Papers of John McCarthy
MSS 355

Collection Description

This collection comprises photocopies of Australian government documents relating to World War II and research material for various publications by the historian and academic John Malcolm McCarthy.

Administrative / Biographical history

John Malcolm McCarthy was born in 1933 and matriculated from the South Brisbane Evening Tutorial Classes and entered the University of Queensland on a Mature Age Scholarship. He graduated with First Class Honours in History and a University Medal from the University of Queensland. He completed his M.A. in History at the University of New South Wales, Kensington in 1968 and was awarded his Ph.D. from the Australian National University in 1972.

His first academic appointed was as a Teaching Fellow, Department of History, University of New South Wales, Kensington. In 1968 after completing his M.A. he became a Research Scholar in the Department of Political Science, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra. After teaching on the Kensington campus and at the University of Wollongong he was appointed lecturer in 1970 in the Department of History, Faculty of Military Studies, University of New South Wales, Duntroon, Canberra, and Senior Lecturer in 1973. In early 1986 he transferred to the University College, Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), Canberra and retired holding the position of Associate Professor in the School of History, University College, ADFA. After retirement, he was invited to become a Visiting Fellow in History at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University College, ADFA.

He was the foundation president of the Association for the History of Australian Defence and Foreign Policy, 1976-1979; member of the editorial boards of The great circle : journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History and War and society; foundation editor of the Australian journal of defence studies; and vice-president of the Australian Commission of Military History.

He is the author and editor of a number of articles and books on Australian and Imperial defence, foreign policy and Australian politics, including:
'The Stevens-Bruxner government, 1932-1939', M.A. thesis, University of New South Wales, Kensington (1967)
'Air power and Australian defence : a study in imperial relations, 1923-1954', Ph.D. thesis, Australian National University, 1972
Australia and imperial defence 1918-1939 : a study in sea and air power (1976)
Australia war strategy 1939-1945 : a documentary history, John Robertson and John McCarthy (1985)
Last call of empire : Australian aircrew, Britain and the Empire Air Training Scheme (1988)
Dependency? : essays in the history of Australian defence and foreign policy (edited by McCarthy 1989)
Defence in transition : Australian defence policy and the role of air power 1945-1954 (1991)
Australia and the threat of Japan 1919-1945 (edited and introduced by John McCarthy 1992)
The New South Wales state election, 1935 (1998)
The New South Wales state election, 1938 (1998)

References:
Guide (Australian Defence Force Academy. Dept. of History), 1991
Book covers and dust jackets
Kinetica database, 2004
Australian Defence Force Academy Library database, 2004

Acquisition Details

Scope and Content

This collection comprises photocopies of Australian government documents including cables, minutes of War Cabinet meetings, ministerial notes, government correspondence and reports relating to World War II, together with research material for various publications by McCarthy.

System of arrangement

The collection was arranged in files with titles when received by the Library. The arrangement of papers within these files and the file titles have been preserved by the Library

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Reproduction Restrictions

Existence and Location of Orginals

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