'Voyager's bow has been detached from her stern' was the laconic phone message left for the RAN's public relations officer' on the night of 10 February 1964.During naval exercises off the coast at Jervis Bay, the destroyer HMAS Voyager inexplicably turned towards the RAN Flagship, HMAS Melbourne, and steamed under the mighty carrier,s bows. The impact cut Voyager in two with 82 of her complement losing their lives in Australia's worst peacetime naval disaster.Why did this h...

The complete and authoritative account of the sinking of the HMAS Sydney, and the recent finding of her wreck.On 19 November 1941, the pride of the Australian Navy, the light cruiser Sydney, fought a close-quarters battle with the German armed raider HSK Kormoran off Carnarvon on the West Australian coast. Both ships sank – and not one of the 645 men on board the Sydney survived.Was Sydney’s captain guilty of negligence b...

When Harold Holt disappeared while swimming off Victoria's Cheviot Beach just before Christmas 1967, Australia was given one of its great and enduring mysteries. The death of Australia's seventeenth prime minister has remained part of popular imagination ever since.Harold Holt's death had both immediate and long-term consequences for the Australian nation. Not only did it lose a prime minister active in the rejuvenation of its social life and domestic policy, it also lost a key adv...

Winner Australian Christian Book of the Year 2010In this challenging and provocative book, Tom Frame, one of Australia's best-known writers on religion and society, examines diminishing theological belief and declining denominational affiliation. He argues that Australia has never been a very religious nation but that few Australians have deliberately rejected belief – most simply can't see why they need to be bothered with religion at all. He contends that vehemen...

No-one in the Australian government or Army could have predicted that in the 25 years following the end of the Cold War Army personnel would be deployed to Rwanda, Cambodia, Somalia, Bougainville, East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Solomon Islands. In a constructive critique of the modern Australian Army, 'On Ops' examines the massive transformation that has taken place since troops were deployed to East Timor 1999. After decades of inactivity and the 'long peace' of the 1970s ...

Are the Thirty-Nine Articles just dusty relics of the Reformation - or a living treasure for today's church?Michael Jensen and Tom Frame argue the latter. With clarity and conviction, they show how these 450-year-old statements of faith still speak powerfully to the challenges facing Anglicans now. Far from being an awkward historical curiosity, the Articles are rooted in Scripture, brimming with theological insight, and vital for anyone who wants to understand Anglican identity.

‘Given the importance of ability, judgment, leadership and discipline to the effective performance of any military force, the nation faces a serious problem when the public begin to have doubts and politicians start to distrust, the capability of the defence force and the reliability of its members.’Tom Frame, one of Australia’s most respected military affairs analysts, reveals the background to the war crimes allegedly committed by Australian Special Forces in Afg...

The Brereton report—the findings of a long-running inquiry into war crimes allegations involving members of the Australian Special Operations Task Group during their 2005-13 deployment to Afghanistan—was publicly released on 19 November 2020. Veiled Valour, from one of Australia's most respected military affairs analysts, explores the background to these allegations—the gradual demise of the Afghan state and society, the decision to deploy Special Forces personnel to Central Asia ...

The Liberal-National Party Coalition was elected to office on 2 March 1996 and continued in power until 3 December 2007 making John Howard the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister. This book is the final in a four-volume series examining the four Howard Governments. Contributors to each of these volumes are asked to focus critically on the Coalition's policies and performance to reveal the Howard Government's shortcomings and failures. The aim of each of these volumes is to be ...

The Ascent to Power, 1996 takes a critical look at the Howard Government's rise to power; its policies and priorities, successes and shortcomings in what Paul Kelly calls the 'foundational year'.This first of four volumes on the Howard Government's nearly 12 years in office draws on unpublished documents from John Howard's papers held at UNSW Canberra. It covers the 1996 election, relationships with the Australian Public Service and Senate crossbenchers, reversing the budg...

The years 1997–2001 were eventful ones for the Howard Government. This second volume of the Howard Government series explores these tumultuous years.In Back from the Brink politicians, commentators and scholars including Michael Wesley, Hugh White, Peter Costello, Phillipa McGuinness and Tom Frame and take a critical look at the Howard Government's performance, and analyse landmark events -- Wik and native title, a succession of ministerial resignations, t...

Charles Darwin liked and loathed Australia. The father of evolution paid the continent a flying visit during in 1836, and was glad to put the place behind him. Yet Australia's astonishing wildlife influenced him deeply, and his revolutionary theories still resonate profoundly in Australian society. Two hundred years after Darwin's birth, at a time when evolutionary theory is facing challenges from those who believe in intelligent design, award-winning writer and Anglican bishop Tom Frame e...