History Archives - CONTACT magazine

Sales of Legacy bears support the annual national appeal to raise awareness and funds for the families of veterans who have given their life or health in service to our country. Story by Leading Seaman Nadav Harel. Photo by Emma Taylor.

Annual fundraiser a big boost for Legacy

12/09/202512/09/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 477 Views 0 Comments Legacy Week, Vivian Bullwinkel

Across the country, sailors, soldiers and aviators took to the streets selling pin badges and bears to raise funds in

Defence APS member Grant Tebbutt with his late grandfather Tom Foster’s recently recovered World War 2 medals and a photo album belonging to his father, Ivan. Story by Lieutenant Fenlan Miller. Photos by Lance Corporal Luke Donegan.

ADF People Archives History Lest We Forget

Defence APS member reunited with lost medals

12/09/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 405 Views 0 Comments WWII

Forty years after they vanished, a set of medals belonging to a Defence Australian Public Service member’s grandfather has been

Recipients of the Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award (JCGSA) approach the Sandakan Death March Memorial in Sabah, Malaysia, while retracing the historic route. Story and photos by Sergeant Matthew Bickerton.

ADF People Australian Army History Lest We Forget Overseas

A journey of remembrance and learning in Borneo

05/09/202507/09/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1565 Views 0 Comments Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award, WWII

Recipients of the Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award (JCGSA) have retraced the route of the single worst atrocity inflicted on

Signaller Ashlee Chivers with a photo of her great-grandfather’s cousin, Sergeant Henry 'Harry' James Chivers, at the Australian War Memorial. Story and photos by Warrant Officer Class 2 Max Bree.

ADF People History Lest We Forget

Last Post reading a personal one for signaller

29/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1481 Views 0 Comments AWM, Last Post, WWI

Blaring bugle sounds and reading stories of Australia’s fallen is nothing new for Signaller Ashlee Chivers. CAPTION: Signaller Ashlee Chivers with

Funeral Guard members, left to right, Leading Seaman Lindsey Young, Able Seaman Jake Clarke and Leading Seaman Bella Cummins, carry the coffin of Leading Stoker Des Jones, as Navy Chaplain David Hastie follows. Story by Lieutenant Commander Ben Robson. Photos by Lance Corporal Joseph Hess.

ADF People History Lest We Forget Royal Australian Navy

Last living link to tragedy of HMAS Canberra I

27/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 2520 Views 0 Comments HMAS Canberra, HMAS Canberra (I), WWII

On a still and cloudy afternoon, Leading Stoker Des Jones was laid to rest, carried to his gravesite on the

History and Heritage - Air Force volunteer Pamela ‘Margaret’ Wilkinson with a newspaper article from 1965 when she was serving as a nurse at RAAF Base Townsville. Story and photo by Flying Officer Casie Scott.

ADF People History

Sixty years of RAAF, love and life

27/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1410 Views 0 Comments RAAF Townsville

As Pamela ‘Margaret’ Wilkinson walks the halls of RAAF Base Townsville’s Building 51, her memories of working from the site

Visitors at the first public open day of the RAAF Townsville Aviation Heritage Centre. Story. by Squadron Leader Karyn Markwell. Photos by Flying Officer Casie Scott.

History News Royal Australian Air Force

Townsville Aviation Heritage Centre reopens

20/08/202523/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1866 Views 0 Comments RAAF Townsville Aviation Heritage Centre (RTAHC)

Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Stephen Chappell officially reopened the RAAF Townsville Aviation Heritage Centre (RTAHC) this month after

The signing of the surrender document by Allied personnel and representatives of the Japanese forces aboard the United States battleship Missouri, September 2, 1945. Story by Rosalind Turner. Photos from Australian War Memorial.

Australian Army History Lest We Forget News Royal Australian Air Force Royal Australian Navy

Commemorating 80 years since Victory in the Pacific

15/08/202526/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 2130 Views 0 Comments Victory in the Pacific, WWII

On the morning of August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan publicly announced that Japan would accept the Allies’ ultimatum

Major Brian Moore receives his Federation Star from Chief of Army Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, right, in the presence of family members. Story and photo by Major Carolyn Barnett.

ADF People Australian Army History

Career comes full circle

12/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 11923 Views 0 Comments 51st Battalion Far North Queensland Regiment

For Major Brian Moore, life has come full circle. CAPTION: Major Brian Moore receives his Federation Star from Chief of Army

Centenarian and World War 2 Air Force veteran June Hunter cuts her birthday cake with help from Aircraftwoman Molly Blanch and Leading Aircraftwoman Nicole Webb. Photos by Group Captain Gregory Weller.

ADF People History Lest We Forget Royal Australian Air Force

Celebrating the life of a WWII air force veteran

07/08/202518/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1497 Views 0 Comments WWII

The life of World War II veteran June Hunter (nee Hitch), who died in late July, was a story that

Suanne Prager, airlifted to Australia under Operation Babylift as a child, meets 37 Squadron Association president Col Coyne at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. Story and photos by Corporal Jacob Joseph.

History News Royal Australian Air Force

Operation Babylift crews reunite with passengers

31/07/202503/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1801 Views 0 Comments AWM, Vietnam War

Royal Australian Air Force and Qantas personnel who flew hundreds of Vietnamese orphans out of harm’s way were reunited with

Former Royal Australian Navy patrol boat HMAS Townsville II makes her final journey to her new home at the Townsville Maritime Museum. Story and photos by Lieutenant Commander Anthony Martin.

History News Royal Australian Navy

Honouring a Fremantle-class legend at Townsville

30/07/202511/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1168 Views 0 Comments

On a bright north-Queensland morning, the former Royal Australian Navy patrol boat HMAS Townsville II made its final journey up

ADF People History

Tradition in every stitch

15/07/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1434 Views 0 Comments Colours

Self-described “maker, manager, inventor and cleaner”, Umit Erturk, 73, and his wife Evangelia Erturk, 74, have handcrafted bespoke ceremonial regalia

RAAF Base Richmond, a major hub for Air Force operations, marks its centenary this year. Photo by Aircraftwoman Maddison Scott.

History News Royal Australian Air Force

Richmond marks centenary as NSW’s biggest airbase

11/07/202513/07/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1579 Views 0 Comments RAAF Richmond

The Royal Australian Air Force marked the 100th birthday of RAAF Base Richmond on June 30, celebrating the oldest RAAF

Major Andrew Penhaligon, 133rd Battery Commander, 20th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, receives the battery flag from former battery commander, Major Allan Harrison (Retired), during the Regiments Locating Artillery Centenary Parade at Gallipoli Barracks, Enoggera. Story by Major Carolyn Barnett. Photo by Leading Aircraftsman Luke Donegal.

Australian Army History News

Regiment marks historic milestones

11/07/202511/07/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 885 Views 0 Comments 20th Regiment RAA, Gallipoli Barracks

The 20th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (20 Regt RAA), marked four milestones in a ceremonial parade last month at Gallipoli

History

The RAAC’s First Days: Brian Agnew’s Service

11/07/202511/07/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1114 Views 1 Comment WO2 Brian Agnew

Introduction ‘Baby Boomers’ come from the generation born between 1946 and 1964. I’m one of them. The generation before us

The Navy detachment from Harman Naval Station marches to the parade ground at the Australian War Memorial on Anzac Day in 1951. Story by Leading Seaman Nadav Harel. Photo from Australian War Memorial 134448.

History News Royal Australian Navy

HMAS Harman – a ship without water

04/07/202504/07/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 2160 Views 0 Comments AWM, HMAS Harman

About 120km from the nearest ocean sits Royal Australian Navy base HMAS Harman, outside of Canberra. CAPTION: The Navy detachment from

World War Bomber Command veterans Howard Hendrick and Ray Merrill attend the 2025 Bomber Command Commemorative Service in Adelaide. Story by Flying Officer Shanea Zeegers. Photos by Leading Aircraftwoman Taylor Anderson.

ADF People History Lest We Forget Royal Australian Air Force

Adelaide honours legacy of Bomber Command

27/06/202502/07/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1007 Views 0 Comments Bomber Command, WWII

Royal Australian Air Force personnel joined dignitaries, veterans and the broader community in Adelaide to honour Bomber Command aviators and

Soldiers of the 5th/7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, on parade with Army reconnaisance helicopters from 1st Aviation Regiment during the Battle of Binh Ba commemoration service held in Darwin. Story by Captain Nicholas Marquis. Photo by Corporal Madhur Chitnis.

Australian Army History Lest We Forget News

Battalion marks Battle of Binh Ba anniversary

25/06/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1386 Views 0 Comments 1st Aviation Regiment, 5/7 RAR, Robertson Barracks, Vietnam War

Soldiers and officers of 5/7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (5/7RAR), commemorated the Battle of Binh Ba with a parade

From left, former crew members of Centurion 169041, Barry Hodges, Graham Munsell and Ray Arthur out the front of 1st Armoured Regiment at RAAF Base Edinburgh. Story by Corporal Jacob Joseph. Photo by Chris and Jan Fenton.

ADF People Australian Army History Lest We Forget

The story of Australia’s ‘atomic tank’

25/06/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 1558 Views 2 Comments 1st Armoured Regiment, Centurian tank, RAAF Edinburgh, Vietnam War

It’s believed a Centurion tank sitting in front of the 1st Armoured Regiment is the only tank in the world

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