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LEE, Warwick

Sep 18, 2025 | *, *Featured books, *listed, Australian, Autobiography, Biography, History, Memoir, Military

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ISBN 978-1-923523-62-3
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Child of the Pacific

 

From the Empire to Independence, Through the Eyes of a Child

An insightful and unforgettable account of a young boy’s journey through family struggles, history, war and a nation’s aspiration to free itself from colonialism.

Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, was a contested island for nearly a century. Germany, UK, Japan and Australia each had interrupted periods of administration, influence and development of the island and region around it.

In 1975, Warwick witnessed the country’s shift into independence.

As a young boy, he watched the place he’d grown up in change for the better. For the first time, its people felt they could once again be at the forefront in determining their own destiny, and the excitement and optimism at such a prospect was almost tangible.

This one of a kind memoir is told through the memories and records of a boy who lived through one of the most major changes in PNG history, following him from his formative years to the country’s 50 year anniversary of independence.

About the Author

 

WARWICK LEE was born in Bougainville in 1955 and became an Australian citizen in 1965.

In 1966 Warwick was sent to Melbourne to continue his education. He completed degrees in Economics and Law from Monash University.

Instead of a legal career, he chose a corporate career path and relocated to Sydney, working for several companies including Exxon (Esso), Mitsubishi and National Australia Bank.

He is married with three children, four grandchildren and now lives in Brisbane.

Warwick maintains a keen interest in geopolitical matters and particularly relation to Pacific countries. Whilst he relocated from Bougainville many years ago, his interest in what was his birthplace has never left him.

LAMPARD, Kerry

Jul 3, 2025 | *, *Featured books, *listed, Fiction \ Novel, Memoir, Military, Short Story Collection

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ISBN 978-1-923386-94-5
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Tip Of The Spear

 

A Memoir

Currently residing in Adelaide with his wife, Kerry has been interested in all things military since his teenage years. At 17, he joined the Citizen Military Force and after a short time enlisted in the Australian Regular Army 1963, undergoing a 12-month Tour of Vietnam in 1965. Kerry applied to join the Special Air Service and, after completing the tough Cadre Course and other specialist courses, he was accepted into 2SAS Squadron. In early 1968, the Squadron was deployed to Vietnam on Kerry’s second 12-month tour.

The SAS led very successful covert operations. Some satisfying, others terrifying. These patrols ranged from a duration of minutes to seven days depending on the enemy activity. The Viet Cong called them Ma Rung, “Phantoms of the Jungle”, and put a price on their heads: $5,000—dead or alive.

Tip of the Spear is split into two parts. The first is a memoir of Kerry’s experience with patrols in the SAS as a forward scout. The second is three light-hearted fictional short stories.

CARTER, Jennifer M.T.

Jul 2, 2025 | *, *Featured books, *listed, Australian, History, Military

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ISBN 978-1-923333-30-7
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Blood and Blunders

 

The British in Afghanistan 1839 to 1842

Blood and Blunders tells the story of how ignorance, arrogance and greed destroyed the flower of a generation long before the tragedy of World War One.

The Honourable East India Company, the London-based trading company founded in 1600, could hardly have foreseen its remarkable success as it moved inexorably from commerce to conquest laying the foundations of Britain’s Indian Empire almost by accident. And, as everyone knows, the more you have, the more you must do to keep it. By the 1830s, a buffer was deemed necessary to counter Russia’s advance into Central Asia and prevent a move on British India from beyond the River Oxus. That buffer was Afghanistan. The British incursion at the end of 1838 replaced one Afghan ruler with another and has been termed The First Anglo-Afghan War; in effect it was little more than a shambles. Mismanaged and muddled diplomacy ensured the failure of what proved a totally dysfunctional campaign. Senior officers of the Royal army who last saw action with Wellington in 1815 commanded the so-called Army of the Indus; unable to adapt to local conditions as well as to each other, their petty jealousies and distrust of the local Company forces serving with them mar a bigger picture where individual feats of courage burn like beacons against the gloom of administrative incompetence.

Blood and Blunders gives a full picture of the Afghan experience at a time when the machinery of government called for unquestioning sacrifices from its operatives – and by extension, from their womenfolk and families, some of whom were present with the army. Throughout, tragedy and comedy march side by side and high politics as practised in London, Kabul and Calcutta lacks empathy for the Afghan people and is never far from farce.

Finally, Blood and Blunders throws fresh light on the disastrous Retreat from Kabul in January 1842 at the height of winter, and asks what is – and what is not – acceptable by way of retribution against people whose way of life is under threat.

REEKS, Kerri

Jun 30, 2025 | *, *Featured books, *listed, Adelaide, Australian, Fiction \ Novel, Military, South Australia, War Fiction

cage of war by kerri reeks
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ISBN 978-1-923386-87-7
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Cage of War

Can they escape the horrors of war, or will they consume them forever?

Captured by Viet Cong in late 1960s during the Vietnam War, Australian soldier James ‘Ned’ Kelly is imprisoned in a bamboo cage in the Mekong River, with fellow captive Brady. They’re eventually ‘rescued’ by a Special CIA Covert team.

They soon discover the rescue is part of an elaborate, corrupt and clandestine war tourism operation – ‘Tiger Hunts’, where wealthy Japanese businessmen pay to hunt & kill real VC soldiers. Kelly & Brady reluctantly join the ‘Tiger Hunts’, ultimately uncovering dark & suspenseful secrets, including war crimes, political assassinations, & drug trafficking tied to the covert teams. A catastrophic ‘Tiger Hunt’ leaves Kelly, Brady, & one Japanese ‘Tiger’ as the only survivors; they’re rescued & taken to a US Hospital ship to recover.

Years later, back to Australia, Kelly is settled on a small farm in the Adelaide Hills. A deadly chain of events is sparked, targeting Kelly, his veteran friends & loved ones. The fallout threatens to also expose the surviving ‘Tiger’, now a prominent Japanese politician, & the rogue CIA operations behind the ‘Tiger Hunts’.

To stop the violence escalating, Kelly teams up with old colleagues to expose the truth, bringing the dark past to light via exposure in the international media.

Kerri Reeks author

About the author

KERRI REEKS was born in Adelaide in 1953 and spent his formative years in Broken Hill, Cockburn, and later Mount Gambier. At 18, he enlisted in the Royal Australian Army, qualifying as a Sapper in the Corps of Engineers. He trained in combat engineering, earthmoving construction, minefield clearance, and demolition-though he did not serve in Vietnam. After his military service, Kerri forged a diverse career. He became a multi-award-winning landscape gardener and later owned and operated both a restaurant and a hotel. For over 30 years, he has worked as a consultant in the oil and gas industry, travelling to more than 60 countries. During this time, he completed a Graduate Diploma and a Graduate Certificate in International Disaster Management. Drawing on his global experiences and the many cultural intersections he encountered along the way, Kerri researched and wrote Cage of War, a novel inspired by the Vietnam War. He now lives in the Adelaide Hills on a small acreage with his partner and their dog, Beau. When not consulting in the energy sector or working on his next novel, he enjoys landscaping and tending to his property.

KOVACS, Frank

May 15, 2025 | *, *Featured books, *listed, Adelaide, Australian, Biography, Memoir, Military, Psychology \ Mental Health, Social Sciences \ Politics \ Government, South Australia

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ISBN 978-1-923265-17-2
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Invisible Scars Somalia

 

A true story of an Australian soldier living with the effects of PTSD

Africa, 1984: Al-Shabaab militants succeeded in smuggling weapons and equipment into Somalia from Ethiopia, unimpeded. The US President Ronald Reagan authorised a shadow team of international soldiers to spy on the movement of rebels and arms fl owing into Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital.

An Australian Regular Army soldier, together with two British military personnel, seconded by the US to join a CIA special agent and an Ethiopian female warrior to infi ltrate to Luuq, a rural town and staging area for Al-Shabaab rebels in Central Somalia, on a clandestine mission. Their call sign was ‘Delta One.’ Their secret and urgent mission was to observe the movement of rebel forces, their equipment, and ammunition, then report back directly to Langley. During the mission, the team needed to cover their own tracks in case the proverbial hit the fan.

Staying one step ahead of the rebels was easy, whilst racing against the clock, until the team wound up in a horrendous ambush against superior rebel forces.

For a nation, unaware of the effects combat has on its soldiers, life for the Australian soldier returning from Somalia became harder after discharge, as he battled the complexities of PTSD and alcoholism in civvy street. Haunted by the nightmares of his time in Africa and racked by guilt from driving his wife and family away. He discovers help at the Repatriation General Hospital, Psychiatric Ward 17, in Adelaide, South Australia.

However, there was another enemy at play. The lure of Soldier of Fortune work would set him in action again

DANVERS, Ron

Apr 14, 2025 | *, *Featured books, *listed, Adelaide, Australian, History, Military, South Australia

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ISBN 978-1-923443-01-3
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1837 Colonel Light’s Vision for Adelaide

 

Postulation and Testing a Preemptive Model Plan Adapted by Light for the Capital of South Australia

Colonel William Light’s history has been the subject of several admirable publications, but none have satisfactorily addressed the method he used in designing, surveying and laying out the plan of the City of Adelaide on the topography of the site chosen on December 31, 1836. Although evidence supports there being a preemptive Model Plan produced in London before that date, the connection has generally been missed on how such a plan, following the pattern of many colonial antecedents, could have been simply cut up to fi t the topography of the chosen site.

In postulating the form a Model Plan might have taken by reverse engineering the final plan, it becomes obvious that this was the method used by Light to lay out the plan of the Capital. It was not done in a week from January 3, 1837 as Stretton suggested, but by February 7 the basic cutting up had been formulated and sketched by Light from Green Hill.

About the Author

 

Ron Danvers LFRAIA is an architect living in the City of Adelaide in South Australia. He was instrumental in introducing urban design to South Australia, becoming the founding Chair of the State Urban Design Advisory Panel. Although he has undertaken major cultural heritage projects in Malaysia and Indonesia, most of his architectural work has been in the City of Adelaide.

He was awarded the RAIA Lachlan Macquarie Award and a National Trust Australian Heritage Award in 1987 for restoration of the Mortlock Library. In 2005, his architecture practice was awarded a UNESCO Asia Pacifi c Heritage Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation for heritage adaptation of the Treasury Buildings in Victoria Square. He was President of the RAIA SA Chapter 1988-90, representing the architectural profession at that time in the South Australian State Planning Review. He was granted the adjunct title of Associate Professor by the University of Adelaide.

ISBN 978-1-923443-01-3
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1837 Colonel Light’s Vision for Adelaide

 

Postulation and Testing a Preemptive Model Plan Adapted by Light for the Capital of South Australia

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Colonel William Light’s history has been the subject of several admirable publications, but none have satisfactorily addressed the method he used in designing, surveying and laying out the plan of the City of Adelaide on the topography of the site chosen on December 31, 1836. Although evidence supports there being a preemptive Model Plan produced in London before that date, the connection has generally been missed on how such a plan, following the pattern of many colonial antecedents, could have been simply cut up to fi t the topography of the chosen site.

In postulating the form a Model Plan might have taken by reverse engineering the final plan, it becomes obvious that this was the method used by Light to lay out the plan of the Capital. It was not done in a week from January 3, 1837 as Stretton suggested, but by February 7 the basic cutting up had been formulated and sketched by Light from Green Hill.

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About the Author

 

Ron Danvers LFRAIA is an architect living in the City of Adelaide in South Australia. He was instrumental in introducing urban design to South Australia, becoming the founding Chair of the State Urban Design Advisory Panel. Although he has undertaken major cultural heritage projects in Malaysia and Indonesia, most of his architectural work has been in the City of Adelaide.

He was awarded the RAIA Lachlan Macquarie Award and a National Trust Australian Heritage Award in 1987 for restoration of the Mortlock Library. In 2005, his architecture practice was awarded a UNESCO Asia Pacifi c Heritage Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation for heritage adaptation of the Treasury Buildings in Victoria Square. He was President of the RAIA SA Chapter 1988-90, representing the architectural profession at that time in the South Australian State Planning Review. He was granted the adjunct title of Associate Professor by the University of Adelaide.