Tom Lewis

I am an author of around 30 years experience, although I wrote for magazines and newspapers for 10 years before my first work - "Wrecks in Darwin Waters" - was published in 1989.

I live in Canberra, Australia, where I'm a military historian. I've also been a naval officer for 20 years, and prior and after that a high school teacher. These days I do talks - usually military history but some world affairs and biographical - on cruise liners, and write military history books.

I'm generally studying for book research, but I like fiction and biographies too. Interests include tournament chess, astronomy, and collecting military swords.

I began my work life as a high school teacher in Qld and the NT, going on to more university study: my Master's degree was a thesis in American Literature and Cold War Politics, and my PhD followed that with a Strategic Studies doctoral study. I then became an intelligence analyst in the Australian Defence Force. In my time there I saw war service in the Middle East, rather strangely leading a USA team in Baghdad at the height of the war in 2006. I left the ADF to become a full time military historian, by then having published several military history books, including "Zero Hour in Broome", "Carrier Attack" - about the first air raid on Darwin, and "The Submarine Six", about the six naval heroes after whom the Collins-class submarine are named. One unusual one was "By Derwent Divided", about the 1975 Tasman Bridge disaster, and I wrote a "tourist" publication about the first Darwin air raid, "A War at Home", which is now in its 5th edition.

One major history project over the last 10 years was to be the Lead Historian for the The Borella Ride, a commemoration of the World War career of Albert Borella VC. In early 1915 he trekked north 1000 kilometres to sign up. He went on to be promoted three times, eventually being commissioned in the field; wounded, and decorated with firstly a Mention in Despatches, and then the Military Medal. Finally, in a desperate infantry action where he led from the front, Borella was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military honour of all.

Another project was to be the historian for The Territory Remembers, the commemoration of 75 years since the first air raid on the Territory, the first of 207 attacks. While this was leading up to its culmination in 2017, I was researching "The Empire Strikes South", a catalogue of all the raids, using Japanese records. I found, amongst other new information, instead of 64 air raids on the NT it was in fact 77.

I was very active in supporting Teddy Sheean's cause for a Victoria Cross. My book "Honour Denied" detailed his gallant last stand to defend his mates on HMAS Armidale. The Inquiry which recommended a retrospective VC was approved by the federal government in 2020, and Sheean's VC was awarded on 1 December, the anniversary of the sinking the ship in battle. A revised edition of my book was released from Big Sky Publishing, with a new title - "Teddy Sheean VC" - and updated content. In 2021 this book was awarded the national Commodore Sam Bateman Prize from the Australian Naval Institute.

My book "Atomic Salvation", published in July 2020, took me 15 years to research. It's controversial, as it argues Japan was in fact "fortunate" to be attacked with the A-Bombs, rather than endure a conventional invasion as happened on D-Day. If that had happened it is likely around 32 million people would have died. Incredible? Yes indeed.

"Eagles over Darwin" was released by Avonmore in February 2021. This is the story of how the United States Army Air Force defended northern Australia for most of 1942. Really, when you think about it - where were our Spitfires and Hurricanes, two years after the Battle of Britain had been fought?

"Medieval Military Combat" also came out in 2021 from Casemate (UK). This is a field of research I've been into for some time, but have only previously published articles on it. The sub-title is Battle Tactics and Fighting Techniques of the Wars of the Roses.

In 2022 my book on the Sydney midget submarine raid in 1942 was published. I highlighted the two-fold scandal of first the senior commanders escaping any blame for the submarines getting inside the harbour, and not being met with sufficient measures, and second, that none of the small ship commanders were given honours for their sinking of two of the three. "Attack on Sydney Harbour" was released by Big Sky.

2022 also saw "Australia Remembers 4: the Bombing of Darwin", released by Big Sky. This is one of the series of Australia Remembers, a very successful children's series aimed at upper primary/lower secondary students.

In 2023 Avonmore Books published "Bombers North". This is a coverage of the Allied efforts to prosecute the war against the Japanese Empire from 1942. USAAF, RAAF and Dutch bombers flew out of northern Australia in hundreds of missions to fight back against possible invasion.

My work "The Sinking of HMAS Sydney" was also published that year. It's a detailed look at what it was like to live and serve on board a WWII cruiser: eating, drinking, working, fighting and all. It finishes up with a detailed look at the final action of this gallant ship against the German raider Kormoran, and an examination of the theories as to why Sydney disappeared. This book was awarded the national Commodore Sam Bateman Prize from the Australian Naval Institute in 2025.

My book "Cyclone Warriors - the Armed Forces in Cyclone Tracy" was released at the end of 2024 to commemorate 50 years since the disaster. The former Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove wrote the introduction - he was in Darwin post-cyclone in his early days as an Army officer, and he also very kindly launched the book.

The Secret Submarine, an analysis of the sinking of I-178 by two RAAF Beaufort bombers off Sydney in 1943, was released in March 2025 with a launch at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney.