Military History Section Staff Biographies

Karl James

Karl James is a Senior Research Officer who has been working as a historian at the Memorial since the start of 2006. During this time he has worked on the Military unit profiles and the new Vietnam War gallery. He completed his PhD at the University of Wollongong, where he also lectured and tutored in Australian history and worked as a research assistant. During 2005 Karl was an intern at the Australian Army Museum of Military Engineering in Moorebank, Sydney.

Karl has undertaken extensive research into Australia’s involvement in the Second World War. He is rewriting his doctoral thesis, “The final campaigns: Bougainville 1944–1945” into a book to be published by the Australian Army History Unit. His other research areas include the Kokoda campaign, as well as the Second World War official histories and the work of its General Editor, Gavin Long.

Selected publications

“The greyhounds of Kokoda”, Wartime, 48, 2009

“Kokoda ‘Track’ or ‘Trail’?”, Wartime, 48, 2009

“Hell was let loose’: The RAN Beach Commandos at Balikpapan, July 1945”, International Journal of Naval History, 8, 2, 2009

“‘The track’: a historical desktop study of the Kokoda Track”, report commissioned by the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Canberra, Australian War Memorial, 2009

“Soldiers to citizens”, Wartime, 45, 2009

“Gallant fighter”, Wartime 43, 2008

“Australia’s other Asian wars”, Wartime,41, 2008

“The ‘atmosphere of the place and the spirit of the people’: Why historians visit battlefields when writing operational history”, Sabretache, 48, 2007

“The Hawker Demon”, Wartime, 37, 2007

“The army’s ugly duckling”, Wartime, 37, 2007

“Hell at Porton”, Australian Army journal, 3, 2005–06

“A ‘prend’ indeed”, Wartime, 33, 2006

“‘Uncle Stan’ and the Staff Corps”, Sabretache, 45, 2004

“‘White, black, and brown’: attitudes to race as reflected during the Bougainville campaign, 1944–1945”, Alpheus 1, 2004

Conferences and seminars

”Heroes and villains: Australian militia battalions in the Kokoda campaign, July – August 1942”, Constructing the past: Australian Historical Association Conference, University of the Sunshine Coast, QLD, 30 June – 3 July 2009

“Hell was let loose’: Making order from confusion. The RAN Beach Commandos at Balikpapan, July 1945”, 2007 Naval History Symposium, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, 20–22 September 2007

(with Kazuhiro Monden) “Return to New Guinea: comparing Australian and Japanese memories of the New Guinea campaign”, War and Our World, University of Manchester, UK, 19–21 July 2007

“‘To sniff or not to sniff’: should historians visit battlefields when writing operational history?”, Genres of History: Australian Historical Association 2006 Biennial Conference, Australian National University, Canberra, 3–7 July 2006

“The 39th Battalions at war”, The CO’s Hour, Deployed Force Services Unit, Randwick Barracks, NSW, 28 April 2006

“Gavin Long and the ‘Bean’ tradition”, Mars and Minerva: Intellectuals and War in Australia and New Zealand, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 4–6 February 2006

“‘Fellow citizens, the war is over’: Bougainville, August 1945”, Canada and Australia: Experiences of War, University of Wollongong, NSW, 10 November 2005

“‘It is considered that no nurses or AWAS should be brought into the area until American Negroes have departed’: attitudes to race as reflected during the Bougainville Campaign, 1944–45”, Visions: 12th Biennial National Conference of the Australian Historical Association, Newcastle, NSW, 5–9 July 2004

“Uncle Stan and the Staff Corps”, Feast by the Murray: Australian Historical Association 30th Anniversary Conference, Mildura, Vic., 28 September – 1 October 2003

“‘An enemy worthy of Australia’s sword’: Australian aspirations and frustrations during the final year of the Second World War”, History and Politics: Staff and Postgraduate Seminar Series, University of Wollongong, NSW, 16 August 2002

“Australia’s war in the South-West Pacific, 1944–1945: a work in progress”, People and War: Aspects of Military History, University of Wollongong, NSW, 16–18 July 2001