonial expansion to the immediate north of the Australian mainland gave rise to unease in the Australian colonies.Russian naval expeditions to the South Pacific ...
Operation Praying Mantis
By Scott Dalton Scott Dalton is enrolled in an external studies program for a Master of Arts in military history through the University of New South Wales ADFA campus. The ...
Women in the Royal Australian Navy
By MIDN M. S. SCHIMMEL, RAN – WINNER OF THE NAVAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRIZE Midshipman Mariella Savanna van der Riet Schimmel hails from Perth where she commenced a science degree ...
Steam Picket Boats: Some Reminiscences
In the last (September 2015) edition of this magazine we asked Leyland Wilkinson, the author of a Letter to the Editor on Picket Boats if he might favour us with ...
The Awkward Art of Getting Ashore and Off Again
By Geoff Barnes The author, a keen amateur historian and model maker, gathered most of the information used in this article from research undertaken in building a diorama of the ...
Shades of Grey
As Father Time catches up with us all strands of hair turn to lighter shades, perhaps not unlike warship livery which is again changing to a different shade of grey. ...