Events of one hundred years ago when the first Commonwealth Parliament was opened by George, Duke of Cornwall and York, in Melbourne, on a stopover during the Royal Tour around ...
Publications
Royal Australian Naval College
Torpedoing of SS Ormiston – 1943
RAN Aircraft Hoisting – Changing Techniques
Salutes – Why 21 Guns for Royalty?
I was intrigued to see the great interest which was aroused in the Montreal press over the firing of the 21 gun salutes to welcome the Princess Royal on her ...
The 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the RAN Participation
The HMAS Sydney – HSK Kormoran Engagement (November 1941) – Part 2
Operation “Meridian” – Palembang Oil Refineries, 1945
Young Endeavour – Challenge for the future
The people who are prepared to challenge their own ideas about their limitations are the people who make the most of their lives. These are the people who are prepared ...
Minehunter – Project Progress News
GASCOYNE launches. The fourth of six Huon Class minehunters ADI is building for the Royal Australian Navy was recently launched at Newcastle. The on schedule, within budget launch of GASCOYNE ...
Book Review: In the Navy
IN THE NAVY, by D. R. Rickard This is a little gem of a book. It is a sailor’s eye view of life in the Australian Navy in the 1960s ...
Book Review: Australian Fighter Aces 1914-1953
AUSTRALIAN FIGHTER ACES 1914-1953, by A.D. Garrison (Published and distributed jointly by Air Power Studies Centre and Australian War Memorial 1999, 250x175mm, 117 b&w photos, 10 tables/lists, ix/188pp, card cover, ...
Book Review: Alone on Guadalcanal – A Coastwatcher’s Story
ALONE ON GUADALCANAL – A Coastwatcher’s Story, By Martin Clemens CBE OBE AM MC High on anyone’s list of largely unsung heroes of the Pacific War must come the British and ...
Raine Island Beacon
Re THE BEAUFORT TOUCH (Marsden Hordern NHS 21/1) In response to his queries in that article I would recommend to Society members including Mr Hordern the reading of an ...
HMAS Sydney Inquiry (Letter No. 2)
A further detailed letter has been received from member James Eagles, ex-RAN Communicator, documenting many instances of the Germans decoding British naval and merchant ship signal traffic in 1941, etc. ...
HMAS Sydney Inquiry (Letter No. 1)
Earlier correspondence from a member concerning an important point of ship recognition vis-a-vis Kormoran and Straat Malakka deserves response. He queries how the Dutch merchantman with a distinctive counter stern ...
Heaven’s above – A yarn with Harv
Obituary: Lieutenant Commander Austin Quince RNVR
Lt. Commander Austin Henry Quince RNVR – 17.2.1894 – 23.3.1984 Fellow members of the wartime staff at H.M.A.S. “RUSHCUTTER” and the many officers and ratings who received their training at that ...
The Sound of Torpedoes
At least once a year, somewhere in Australia, the Oscar winning movie “The Sound of Music” is aired on television. Many members are aware of the main plot; the story ...
A Change of Ensign Ceremony
The Gin Pennant – The signal for all celebrations
The origins of the Gin Pennant are uncertain, but it seems to have been used since the 1940s and probably earlier. The distillery manager of Plymouth Gin was quoted ...
The Relocation of HMAS Parramatta Memorial
HMAS Parramatta, a torpedo boat destroyer of the River Class, launched in 1910, was the first ship of the Royal Australian Navy. It was decommissioned in 1928 and, with HMAS ...
The Countess of Hopetoun Incident, December 1915
Disaster at Bari
Mustard gas in World War II? Let me tell you of the happenings at Bari in Italy on the evening of 2 December 1943. Bari had recently become the main ...
Book Review: Very Ordinary Officer
Very Ordinary Officer describes itself on the cover as the social and naval story of a Yorkshire-born Australian called Geoff Feasey. The two strands of the story run side by ...