The American Civil War Round Table of Australia
As we get towards the finishing tape of the year, we welcome back Byard to present the lecture on Wednesday evening, 7.30 November 26th at the Swan Hotel; apologies yet again for the technical problems – we hope the problem has been fixed and James has the front innings for January 2026.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, we’ve signified another Remembrance Day at various locations and as the U.S. of A. gets closer to Thanksgiving next week, we’ll try in Melbourne to improve conditions for late Spring – though the weather forecast may have showers next Wednesday night! Bring on Summer!!
Greetings to our members and supporters, another excellent talk as month by Mike Hall and this month we have President Byard in the hot seat; first day of warm weather in Melbourne but it won’t last long and no doubts by Wednesday evening we can sure of more of Melbourne’s changeable conditions – however be at the Swan Hotel, 6 pm for drinks and nosh; 7:30 pm for the meeting upstairs
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As September draws to a close we bid a fond farewell to the football season and welcome in the more gentle and civilised cricket season; long form Tests, short form ODI and the stuff that is simply crash and bash; something for every cricket fan. September is also the month that saw the fall of Lexington, Missouri to Confederate forces under Stirling Price in 1861, the brutal battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg in 1862, the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863, the Fall of Atlanta in 1864 and of course by September 1865 the country was coming to grips with the idea of peace and all that came with it!
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Rushing towards the end of winter in Melbourne (and a sigh of relief), just checked the weather forecast for the coming week and showers for Wednesday, August 27th (maybe light) so that will be the hopefully end of the cooler weather here; excellent presentations at our July meeting with Juliette, Mike & Byard; Juliette gets the gong again this coming week so look forward to an entertaining talk as she never fails to deliver.
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Thursday afternoon in Melbourne, dreary but at least half of our winter is behind us; excellent effort by Bill at our June meeting and July 23rd will see another President’s XI (in other words as many of our members who want to give presentations, depending on numbers between six and eight minutes or thereabouts); if you want you put your name in the hat, send a respond to the little corporal before Wednesday night and we’ll program you in.
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Three more days and it will be winter solstice in Melbourne, being true to itself, it’s miserable and cold and next week for Wednesday night’s meeting at the Swan Hotel will probably see a touch of rain so bring your galoshes and woollies, thankfully the proprietors keep us warm and the atmosphere (and food) is worth the visit – Bill Dunkley will be giving us his impressions of the 1864 Shenandoah campaign and we’ll organise coming lectures as well.
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Thursday early evening in lovely Melbourne – no doubt winter is on the horizon; cool starts but sunny days; as we recognise Memorial Day coming up this Sunday, first time in almost forty years that we won’t be attending formal ceremonies. However, on the good side we have President Byard at our Melbourne meeting next Wednesday night (the 28th) and we know that we will be in for a good one at the Swan Hotel.
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Thursday afternoon in Melbourne, unseasonably warm weather for such a late Easter, the airport is full of travelers, schools are on holidays, the cinemas were the busiest I’ve seen in a number of years and we have had a week of commemorations from Shiloh to Appomattox to Fort Sumter to Ford’s Theatre let alone the smaller items. All in all April has been a good month. We salute Mike Hall’s excellent talk last month and await Chris Hookey on the 23rd at the Swan Hotel with anticipation.
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Bless the cotton socks of our editorial team for another Minie News; Mike Hall will be at the podium for the meeting on Wednesday evening, March 26th, 7:30 p.m. a the Swan Hotel (Vic daylight saving time for a tad longer); goodness know what the weather will be – bring your galoshes and gumboots in case. Today lovely Melbourne has 90 degrees and then a storm in the afternoon – if you don’t like the weather, wait a while!
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Included in this MN is a small section given to a marvellous cartoonist Bill Mauldin who made his name with cartoons from the front in WWII. They dealt with the infantry, the foot sloggers and were strong comments on the way the war was fought and proved to be a true vision and a tonic for the home front understanding of what the regular soldier was facing in Africa and Europe. Mauldin’s work did not please some of the top brass but his Willie and Joe characters Mauldin received a Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for a cartoon showing battle-weary troops…
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Included in this MN is some information on a fantastic read dealing with the WW1 German commerce raider the SMS Wolf. In many ways the voyage of the SMS Wolf has a synchronicity with the voyage of the CSS Shenandoah 51 years earlier. Thrilling stuff. We encourage current members to maintain their status by renewing their subscriptions to the ACWRTA for the 2025 calendar year. And just a plug for those people still on snail mail; you may wish to move over to the digital edition of the MN with full colour to blind your eyes and to spark your imagination!
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Nudging towards the end of the year; finally getting some summer weather in Melbourne for the next couple of days (Friday and Saturday in particular); by next Wednesday’s meeting at the Swan Hotel, will be back to normal.
A good Remembrance Day at the Melbourne Shrine on November 11th with a few thousand attendees (including Matho and the little corporal); we’ve just passed Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address anniversary and our American cousins will be celebrating Thanksgiving next week.
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