Memoirs

Memoirs of Sydney Hodges

Graduate Books

From Dhobie's Bight to Duntroon
Daniel Simpkins

Publisher: Austin Macauley (UK)

Availability: From publisher (www.austinmacauley.com)

Dan Simpkins, although born in Narrandera on the Murrumbidgee River in the South West of NSW in 1942, spent his childhood and formative years on the far north coast of the state. Because of his father's nomadic lifestyle, he attended five different one-teacher bush primary schools, so small that on two separate occasions when larger families relocated and the little schools had to close, his education proceeded by correspondence. Stability was achieved with the award of a state bursary allowing attendance over five years at the Lismore High School. Dan worked as a bank teller in Canberra for twelve months after high school, before entering the Royal Military College, Duntroon. This book commences by tracing Dan's forbears as they settled into Australia, and then follows his own upbringing from the bush at Dhobie's Bight to the start of his life in the Army. It is another example of the value of hard work and education.

Canister! On! FIRE! Australian Tank Operations in Vietnam
Bruce Cameron

Publisher: Big Sky Publishing

Availability: Available from the publishers as a hardback and an e-book.

Canister! On! FIRE! tells the remarkable, but little-known story of Australian tanks in the Vietnam War. Based on twelve years of research, including personal letters and diaries, extensive searches of official records and numerous interviews, this book brings to life a previously unheralded aspect of the conflict. It is the story of a select group of soldiers, both regular and conscript, serving their country against all odds.

Paper. Scissors. Stone.
Ron (R.N.) Callander

Publisher: Echo Books

Availability: Enquiries can be made directly to the author roncal13@bigpond.com

Paper. Scissors. Stone. is fiction but it is also a tribute to Australian soldiers who volunteered to defend South Korea when that fledgling democracy was invaded by communist North Korea in 1950.

The novel follows the separate but connected lives of soldiers Michael, Andrew, Jakob, and their colleagues—through several years until circumstances finally bring them together. It includes their recruitment, training, brotherhood, love-lives, families, and war experiences with detail, humour and tragedy.

The story emphasizes the futility of deadly fighting for a few kilometres of useless territory at Korea’s 38th Parallel while armistice negotiations dragged on for two years. The book includes a non-fiction preface describing the history of the ‘Hermit Kingdom’ where the war occurred, to describe why, where, and when it happened.

Lieutenant Colonel Maurie (M.B.) Pears, MC (1950) wrote ‘We have so very few first-hand accounts in our fiction of the Korean War, this book is rare, as well as being so strong a vision. This is magnificent descriptive writing. It jumps out at you. You can smell the stink of battle.’ Another Korea veteran, Captain M.L.C Moore (3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment) wrote: ‘Brilliant; RMC, spot on. Korea, spot on. and wonderful characters like Thunderbum, Aleksi and Peachy are a bonus.’

Ron Callander is an award-winning Queensland writer. A playwright, author, short story writer, TV scriptwriter, and journalist. Much of his work is listed in the AustLit university website. He is a former State Secretary of The Australian Radio, Television and Screen Writers’ Guild, (AWG) and Committee Member of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (Victoria). In 2024 he is 91 years old and a 3-year veteran of the Korean War, in which he served as a transport officer.

Swift And Sure: A Career in the Royal Australian Corps of Signals
Peter (P.J.A.) Evans

Publisher: Echo Books

Availability: Available as a paperback or as an e-book. Visit the publisher’s web site.

As I sit in my study in 2024, in the autumn, if not the winter, of my life, I often reflect on how it all happened.

I was born in the coal-mining town of Greta but avoided the pits when my parents moved to Sydney. I started school in Glebe, which, at the time, was a very working-class suburb. The high school I attended finished at the end of the third year, and I imagined working as a clerk.

Then life changed when my parents were granted a Housing Commission house in North Ryde, and I transferred to Holy Cross College. I repeated the first year to take academic studies and the following year joined the school cadet unit. I became a drummer in the band and so began a military career that lasted for the best part of 50 years.

I was lucky enough to gain entry to RMC, Duntroon, and became part of the engineering class. At the last minute, I changed my preference for corps allocation to the Royal Australian Corps of Signals, a decision I never regretted. And so began a career that saw me posted overseas, appointed Director of the Corps, and later, Director-General Joint Communications – Electronics Branch, the senior communications officer in the Australian Defence Force. I was a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Defence Force Academy and retired from the Regular Army in 1992.

Soon after retiring from the Army, I was appointed Colonel Commandant Royal Australian Corps of Signals and, later, Representative Colonel Commandant. How did this all happen?

From Duntroon to Darazinda - A Compilation Of Engineering & History Through War & Beyond
Simpkins, D

Publisher: Daniel Simpkins

Availability: Available as a paperback or as an e-book from Amazon

From Duntroon to Darazinda is a record of Civil Engineer Dan Simpkins' overseas career working on some of the largest projects over the last 30 years.

Dan skilfully takes the reader on a dynamic journey which begins during the war in South Vietnam and ends in Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dan shares his experiences dealing with a whole host of construction considerations including different site safety standards, language barriers, natural disasters, political differences, rugby injuries, life-threatening events, terrorism, police escorts and corruption.

With an honest and thorough account of life as an expatriate civil engineer, using storytelling and photography, this book details all that goes into major developments and provides a rich history of the countries worked in including their culture, wars, and how they were founded and developed.

Whether you are a budding engineer considering your career options or are interested in history and what has gone into the complex and intricate network of roads, bridges, buildings, sewerage systems and all the infrastructure which make up our world today, you will love the depth of knowledge and wisdom contained within this book.

Dan Simpkins has had an extensive career in both the Army and as a Civil Engineer spanning over 60 years. Army life commenced at the Royal Military College in Canberra, followed by postings to Adelaide, Sydney, South Vietnam, Brisbane, Papua New Guinea, England, Melbourne, Hobart and Puckapunyal.

Commencing in 1991, Dan worked on a series of overseas projects, mainly in South East Asia, including motorways, bridges, ports, water supply and railways in senior management positions. 25 years of this period was spent with the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC), the most prestigious consulting engineering firm in Australia.

Vietnam Vanguard – The 5th Battalion’s Approach to Counter Insurgency 1966
Edited by Boxall, R and O’Neill, R

Publisher: ANU Press

Availability: Available to read online for free, or purchased in hard copy for $55 plus postage

The 5 RAR Association in cooperation with the Australian National University Press have recently published a new book titled “Vietnam Vanguard – The 5th Battalion’s Approach to Counter Insurgency 1966”. The book recounts 5 RAR’s insertion into Vietnam as the initial major unit of the 1st Australian Task Force, the securing of Nui Dat and major offensive operations conducted throughout 1966.

The book comprises 456 pages including 17 chapters written by 33 contributing authors, 7 appendices, 44 photographs, 13 maps and 3 diagrams in full colour. The co-editors, Professor Robert O’Neill AO and Brigadier Ron Boxall (Retd) are 5 RAR veterans. Vietnam Vanguard was launched at the 5 RAR 55th anniversary reunion on the Gold Coast on 2 March by Major-General Stuart Smith AO, DSC (Retd) who is the son of a 5 RAR member killed-in-action on the battalion’s second tour of Vietnam.