Our August 2022 Lecture - Sydney At War 1942

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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

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