Australia's Argonauts

Australia's Argonauts
Author: Peter Jones
Publisher: Echo Books
Total Pages: 788
Release: 2016-09-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780994624604

The remarkable story of the first class to enter the Royal Australian Naval College

Navy Divers

Navy Divers
Author: Gregor Salmon
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 1459623738

In cold, murky water, working by touch alone, they can defuse a mine powerful enough to sink a battleship. Under the burning Afghan sun, they can dismantle a Taliban roadside bomb. Welcome to the world of the Royal Australian Navy clearance divers. Bomb and mine disposal is but one of their roles. As covert swimmers they can infiltrate enemy waters. As boarding parties they are on the anti-piracy frontline. As counterterrorist special forces they are on call 24/7. They are simply one of the best diving units in the military world. Their story goes back to the Second World War, when Hitler's secret weapon - the magnetic mine - had Britain on her knees. Four extraordinary Aussies were among the brave naval volunteers who tackled Nazi mines on land and under water. The men who followed their path share the same brand of courage. From the rivers of Vietnam to the deserts of Afghanistan, navy divers have excelled under the most dire pressure, yet we know very little of their heroic deeds. Their incredible story has remained behind closed doors. Until now . . .

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 19

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 19
Author: Melanie Nolan
Publisher: ANU Press
Total Pages: 970
Release: 2021-03-09
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 1760464139

Volume 19 of the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) contains concise biographies of individuals who died between 1991 and 1995. The first of two volumes for the 1990s, it presents a colourful montage of late twentieth-century Australian life, containing the biographies of significant and representative Australians. The volume is still in the shadow of World War II with servicemen and women who enlisted young appearing, but these influences are dimming and there are now increasing numbers of non-white, non-male, non-privileged and non-straight subjects. The 680 individuals recorded in volume 19 of the ADB include Wiradjuri midwife and Ngunnawal Elder Violet Bulger; Aboriginal rights activist, poet, playwright and artist Kevin Gilbert; and Torres Strait Islander community leader and land rights campaigner Eddie Mabo. HIV/AIDS child activists Tony Lovegrove and Eve Van Grafhorst have entries, as does conductor Stuart Challender, ‘the first Australian celebrity to go public’ about his HIV/AIDS condition in 1991. The arts are, as always, well-represented, including writers Frank Hardy, Mary Durack and Nene Gare, actors Frank Thring and Leonard Teale and arts patron Ian Potter. We are beginning to see the effects of the steep rise in postwar immigration flow through to the ADB. Artist Joseph Stanislaw Ostoja-Kotkowski was born in Poland. Pilar Moreno de Otaegui, co-founded the Spanish Club of Sydney. Chinese restaurateur and community leader Ming Poon (Dick) Low migrated to Victoria in 1953. Often we have a dearth of information about the domestic lives of our subjects; politician Olive Zakharov, however, bravely disclosed at the Victorian launch of the federal government’s campaign to Stop Violence Against Women in 1993 that she was a survivor of domestic violence in her second marriage. Take a dip into the many fascinating lives of the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Guy Griffiths

Guy Griffiths
Author: Peter Jones
Publisher: Australian Scholarly Publishing
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2021-07-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1922454680

In his long career in the Royal Australian Navy, Guy Griffiths participated in its emergence from Depression-era stricture, pre-World War II, to its reinvention in the 1950s and 60s as a capable middle-power force centred on aircraft carriers in the missile age. In this time, he personally experienced the RAN’s darkest days in the face of the Japanese onslaught and its fi nest hour in the Philippines Campaign of World War II, and its close involvements in the Korean War and then the Vietnam War. He witnessed the realities of war in positions of increasing responsibility. Guy Griffiths: The Life & Times of an Australian Admiral is the authorised biography of Rear Admiral Guy Griffiths AO, DSO, DSC, RAN. ‘From country boy to gold-braided admiral, Guy Griffiths has led a richly-textured life of service to the navy and the nation. As a teenage midshipman he survived the disastrous sinking of the battlecruiser HMS Repulse off Malaya in 1941 and went on to fight at sea with distinction in another two wars: Korea and Vietnam. It is an unmatched record of courage, dedication and achievement. This is the enthralling biography of a remarkable sailor and a genuinely great Australian.’—Mike Carlton AM, bestselling author of Flagship & First Victory

Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution

Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution
Author: Nicholas A. Lambert
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2002
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781570034923

This volume explores the intrigue and negotiations between the Admiralty and domestic politicians and social reformers before World War I. It also explains how Britain's naval leaders responded to non-military, cultural challenges under the direction of Adimiral Sir John Fisher.

Right Man, Right Place, Worst Time

Right Man, Right Place, Worst Time
Author: Betty Lee
Publisher: Boolarong Press
Total Pages: 50
Release: 2019
Genre: History
ISBN: 1925877264

In May 1939, Australia’s Naval Intelligence had the foresight to set up a network of men located on various islands north of Australia to report on suspicious shipping movements near their coast. Only one man was considered ideal for commanding this top secret mission — Eric Feldt. Feldt was given the title Staff Officer Intelligence in Port Moresby. His task — recruit the civilian volunteers to be Coastwatchers. When war came to the Pacific these men were critical to the security of Australia and the US South Pacific Fleet. US Fleet Admiral Halsey told a gathering of the Australian-American Association, ‘I could get down on my knees every night and thank God for Commander Eric Feldt.’ This is the story of Eric Feldt and his Coastwatchers.

Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1981-1990

Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1981-1990
Author: Diane Langmore
Publisher: The Miegunyah Press
Total Pages: 695
Release: 1966
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 052285382X

Volume 17 of the Australian Dictionary of Biography contains 658 biographies of individuals who died between 1981 and 1990. The first of two volumes for the decade, it presents a colourful mosaic of twentieth-century Australian life. It contains biographies of well-known identities such as Sir Henry Bolte, Sir Robert Askin, Sir Reginald Ansett, Sir Macfarlane Burnet, Sir Raphael and Lady Cilento, Sir Arthur Coles, Robert Holmes-O-Court, Sir Warwick Fairfax, Sir Edmund Herring, Albert Facey, Donald Friend, Sir Roy Grounds, Sir Bernard Heinze and Sir Robert Helpmann. Eminent Australian women in the volume include Dame Elizabeth Couchman, Dame Kate Campbell, Dame Doris Fitton, Dame Zara Holt and Lady (Maie) Casey. Although many of the women achieved prominence in those professions conventionally regarded as the preserve of women, othersandmdash;such as Ruby Boye-Jones, coast-watcher; Ellen Cashman, union organiser; Elsie Chauvel, film-maker; Dorothy Crawford, radio producer; Ruth Dobson, diplomat; Mary Hodgkin, anthropologist; Margaret Kelly, restaurateur; and Patricia Jarrett, journalistandmdash;demonstrate that some women at least were breaking free of the constraints of traditional expectations. The lives of fifteen Indigenous Australians are included, as are those of a number of immigrants who fled from persecution in Europe to establish a new life in Australia.

The Statesman's Year-Book

The Statesman's Year-Book
Author: S. Steinberg
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 1637
Release: 2016-12-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0230270859

The classic reference work that provides annually updated information on the countries of the world.