- Author
- Lind, L.J.
- Subjects
- History - general
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- December 1990 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
While these negotiations were taking place the Navy and the Government sat on the fence, at that stage no new buyer had come forth. However, it was the Manly City Council that decided the future of the project. A faction of the Council was having second thoughts, particularly in regard to the site which was polluted with the chemical waste of the former gasworks.
I was invited to a special meeting of the Council in which the project was discussed in detail. A motion was put and carried that the offer be withdrawn. The benefactor died soon after and HMAS SYDNEY was sold to another buyer in the Far East.
Old Sydney Town was officially opened in late 1975 and three members of our Committee were invited, to the function. A special train was provided to carry the guests to the site and the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, met all guests during the journey. The Society was mentioned in the list of organisations which contributed to the success of the unusual project.
1976
The 1976 Annual General Meeting brought a number of new faces into the Committee which consisted of Mr L.J. Lind, President; Lieutenant Commander Peter Churchill and Lieutenant Reg Torrington, Vice Presidents; Mr Alan Payne, Secretary; Mr Ray Cooper, Treasurer; and Messrs Sid Hertz, Kevin Brown, Norman Rivett, Ernie Tree and Ross Gillett, Committeemen. Ray Cooper was a member also of the Aviation Historical Society, Norman Rivett was an engineer who had served his apprenticeship with Parsons in Scotland and worked on the famous TURBINIA and was later to be appointed Assistant Director of Garden Island Naval Museum. Ernie Tree was a wartime member of the Naval Auxiliary Patrol and Ross Gillett was later to become a Navy Public Relations Officer.
Our venue for monthly meetings had now become the Gallipoli Memorial Club close to Circular Quay. Soon after our transfer to this club there occurred one of those incidents which tests the mettle of the best Committees. On the afternoon of the meeting a flash strike by stewards closed the club. Members and Committee arrived to find the club darkened and the doors securely locked. The evening was mild and the President suggested the meeting be conducted in the open. It was, on the front steps of the Education Department Building.
The first of our postal First Day Covers was produced in that year, the Japanese Midget Submarine attack. Later similar covers were issued for the Centenary of the Arrival of HMCS PROTECTOR, the loss of HMAS WATERHEN and HMAS CANBERRA and the Battle of Savo Island. These numbered covers proved very popular and many hundreds were sold.
More publishing
Two more books were published in the period. ‘WRANS’, M. Curtis-Otter and ‘United and Undaunted’, Commander R.S. Blue. The publication of these two titles was a departure from our Ships of the RAN series but an important contribution to the history of the RAN. Mrs Curtis-Otter was one of the first WRANS commissioned in the RAN. Commander Ross Blue commanded one of the RAN’s Clearance Diving Teams in Vietnam. He later commanded the training ship HMAS JERVIS BAY and was killed in a tragic ski accident.
Our day at sea in 1976 was in HMAS MELBOURNE and more than 100 members participated. It was not the Society’s first day at sea. Previous days were spent in HMAS STALWART and HMAS PARRAMATTA. At this period days at sea were easier to arrange than they are today. The Fleet was still based on Sydney and the Navy retained their ships for longer periods.
Library
I was aware of the need for a naval historical library to support the Society’s objects and aims, particularly in naval research, from the formative years. In 1971 the Society was offered a three volume set of ‘A History of the Royal Navy’ by Captain Horatio Nelson published in 1795. The price asked was $100 but I succeeded in obtaining the set for $25. This was the first acquisition for the Naval Historical Society of Australia Library.
Over the years the library has been augmented by bequests and gifts. One early bequest was the Juts Jordan Memorial. Juts was a well known figure in the RAN from the early days and later in the dockyard and on his death in 1973 an amount of $200 was presented to the Society to purchase a collection of books for our library.