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Ivan Southall
Ivan Francis Southall AM, DFC (8 June 192115 November 2008) was an Australian writer best known for young adult fiction. He wrote more than 30 children's books, six books for adults, and at least ten works of history, biography or other non-fiction. Personal life Ivan Southall was born in Melbourne, Victoria. His father died when Ivan was 14, and he and his brother Gordon were raised by their mother. He went to Mont Albert Central School (where he wrote the first of his ''Simon Black'' stories) and later Box Hill Grammar, but was forced to leave school early, and became an apprentice process engraver. He joined the Royal Air Force in Britain, and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in sinking a German U-boat, U-385, in the Bay of Biscay on 11 August 1944. He returned to Australia with his English bride, Joy Blackburn. Their youngest daughter was born with Down syndrome. He tried his hand at farming at Monbulk, but the attempt foundered, so he ...
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:Template:Infobox Writer/doc
Infobox writer may be used to summarize information about a person who is a writer/author (includes screenwriters). If the writer-specific fields here are not needed, consider using the more general ; other infoboxes there can be found in :People and person infobox templates. This template may also be used as a module (or sub-template) of ; see WikiProject Infoboxes/embed for guidance on such usage. Syntax The infobox may be added by pasting the template as shown below into an article. All fields are optional. Any unused parameter names can be left blank or omitted. Parameters Please remove any parameters from an article's infobox that are unlikely to be used. All parameters are optional. Unless otherwise specified, if a parameter has multiple values, they should be comma-separated using the template: : which produces: : , language= If any of the individual values contain commas already, add to use semi-colons as separators: : which produces: : , ps ...
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Keith Truscott
Keith William "Bluey" Truscott, (17 May 1916 – 28 March 1943) was a World War II ace fighter pilot and Australian rules footballer with the Melbourne Football Club. After joining the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940, he became the second-highest-scoring Australian World War II ace, credited with 20 confirmed victories and 5 unconfirmed victories.Dennis et al (2008), p. 535. After completing flying training in Canada, Truscott served in Britain flying Spitfire fighters. He returned to Australia in early 1942 and served in New Guinea, where he fought during the climactic Battle of Milne Bay. He was killed in a joint Australian–US training exercise off the coast of Western Australia in March 1943, aged 26. Early life and sporting career Truscott was born in South Yarra, Victoria, on 17 May 1916, to William Truscott and Maude Truscott (née Powell). He attended Melbourne High School, where he captained the First XI in cricket and First XVIII in Football as well as being ...
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Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ...
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Flying Boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though the fuselage provides buoyancy, flying boats may also utilize under-wing floats or wing-like projections (called sponsons) extending from the fuselage for additional stability. Flying boats often lack landing gear which would allow them to land on the ground, though many modern designs are convertible amphibious aircraft which may switch between landing gear and flotation mode for water or ground takeoff and landing. Ascending into common use during the First World War, flying boats rapidly grew in both scale and capability during the interwar period, during which time numerous operators found commercial success with the type. Flying boats were some of the largest aircraft of the first half of the 2 ...
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Short Sunderland
The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North East England. Developed in parallel with the civilian Short Empire, S.23 ''Empire'' flying boat, the flagship of Imperial Airways, the Sunderland was developed specifically to conform to the requirements of British Air Ministry List of Air Ministry specifications#1930.E2.80.931939, Specification R.2/33 for a long-range patrol/reconnaissance flying boat to serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF). As designed, it served as a successor to the earlier Short Sarafand flying boat. Sharing several similarities with the S.23, it featured a more advanced aerodynamic hull and was outfitted with various offensive and defensive armaments, including machine gun Gun turret#Aircraft, turrets, bombs, Parachute mine, aerial mines, and depth charges. The Sunderland ...
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Josh (novel)
''Josh'' is a young-adult novel by Ivan Southall, first published in 1971 by Angus & Robertson of Sydney, Australia. Southall was the first Australian to win the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. Both U.K. and U.S. editions were published within the calendar year. The story is set in rural Victoria. According to a retrospective citation by the British librarians, city boy "Josh's stay at Ryan Creek belongs to any time and place where people from different worlds confront one another." Plot summary 14-year-old Josh Plowman arrives in a country town for a week's visit with his great-aunt, the Plowman family matriarch. The city boy from Melbourne is immediately at odds with the Ryan Creek youngsters. His writing poetry and his dislike for hunting make him a target for the local boys. Initial misunderstandings eventually explode into violence. A traditional hero might have faced and fought the bulli ...
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Let The Balloon Go
''Let the Balloon Go'' is a 1976 Australian children's film about a young boy with polio in 1917. Plot In 1917 rural New South Wales, a young boy with polio struggles to break free of his overprotective mother. Cast *Robert Bettles as John Sumner *Jan Kingsbury as Mrs Sumner *John Ewart as Constable Baird *Bruce Spence as Acting Fire Chief Gifford *Ray Barrett as Dr McLeod Production The film was shot near the town of Carcoar. Reception The film sold widely overseas including to the United States. References External links''Let the Balloon Go''at IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...''Let the Balloon Go''at Oz Movies Australian children's films Films directed by Oliver Howes 1970s English-language films 1970s Australian films {{1970s-Australia-fil ...
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Ash Road
''Ash Road'' (1965) is a novel for children by Australian author Ivan Southall. It won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers in 1966. Plot outline Three fifteen-year-old boys are for the first time allowed to go on a holiday together without adult supervision. But an accident with a faulty heater causes the surrounding area to catch alight and a bushfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ... ensues. Critical reception Reviewing the novel in ''The Canberra Times'' Susan Fuller is full of praise: "There are few children's writers who steel themselves to bring reality, with all its overtones of pain, injustice and frustration, into their stories. Fantasy and even horror, yes, but they seem to find cold, stark real life too strong a meat for their tende ...
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Hills End
''Hills End'' is a children's book by Ivan Southall published in 1962 and later adapted for television. Plot summary The story follows seven children and their teacher who are trapped inside a cave while a fierce cyclonic storm destroys the fictional town of Hills End. They face a struggle to survive as well as having to deal with their loss. A mystery also surrounds ancient aboriginal art found in the cave. Literary significance and reception Southall had lost his family farm shortly before the publication of ''Hills End'', but its success established him as a writer both in Australia and internationally. John Rowe Thompson wrote of the book "''Hills End'' is almost a perfect novel of its kind.... The rapid character development and self-discovery of the children under stress are notable." ''Hills End'' is regarded as a classic of Australian children's literature. The book is studied in Australia in the early years of high school both as a work of literature and to ai ...
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Adolescence
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the teenage years, but its physical, psychological or cultural expressions may begin earlier and end later. Puberty now typically begins during preadolescence, particularly in females. Physical growth (particularly in males) and cognitive development can extend past the teens. Age provides only a rough marker of adolescence, and scholars have not agreed upon a precise definition. Some definitions start as early as 10 and end as late as 25 or 26. The World Health Organization definition officially designates an adolescent as someone between the ages of 10 and 19. Biological development Puberty in general Puberty is a period of several years in which rapid physical growth and psychological changes occur, culminating in sexual maturity. The aver ...
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Biggles
James Bigglesworth, nicknamed "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the title character and hero of the ''Biggles'' series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns (1893–1968). Biggles made his first appearance in the story ''The White Fokker'', published in the first issue of ''Popular Flying'' magazine and again as part of the first collection of Biggles stories, ''The Camels Are Coming'' (both 1932). Johns continued to write "Biggles books" until his death in 1968. The series eventually included nearly a hundred volumes – novels as well as short story collections – most of the latter with a common setting and time. The chronology of the canon, spanning both world wars, set up certain inconsistencies over the unavoidable ageing of Biggles and his friends. Also later editions had to be somewhat edited in line with changing norms of acceptability, especially regarding race, and in view of the pre-teenage readership who increasingly favoured ...
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Parachute Mine
A parachute mine is a naval mine dropped from an aircraft by parachute. They were mostly used in the Second World War by the Luftwaffe and initially by the Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command. Frequently, they were dropped on land targets. History Luftwaffe During the Second World War, the Luftwaffe used a number of different kinds of parachute mines. The ''Luftmine'' A (LMA) and ''Luftmine'' B (LMB) weighed and respectively. The LMA was in length and the LMB . After the parachute opened, the mine would descend at around . If it came down on land, a clockwork mechanism would detonate the mine 25 seconds after impact. If the mine landed in water it would sink to the bottom. If the depth was greater than , water pressure and the dissolving of a water–soluble plug would deactivate the clockwork time-detonator, and activate an anti-shipping detonator. These were initially magnetic detonators but later, acoustic or magnetic/acoustic detonators could be fitted. The Luftwaffe be ...
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