Our August 2022 Lecture - Sydney At War 1942

-

 
Eighty years ago, Sydney had been at war for fifteen months. Our forces were all away in either Europe, the Middle East or Malaya. Australians didn’t see the war come home until the cataclysmic events in the second half of 1941, which brought the war closer to our threshold as the Japanese drove to create the Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

In this presentation Ron Lyons will talk about Australia’s entry into the war and, in particular, life in wartime Sydney and its defences. He will also describe Sydney’s very rude awakening in May/June 1942 when war literally arrived on our doorstep.

Military history enthusiast, battlefield guide and speaker, retired Lieutenant Colonel Ron Lyons served for 37 years in the Australian Army Reserve. Ron is passionate about telling the story of Australia’s military history to the wider community and has been a historian and battlefield guide on Gallipoli and the Western Front in France and Belgium since 2008.

As well as guiding and speaking to community groups, Ron has been conducting battlefield tours on Sydney Harbour relating to the Japanese submarine attack in 1942.

Ron is an Associate Member of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides, a member of The Western Front Association, the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies and a Councillor of the Military History Society of New South Wales.

TIME AND VENUE

 

10:30AM Saturday 6 August 2022 at The Auditorium, Anzac Memorial Hyde Park, Hyde Park South, corner Elizabeth and Liverpool Streets, Sydney CBD. Admission is free of charge but a donation would be appreciated. For info call 0419 698 783 or email: president@militaryhistorynsw.com.au



The Society's main website is here: www.militaryhistorynsw.com.au

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bathurst RSL Letter on Bathurst Boer War Memorial - Lt Peter Handcock

-
Image
Lt Peter Handcock O n Anzac Day this year journalist Peter FitzSimons wrote an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald calling for the removal of the name of Lieutenant Peter Handcock from the Bathurst, New South Wales, Boer War Memorial on the ground that he was a convicted war criminal, for which he was executed by firing squad alongside Lieutenant Harry "Breaker" Morant  in South Africa on 27 February 1902. Handcock was a Bathurst district local. James Unkles is an author, former naval reserve officer, military and civilian lawyer, and campaigner for a pardon for Morant, Handcock and the third convicted man, George Witton. On 30 May 2021 James posted a response to FitzSimons on his website. The response notes that on 4 May 2021 the Bathurst Sub-Branch of the RSL wrote to Bathurst Regional Council, which controls the monument, opposing the removal of any names from the Memorial. A copy of the letter is reproduced below. Bathurst Regional Council has declined to re
Read more

Second World War Tour 2025: Anzac Day in Athens - Greece and Crete

-
Image
  On the 6 April 1941 the German Army launched its attack against the Greeks on the Metaxas Line and the Imperial Expeditionary Force at Florina. The Allied force was pushed off Greece by 28 April and so began the Battle of Crete. Join our memorial tour lead by Lt-Colonel Ron Lyons (retd), Vice President, Military History Society of NSW, in conjunction with Battlefield History Tours, to Greece and Crete visiting the battlefields where the 6th Division and the New Zealand Division confronted the German Army. This is a special tour developed for the very special purpose that we hope will, in a small way, ensure that this part of Australian and New Zealand history is not forgotten. As we visit the battle sites, each with an informative briefing, we will meet the local dignitaries who maintain our military heritage and pay our respects at the resting places of our fallen. ABOUT BATTLEFIELD HISTORY TOURS www.battlefieldhistorytours.com.au Battlefield History Tours is one of Australia’s lead
Read more

Statement on the Vandalisation of Public Monuments and War Memorials

-
Image
  STATEMENT ON THE VANDALISATION OF PUBLIC MONUMENTS AND WAR MEMORIALS The following statement was adopted by the Council of the Military History Society of New South Wales at their meeting on Monday, 28 October 2024: As a body dedicated to preserving and honouring our state’s military heritage, the Military History of New South Wales is disturbed by continuing instances of defacement, vandalism and misuse of historical public monuments, including war and veterans memorials. Acts of physical destruction as a means of political expression should be condemned unreservedly. These attacks represent an infringement of community rights. They are an illegitimate substitute for the democratic processes by which these monuments are properly managed with broad popular consent. This is true even if controversy surrounds the monument in question. In the case of war memorials, the attacks dishonour the sacrifice, and insult the relatives, of those who gave their lives for the precious freedoms
Read more