NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Ray Parkin

Ray Parkin (6 November 1910 – 2005) was an Australian writer, amateur artist, and self-taught historian, noted for his memoirs of World War II and a major work on Captain Cook's Endeavour voyage. November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... -1... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A historian is a person who studies history. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... British explorer James Cook is most noted for having discovered Australia and Hawaii. ...

Early life

Parkin was born in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. As a boy he was always interested in ships and was in the sea scouts. He was always keen on drawing (especially drawing ships), and after leaving school at age 14 that interest got him a job at an engraving firm. In 1928 aged 18 he joined the Australian Navy, which took him to ports around the Pacific and gave him plenty more subjects to draw. Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia (after Sydney), with a population of approximately 3. ... Collingwood is an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... Sea scouts are members of the international scouting movement, with a particular emphasis on sea-based activities. ... Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Royal Australian Navy (RAN} is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. ...

He rose through the ranks of the navy to become a chief petty officer and in 1939 was drafted onto the newly commissioned HMAS Perth. Its sole peaceful mission was a trip to New York to represent Australia at the World's Fair, from which it was straight into World War II. Chief Petty Officer is a noncommissioned officer or equivalent in many navies. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Three ships of the Royal Australian Navy have been named HMAS Perth after Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 27th 141,205 kmÂ² 455 km 530 km 13. ... A Worlds Fair is any of various large expositions held since the mid-19th century. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II...

World War II

Parkin's first attempt at writing was during his war service. He started a romantic novel, which was lost when the Perth was sunk by Japanese action in the Sunda Straits in the early hours of 1 March 1942. He spent about 11 hours in the water, and reckoned it was during that time he realized the romantic novel had a fatal flaw – life is not romantic. This article refers to the wide variety of writing called romantic. For literature from the European Romantic movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, see Romanticism: Art and Literature. ... The Sunda Strait is the strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... This article is about the year. ...

Parkin was among ten men who washed up on a small island. They found a steel lifeboat washed up too and rigged a sail to try to get back to Australia. For 16 days they slipped past enemy shipping and tropical storms before reaching Japanese occupied Tjilatjap where they were captured. Cilacap or Tjilatjap is a sea port on the southern coast of the island of Java in Indonesia. ...

In June 1942 Parkin was imprisoned in Bandoeng camp. He met Laurens van der Post there and they immediately became friends. Several prisoners there liked to draw, including for instance Dutch artist Keis von Willigen, and they would scrounge up paper from wherever they could. Van der Post managed to get Parkin a set of watercolour paints from a Chinese contact. Portaits of fellow inmates were a favourite. This article is about the year. ... A view of Bandung from the northern highlands Bandung (formerly spelled: Bandoeng) is the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia. ... Sir Laurens Jan van der Post by Frances Baruch Sir Laurens Jan van der Post (aka Laurens van der Post) December 13, 1906 - December 16, 1996. ...

In November 1942 Parkin was among the "Dunlop 1000" under elected commander and surgeon Lietenant Colonel "Weary" Dunlop who were sent to the building of the infamous Burma-Thailand Railway. In that misery Parkin focused on the beauty that could be found: plants, butterflies, nature generally. Others like English-born artist Jack Chalker recorded the horrors of the camps. This article is about the year. ... Brass relief of Dunlop in uniform kyle was here Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ernest Edward Weary Dunlop, KStJ, CMG, AC, OBE, MS, FRACS, FACS, SSc Punjabi (HON.), (Honourary Colonel), (July 12, 1907 - July 2, 1993) was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership whilst being held prisoner by the...

In March 1944 Parkin was to be shipped to Japan. He couldn't keep his collection of drawings and diary notes concealed on that trip so Dunlop offered to look after them for him. Dunlop had some kind of false bottom in his operating table where he could hide things like Chalker's medical drawings and Parkin's papers. 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ...

Parkin ended up working an an underground coal mine near the Japanese village of Ohama and remained there until the Japanese surrender in August 1945. Although his war experiences were harrowing, they didn't leave him with hatred of the Japanese, as he believed hate caused war. Wyoming coal mine Coal mining is the mining of coal. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ...

Post war

Back in Melbourne with his wife and children he worked as a tally clerk on the wharves. Weary Dunlop had kept his drawings just as he said he would and Parkin made them into a little volume dedicated to Dunlop. Some of the sketches were printed in Dunlop's published diaries about the camps too. Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia (after Sydney), with a population of approximately 3. ... Sir Edward Weary Dunlop (July 12, 1907 - July 2, 1993) was born in Wangaratta, Victora Australia. ...

A lot of ex-POWs wrote books about their experiences. Parkin wrote his memoirs in novel form, the character of John (or Jack) is Parkin in all but name. Laurens van der Post recommended them to the Hogarth Press in London and the result was Out of the Smoke in 1960, Into the Smother in 1963 and The Sword in 1968. The works were praised for the simple poetry in the writing. Sir Laurens Jan van der Post by Frances Baruch Sir Laurens Jan van der Post (aka Laurens van der Post) December 13, 1906 - December 16, 1996. ... The Hogarth Press was founded in 1917 by Leonard and Virginia Woolf. ... This article is about the British city. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

H.M. Bark Endeavour

In 1967 Parkin started researching Captain Cook's voyage to Australia on the HMS Endeavour. He was apparently first inspired by an obviously inaccurate picture of the ship on a Christmas card. Over the years he discovered and dispelled several misconceptions built up about Cook, his crew, and the ship, including rehabilitating the reputation of Sydney Parkinson's drawings of the ship. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... British explorer James Cook is most noted for having discovered Australia and Hawaii. ... Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Endeavour. ... Christmas Card is a vinyl album of Christmas music the case of which contained a reproduction of a Christmas card that was signed by the whole Partridge Family, the stars of a 1970s sitcom. ... Sydney Parkinson (1745 - January 1771) was a Scottish natural history artist. ...

Parkinson was a draftsman on the voyage and his sketches are the only surviving contemporaneous drawings of the ship, but the received wisdom among historians was that Parkinson had taken artistic license, since the drawings seemed inexact and differed from Admiralty plans. Parkin's detailed knowledge of the ship and seafaring showed that what had been thought just squiggles were actual equipment on the ship, and where the sketches and the plans differed it was almost certainly from variations during building (it being fairly common at the time for shipwrights to have some freedom). This is about drafting, the art and science of technical drawing. ... Shipbuilding is the construction of ships. ...

Parkin's neighbour, history professor Max Crawford, recommended Parkin publish. The research took 13 years, and it then took a further 17 years to find a publisher. In the end John Clarke (best known as a satirist) showed it to publisher Mark Kelly, who in turn recommended it to the speciality academic imprint The Miegunyah Press at the Melbourne University Press. John Morrison Clarke (born July 29, 1948) is a comedian and writer. ... Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne (Australia). ...

The result was H. M. Bark Endeavour published in two volumes in 1997. It won the Douglas Stewart Prize for non-fiction and the NSW Book of the Year in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for 1999.^[1] Parkin thought himself a little out of place at the awards ceremony, as he put it, "It was funny, though, this doddering old bloke who used to work on the wharves – what did I have in common with the intellectual literary crowd?"^[2] 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

In 2003 Parkin's three wartime memoirs were also republished in paperback by Melbourne University Publishing. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne (Australia). ...

Bibliography

Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne (Australia). ... Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne (Australia). ...

References

Categories: Australian writers | 1910 births | 2005 deaths The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... The Age is a broadsheet daily newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Contents