Interests

Reg takes a keen interest in Tasmania as well as Australian military history and has written numerous related stories. Here are some of them.

Anglesea Barracks

The barracks are two hundred and nine years old and that it is the oldest continuous military establishment in Australia.

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Animals in World War One

Animals played a huge role during the war, none more so than horses, camels, donkeys and mules, particularly in Palestine and Mesopotamia.

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Australia Day

In the following YouTube video  Reg explains how Australia Day came about and why January the 26th was chosen.

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Aviation Disaster – 1946 Australian National Airways DC-3

The worst aviation disaster to occur in Tasmania happened when a DC-3 crashed just after take off falling in to the sea just off Seven Mile Beach.

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Boer War Memorial Hobart

Thousands of motorists pass it every day. Travelling out of the city towards the Tasman Bridge on the highway to the left stands an imposing memorial. It is topped with a bronze statue of a soldier looking towards Hobart’s waterfront. It has been there for 119 years.

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Bothwell and its Golf Course

It was Alexander Raid who played a prominent part in the history and development of the village. He settled at Ratho in 1822 and introduced golf into Tasmania. Its course is reputed to be the oldest in the nation. Highlighting this heritage is the Australasian Golf Museum located in Bothwell village. The museum tells the story of how golf evolved in Scotland from a crude game to being an international sport.

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Boy Soldiers and Sailors of Tasmania

Like all wars, World War I had many dreadful aspects to it. One was the turning of a blind eye to under-age recruitment. ‘Boy’ soldiers served on both sides in the tens of thousands and tens of thousands were killed.

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British Heritage of Tasmania

Our British heritage is profound. British settlement began in 1803 with Lt. John Bowen, but it was thirty years before in 1773 that the British first visited Tasmania when Captain Furneaux explored our shores. The history of this heritage is colourful and more than interesting.

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Brief History of Brighton Army Camp

The Brighton Army Camp has a long, long history, full of notable events and a never-ending cast of colourful characters that passed through its gates. Sadly, it is no more, and an amazing piece of Tasmanian military and social history has gone. It is very important that the Tasmanian community does not lose its memory of this incredible piece of our heritage.

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Deal Island Air Crash

An intriguing tale of war time activity over the skies of Bass Strait during WWII deals with the crash of a RAAF Oxford A25 aircraft killing all four crew.

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Fort Nelson – Hobart

Before federation, each of the six colonies organised their own defences under the greater protection of the Imperial Government in London.
In 1870 British troops withdrew from Tasmania and as a result Tasmania had to organise its own defence as an independent colony.

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Gallipoli – First and Last

The first to die at Callipoli was a Tasmanian as was the last to leave.

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Hobart the Scenic City

Hobart is a scenic city with a rich history.

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Japanese Naval Visit to Tasmanian – 1924

It is well worth to recall a visit to Australia, which included Tasmania, in 1924 of the Japanese fleet.

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Risdon Cove History Post 1803

In September 1803, the first British settlement in Tasmania, then called Van Diemen’s Land, occurred. Forty nine settlers, made up of N.S.W. Corp personnel, administration, free settlers and convicts, were under the leadership of twenty three year old Lt John Bowen Royal Navy from Devon. Bowen settled at Risdon Cove, just north of what was to become Hobart.

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Tasmania’s Connection to the American Civil War

At least three Civil War veterans lie buried throughout the State, perhaps one or two more and two Irish exiles to Van Diemen’s Land, Thomas Meagher and John Mitchel, went on to play major roles in the War between the States.

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Tasmania’s Connection to the Titanic

There are interesting and perhaps forgotten Tasmanian connections to the ill-fated White Star Liner – the Titanic.

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Tasmanian Confrontation

Confrontation between the natives of Tasmania and the white settlers. A detailed report on the steps leading up to the Black Line of 1830 and the aftermath.The confrontation is also reffered to as the Tasmanian War.

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Tasmanian Firsts, Inventions and Innovations

Tasmanians per head of population for Australia must lead the nation in being innovative and inventive, some of which has affected the world. Innovations that the nation (and world) now takes for granted, have a Tasmanian origin.

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Tasmanian Independence

Reg presents the case for complete independence for Tasmania.

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The Boer War Commemorative Day

Heralding remembrance of those Tasmanians who served in South Africa (1899-1902)

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The Kangaroo Bluff Battery

The view of the River Derwent is spectacular. The site of the Kangaroo Bluff Battery is a gem of the municipality of Clarence. Open to the public in the day time, its construction was completed in 1884 in response to two Russian vessels seen in the Derwent River several years before. This gave way to fears of a possible Russian invasion. The idea was to blow the enemy vessels out of the water before they could shell Hobart.

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The Tasmanian Flag – its History and Meaning

“A nation’s flag is the most sacred thing that a nation can possess. Libraries, museums, exchequers, tombs and statues of great men – all are inferior to it. It is the illuminated diploma of a great nation’s authority. It is the imperishable epitome of a country’s history.” – THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER

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Tobruk – 1941

The siege of Tobruk is the largest siege in British military history. Lt-General Leslie Morshead said of Tobruk to his men, “There will be no Dunkirk here. If we should have to get out, we shall fight our way out. There is to be no surrender and no retreat.”

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Tasmanian involvement in the New Zealand Wars

It may be judged that the first concerted involvement in a war conflict for Tasmania was the Second Boer War of 1899-1902 when we were still an independent colony. It is true that Tasmanians as individuals fought in conflicts overseas and our first casualty (as far as I know) was during the Zulu War in Africa of 1879. However, Tasmanians were recruited and did fight in the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s.

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