Royal Australian Navy History

Oral Histories

Visit the Australians at War Film Archive to view and download 103 interviews relating to the Royal Australian Navy 
 

Manuscript Collections

MSS 075 - Papers of Vice Admiral Sir Henry MacKay Burrell
Burrell was educated at Parramatta High School and the Royal Australian Naval College, Jervis Bay. During his long and distinguished naval career he held various staff and command appointments, including Chief of Naval Staff, 1959-1962; Second Naval Member, 1956-1957; Flag Officer Commanding H.M.A. Fleet, 1955; Assistant Australian Defence Representative, London, 1951-1952; Commander 1940, Captain 1946, and Naval Attache Washington, 1941.

Box 1-Letter from F.H. Kelly, The Bristol Aeroplane Company Limited, 27 February 1953
Photograph of Lieutenants N. D. McMillan, RAN, G. McPhee, RAN, D. Farquharson, RN and Captain H. M. Burrell, taken when three Bristol Sycamore MK50 aircraft were delivered to HMAS Vengeance at Weymouth (photograph identified by Commander M. B. Taylor, 26 July 1994
Photographs of HMAS Vengeance (2)
Cutting of Rear-Admiral H. M. Burrell with his wife and two of his children viewing HMAS Melbourne, The Sydney morning herald, Tuesday May 15, 1956
Cutting of Rear-Admiral H. M. Burrell , Flag Officer Commanding the Australian Fleet, holding his sword as one of a guard-of-honour, Sunday telegraph, March 27, 1955

MSS 126 – Doug Robertson Maritime and Naval History Collection – 266 boxes + 15 oversize – notebooks listing the world's navies dating from the 1600s, research notes, newspaper clippings, slides, negatives, and a large collection of photographs. The photographs (ca. 56,000 and ca. 5,300 slides ) include merchant and naval ships of many nationalities, mostly from the period 1860-1974. Includes sail, steam, diesel and nuclear powered ships of many types, including tugs, lash vessels, cargo ships, tankers, ferries, lighthouse tenders, liners, destroyers, anti-submarine vessels, mine-sweepers, clippers, schooners, ketches, barques.

MSS 222 – G.K Dickson – 1 folder – 1905 –journal kept by G.K. Dickson while serving on HMS Euryalus from 1 June to 31 December 1905. 71 pages with 17 coloured maps and diagrams showing equipment and the routes taken by HMS Euryalus through Australian waters in the summer of 1905, and her journey to Gibraltar that autumn.

MSS 284 – Records of Histories of Commissioned Ships in the Royal Australian Navy – 9 boxes –photocopy and carbon typescript drafts relating to Commissioned Ships serving in the Royal Australian Navy. The collection provides technical ship data together with a brief service history of between one to seventeen pages for each vessel from launching to disposal, 1866-1983.

MSS 292 – Papers of Allan Zammit
Allan Zammit was born in 1927 and joined the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia as a canteen assistant at the age of 17. His service continued on the vessel as part of the Allied occupation forces in Japan in 1947. Joining HMAS Sydney in 1948, his service included two tours of duty in the Korean War.