Book reviews

Like a Wicked Noah’s Ark – The Nautical School Ships Vernon and Sobraon A paperback of 362 pages by Sarah Luke, published by Arcadia, 2020. RRP $44.00. As the old saying ...

Dark Secrets – The True Story of Murder in HMAS Australia. Paperback 320 pages by Robert Hadler, published by Wilkinson, Sydney, 2020. Discounted at about $23.00 Murder in the Royal ...

During the recent festive season, the Naval Historical Society of Australia lost three long term members whose service to the nation and community in peace and war is a fine ...

Herbert James Buchanan was born in North Fitzroy in Melbourne on 10 March 1902 and briefly attended Scotch College before joining the Royal Australian Naval College as a thirteen year old ...

Right Man, Right Place, Worst Time. By Betty Lee, Boolarong Press, Tingalpa, Queensland, 2019. Paperback, 318 pages, with sketch maps and photographs. Available from booksellers and publisher rrp $32.00. Along ...

Reginald Charles (Ferrers) Creer (1881-1958), and Herbert Victor Creer (1881-1969) ...

Schoolies: Selected Service Stories of the Royal Navy Instructor Officers’ Association. By John Nixon and Michael S. Rose. Hardcover with illustrations, 228 pages. £20, available through Pinewood Hill Publishing. Bravo ...

Atomic Salvation by Tom Lewis. Big Sky Publishing, Sydney, 2020. Soft cover, 352 pages with b&w photographs. Booksellers at $29.99. In this book the author constructs an argument supporting the ...

Believe it or Not: The Bill Ripley Story. By Stuart Ripley. In two volumes of 800 pages, these hard cover books are produced to a high standard. Available from ripleysturat@gamil.com, ...

Radio Girl. By David Dufty. Allen and Unwin, Sydney 2020. Paperback of 301 pages. rrp $29.99. ISBN 978 1 76087 665 4 This biographical work details the life of Violet ...

Wyatt Earp: The Little Ship with Many Names. By Trish Burgess. Connorcourt Publishing, Cleveland, Queensland. Paperback, 124 pages. rrp $29.95 This book review follows closely in the wake of the ...

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Royal Australian Navy in Vietnam 1965-1972. Second Edition. By John R. Carroll. First published in 2013, this second edition has been revised with ...

A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Ingenious Young Women Whose Secret Board Games Helped Win World War Two. By Simon Parkin. Hardback and paperback, 329 pages, Hachette, 2019. From ...

Handover Ceremony On 22 November 2019 a ceremony was conducted in the courtyard outside Russell Offices in Canberra to mark the handover of the important position of Warrant Officer of ...

The following review by Paul Brunton, the eminent curator of the State Library of New South Wales, first appeared in Cook’s Log Vol 42, No 2 (2019) the quarterly magazine ...

  By Tony Macdougall, published by Clarion Editions, 77 Lewis Street, Mudgee, NSW 2850. Tel: 02 6372 1387 or email: macdougallburns@bigpond.com.au. A quality paperback of 576 pages with many photographs ...

Alan Jones hosted a special feature interview to mark 80 years since Australia joined World War II. On September 3, 1939, Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced to the nation that ...

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 ...

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 ...

July 2019 There are moments when we first gaze upon a work of art, whether in the pictorial or written form, and are drawn to its beauty and are inspired. ...