COURAGE AND COMPASSION: A STRETCHER-BEARER’S JOURNEY FROM NO-MAN’S LAND AND BEYOND – BOOK REVIEW
Reading time: 1 minute
His is the true story of a young Australian soldier whose life of opportunity was challenged by trauma and salvaged by strength.
Nelson Ferguson, from Ballarat, was a stretcher-bearer on the Western Front in France in World War I. He survived the dangers of stretcher-bearing in some of Australia’s most horrific battles: the Somme, Bullecourt, Ypres and Villers-Bretonneux. In April 1918, at Villers-Bretonneux, he was severely gassed. His eyes were traumatised, his lungs damaged. Upon his return home, he met and married Madeline, the love of his life, started a family, and resumed his career teaching art. But eventually the effects of the mustard gas claimed his eyesight, ending his career. Courageously enduring this consequence of war, he continued contributing to society by assisting his son and son-in-law in their stained-glass window business. Advances in medicine finally restored his sight in 1968, allowing him to yet again appreciate the beauty around him, before his death in 1976.
Australian Ace Bobby Gibbes’ Desert War – Video
Bobby Gibbes commanded No. 3 Squadron RAAF during the crucial desert battles of 1942-43, including the battles of El Alamein.
How They Fought: Indigenous Tactics and Weaponry of Australia’s Frontier Wars – Book Review
Reading time: 3 minutes
This is an excellent and much needed book. It examines the military aspects of the Australian Frontier Wars from an Aboriginal perspective, detailing the tactics, strategy, logistics and weapons Aboriginal people employed to resist European encroachment on their land. Covering several campaigns across different areas and time periods, it details both successes and failures of the Aboriginal military forces. Some of its most interesting conclusions reflect the extent to which Aboriginal resistance slowed and impeded the encroachment of European settlement across Australia.
Richard O’Connor and Operation Compass: Britain’s Comeback in the Desert
Reading time: 8 minutes
Early in the Second World War, when Britain’s empire stood alone, one man was responsible for the early successes which broke the myth of Axis invincibility. His name was Richard O’Connor.
Australia’s long dread of France in the South Pacific
Reading time: 13 minutes
A striking duality drove Australia’s thinking about France in the 20th century. Expressed as a chant it went: In Europe, Good! In the Pacific, Bad!
The Mabo decision and native title
Reading time: 4 minutes
On June 3 1992, the High Court of Australia handed down its decision in the long-running case of Eddie Koiki Mabo and his compatriots from the Torres Strait island of Mer. Together they challenged the authority of the Queensland government to claim not just sovereignty but also ownership of the land comprising their ancestral home.
An incredible journey: the first people to arrive in Australia came in large numbers, and on purpose
Reading time: 5 minutes
The size of the first population of people needed to arrive, survive, and thrive in what is now Australia is revealed in two studies published today. It took more than 1,000 people to form a viable population. But this was no accidental migration, as our work shows the first arrivals must have been planned.
Game Of Dominoes: Australia’s Security And The Cold War 1947-1991 Conference
This conference, organised by Military History & Heritage Victoria and supported by History Guild will examine the Cold War period (1947-1991), its impact on Australia’s defence and security posture and Australia’s contribution to the Western alliance during this time.
Damien Parer, Australia’s Iconic WW2 Photographer – Podcast
Parer was selected as an official war photographer for the Department of Information. He would go on to record many of the iconic images of Australian troops in that war.
Remember El Alamein
Reading time: 5 minutes
Exactly 75 years ago, Australians dressed in steel helmets and khaki shorts, and often not much else, sat in weapon pits in the Egyptian sun about 120 kilometres west of Alexandria. They were preparing for what history would call the second battle of El Alamein, the great offensive planned by Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery. In the summer heat of July 1942, his predecessor, Archibald Wavell, had held the German–Italian drive towards Egypt, a battle in which the 9th Australian Division had played a notable part. Now, after gathering more troops, tanks and guns, Montgomery was ready to launch his Eighth Army against General Erwin Rommel’s Panzer Armée Afrika, a commander and a force admired and respected even by their adversaries.
5,700 years of sea-level change in Micronesia hint at humans arriving much earlier than we thought
Reading time: 4 minutes
Sea levels in Micronesia rose much faster over the past 5,000 years than previously thought, according to our new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This sea-level rise is shown by the accumulation of mangrove sediments on the islands of Pohnpei and Kosrae. The finding may change how we think about when people migrated into Remote Oceania, and where they might have voyaged from.
Home Made Wings – Australian Military Aircraft Manufacturing – Video
This documentary explores the history of Australian military aircraft manufacturing. Australia had just completed its industrialisation in 1939, becoming a full war economy very rapidly.
The Chipilly Six by Lucas Jordan – Capturing the Australian military spirit at its best
Jordan tells the story of ‘extraordinary men in extraordinary times’, a group of six Australian soldiers who operated well ahead of the Allied advance to clear critical high ground of German troops and machine guns, allowing the main advance to continue.