Graham Robert McKenzie-Smith, AM is an Australian historian and forester.

Military historian

McKenzie-Smith has written books about Australian Second World War army units and movements.[1][2] He has been a regular contributor to Sabretache, the journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia.

McKenzie Smith spent some 35 years working on The Unit Guide – a six-volume box set which gives profiles of all 5,700 units that made up the Australian Army in the Second World War.

The trove summary for the set states that:

725,000 Australian men and women joined the Australian Army in World War Two and served in one or more of the 5,700 separate units which were formed in the AIF and AMF... (there were) 5,500 units in the Australian Army during the war (which between them had over 13,700 unit names)...Only 409 (7%) of the units have any published unit history.

Each unit profile covers what is known of the unit's formation, role, organisation, movements, operations and place in the army's hierarchy, including references to the unit's war diary at the Australian War Memorial.[3] The series was published in 2018,[4] and led to the Chief of Army awarding Graham a Gold Level Commendation presented at the Army Museum of Western Australia in Fremantle in November 2018.[5] In the 2020 Australia Day Honours McKenzie-Smith was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to military history preservation, and to forestry".[6]

Western Australia

McKenzie-Smith's recent works include a book about the coastal defences of Albany, Bunbury, and Fremantle in the Second World War,[7] and the Royal Australian Engineers in Western Australia.[8][9]

Forester

In the 1980s and 1990s McKenzie-Smith was a forester in Western Australia.[10][11] When resident in Canberra in the mid-1990s, he was CEO of ACT Forests.[12][13] He was also a member of the ACT Bush Fire Council in 1998–2000.[14]

McKenzie-Smith is currently resident in Perth, Western Australia.

Sabretache articles

References

  1. ^ McKenzie-Smith, G (1994), The ebb and flow of the Australian Army in Western Australia, 1941 to 1945, Grimwade Publications, ISBN 978-0-646-17768-7
  2. ^ McKenzie-Smith, G (1995), Defending the northern gateways: Northern Territory & Torres Strait - 1938 to 1945, Grimwade Publications, ISBN 978-0-646-24404-4
  3. ^ Trove summary at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/230608187?q&versionId=255327945
  4. ^ McKenzie-Smith, Graham (2018). The Unit Guide: The Australian Army 1939–1945. Mount Pleasant, Western Australia: Big Sky Publishing. ISBN 978-1-925675-14-6.
  5. ^ Grant, Steve (17 November 2018). "Rare honour for civvy". Fremantle Herald.
  6. ^ "Graham Robert McKenzie-Smith". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  7. ^ McKenzie-Smith, G (2009), Defending Fremantle, Albany and Bunbury, 1939 to 1945, Grimwade Publications, ISBN 978-0-9806291-0-1
  8. ^ McKenzie-Smith, G; Royal Australian Engineers Association of Western Australia (issuing body.) (2015), Sappers in the West: Army Engineers in Western Australia, Balga, WA Engineers Association of Western Australia Inc, ISBN 978-0-646-93060-2
  9. ^ Gunn, Gail (2015), "Sappers in the west: Army engineers in Western Australia [Book Review]", Sabretache, 56 (3): 55–56, ISSN 0048-8933
  10. ^ McKenzie-Smith, Graham R; Softwood Products (W.A.) Pty Ltd (1986), Submission to Dept of Conservation and Land Management on their draft proposal for the re-adjustment of log prices: prepared for Softwood Products (W.A.) Pty Ltd, The Co, retrieved 27 December 2013
  11. ^ Thomson, A. B; McKenzie-Smith, G; Wood Utilisation Research Centre (W.A.); Thomson, A (1990), Sawn recoveries from crown logs of radiata pine, Wood Utilisation Research Centre, Dept. of Conservation and Land Management, ISBN 978-0-646-01123-3
  12. ^ "Drought puts an end to ACT tree-planting plan". The Canberra Times. Vol. 69, no. 21, 676. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 21 August 1994. p. 2. Retrieved 20 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "Pine pilferers to pay the price this season". The Canberra Times (ACT: 1926–1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 17 December 1994. p. 6. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  14. ^ "The A.C.T. Bush Fire Council (1998–2000)". National Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 19 January 2003. Retrieved 4 February 2019 – via Pandora: Australia's Web Archive.
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