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World War 2

Read more about the article Harry was a WW2 Z-Force commando
Harry Boyle, training at Armidale

Harry was a WW2 Z-Force commando

WHEN the Australian Army invited Harry Boyle to enter a services shooting contest during World War II, they told him first prize was three weeks leave. They didn't tell him about the other prize until he won it. Harry swore he wouldn't have competed if he'd known exactly what being identified as "marksman, first class" would mean. Harry, then in his early 20s, had helped feed his family during the Great Depression with his gun and his exceptional marksmanship. In 1942, the military authorities were looking for men like Harry to do dangerous, secret work. These…

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Read more about the article Wartime fears of a seaman’s daughter
Wounded seaman being carried from the damaged freighter Allara in Newcastle, 1942

Wartime fears of a seaman’s daughter

FOR young Daphne Roper the most important thing about any ship entering Newcastle Harbour in the difficult years of World War II was its funnel. Daphne’s father Alexander McMorran was a chief engineer with the “iron ships” of BHP, and she knew the company’s ore-carrying vessels bore two blue bands on the top half of their funnels. Seeing a ship with the two blue bands make its way around Nobbys was an exciting sight for Daphne, her mother Anne and her little sister Annie. “During those years, with Japanese submarines haunting Australia’s east coast, each goodbye…

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Read more about the article Japanese mini-submarines on tour
Japanese mini-submarine on fund-raising tour in Newcastle in 1942

Japanese mini-submarines on tour

On May 31 and June 1, 1942, mini-submarines, launched from a large Japanese mother-sub, the I-24, attacked Sydney Harbour.The subs caused havoc, sinking the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul (being used as a navy depot ship) with the loss of 21 lives before they were themselves destroyed. A few days later I-24 attacked and sank the merchant ship Iron Chieftain off the Central Coast, killing 12 crew. The Kuttabul, here seen being fitted out at Walsh Island dockyard, Newcastle, in 1922. After the mini-submarines were destroyed, Australian defence authorities raised the remains of two, assembled parts from…

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