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BOOK REVIEWS.
(Second Edition) -
Twenty Years on.
NAVY -
Diary of World War
II North Queensland
Data CD Book by
Peter Nielsen
Many former ADF personnel turn their hand to researching Australia’s rich naval and military
history in retirement and this is precisely what former navy
Warrant Officer Peter Nielsen has spent his time doing since leaving
the RAN in 1979.
To date, Peter has researched, written and self published
a number of reference books that deal specifically with naval
and military operations in North Queensland
during World War II.
Each of these works has proven to be a valuable
contribution to understanding the role that
North Queensland
played during the second great conflict of the twentieth
century.
Peter’s latest contribution takes the form of a CD Book which is
titled Diary of World War
II North Queensland. In compiling this book, an update of a
previous iteration, Peter has meticulously researched first
source material to produce the many entries that tell the story
of North Queensland at war. In
doing so he has produced an important record of the comings and
goings of Australian and Allied naval vessels, merchant ships,
military units, air forces and numerous other lesser known
formations that were either based in, or passed through, North
Queensland throughout the course of the war.
This unique 1850 page diary will appeal to a broad range
of researchers with an interest in naval and military history.
It is liberally illustrated with photos, maps and memorabilia of
the period and may be obtained by placing an order on Peter’s
web site:
www.northqueenslandatwar.com
John Perryman,
CSM
Senior Naval
Historical Officer
Sea Power Centre – Australia
May 2013
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ARMY:
Title:
Peter Nielsen,
Diary of World War II
North Queensland (2nd Edition), Nielsen
Publishing, Gordonvale, QLD, 2013.
ISBN: 978 0 9752127
4 5
Cost: AUD$70.00 +
$5.00 (Post & Packaging)
Availability:
Nielsen Publishing, PO Box 459,
Gordonvale, QLD 4865 or www.northqueenslandatwar.com
For researchers who thrive on the minutiae of historical
research, most military history books can be frustratingly bare
of the level of detail they desire.
Forensically detailed publications like Robert J Rayner’s
712 page epic Darwin and
Northern Territory Force (Rudder Press, 2001) are few and
far between as most commercial publishers eschew a ‘more is
more’ approach by their authors for a ‘less is more’ attitude.
Peter Nielsen’s
epic CD-ROM book, the 2nd Edition of
Diary of World War II
North Queensland appeals precisely to those researchers who
want to know what was happening in a specific town or port on a
specific day.
The ‘book’ is actually a mammoth 1,850 page PDF document
that sets out an ambitious task to compile “every aspect of
[the] military presence in North Queensland from 1939 to 1946…in
an area from Mackay to Horn Island and west to Mount Isa; a
collation of events and happenings in chronological order.”
Interestingly, to help manage such a mountain of
information, the author has colour coded the information
according to military service and theme – from Australian Army
and RAAF activities, to shipping movements, US Force elements,
basic ship data and more.
The categories and colour coding, once mastered, allow
the researcher to scroll through the material relatively quickly
to identify specific pieces of information by type – while the
ability to search the PDF (Control+F) also ensures that data can
be located quickly.
The backbone of this compilation is the recording of all
merchant shipping in North Queensland waters between 1939 and
1946, with other data added to build up a vast picture of
immense wartime movement encompassing land, air and sea activity
by Australian and allied forces.
The information has been drawn from Shipping Movement
Cards, the AWM’s War Diaries, RAAF Operations Record Books and
the RAN’s Monthly Reports of Proceedings.
Further, events of strategic significance outside of
North Queensland, like the fighting on the Kokoda
Trail, are added to provide a degree of context to the events
covered in the book.
The book itself does not have the polish of a
professional publisher in its design or format.
Nonetheless, the material is straight forward and easy to
navigate; largely owing to the chronological order it is
presented. The
website supports the book by providing information like an
alphabetical list of Australian Army units that spent time in or
moved through North Queensland – however this sort of
information really should have been in the book as an Annex.
In a future edition, one might hope to see the inclusion
of footnotes on selected information, allowing the researcher to
follow up particular events.
There would also have been benefit in adding political
and GHQ policy directives as they impacted on the conduct of the
war in North Queensland as a
driver to why these events, units and commercial and military
shipping movement was occurring.
Further, hyperlinks embedded in the PDF to allow high
resolution copies of the various imagery that appeared in the
text (ships, maps and documents) displayed would have been of
great use. Finally,
the book would gain from the use of professional typographical
software to allow the pages to appear professionally designed,
less cluttered and take on the appearance of a commercially
produced work.
This book represents some 27 years of research by the author,
and the sheer volume of material is impressive.
The information is a compilation of existing primary
sources rather than an original piece of written history, but
such a compilation in this level of detail has genuine merit and
application for the military historian and researcher who wishes
to track events in this region during the war.
The author eventually plans for a seven volume series
covering this same period and including the information
presented in this book, but until that happens, this production
will suffice the avid researcher.
Read in conjunction with the Official Histories, this is
a title worth having if you have a particular interest in North Queensland during WWII.
Dr Andrew
Richardson
Australian Army
History Unit
30 May 2013
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