Note:
When Stephen O'Brien ceased to make updates in early 2003, this page was left blank, with the
enigmatic statement:
More to come...
Once again I have taken a few liberties by adding small number of Books which cover the early
history of the British Space Programme.
Douglas Ian Holland October 2009
Woomera by Ivan Southall - Published by Angus and Robertson: 1962
On several pages of this site are quotes from this book and it was obviously a major influence on
Stephen O'Brien. This book is also important to me, from hazy memory I purchased (with an advance on my
pocket money) my copy around 1966 when I was 14 and it as been treasured ever since.
In his research for Woomera, Ivan Southall was given for the time, unprecedented access to the Woomera range and its staff and the Homesteads within the Range Area. The result encapsulates the Anglo-Australian Project from is beginning to the high point of its importance to Britain and Australia.
The late
Ivan Francis Southall AM, DFC (8 June 1921-15 November 2008)
is now mainly remembered for his fiction and non-fiction books for boys
(today we must use the term Young Adults), including a rewrite of Woomera in 1965 for younger
readers entitled:
Rockets in the Desert: the Story of Woomera
But whilst for me Woomera is his most important adult work, in his native
Australia, his Biography of Australian War Hero:
Bluey Truscott
and his Novel on Australian Mine Disposal Officers in Britain during World War II, entitled:
Softly tread the Brave
(co-authored with: John Stuart Mould, G.C., G.M., and Hugh Randal Syme, G.C., G.M. and Bar)
are perhaps better known.
Fire across the Desert by Peter Morton - Published by: Australian Government Publishing Service: 1989
Peter Morton
was commissioned in 1984 by the Australian Department of Defense on behalf of the
Federal Government to undertake a technical, political and social history of the
Anglo-Australian Joint Project 1946-1980 centred on Woomera. The result was this book, which was
and probably still remains the largest scientific history ever published in Australia!
Instead of attempting to write my own review of this major work, I will leave it to the much more
erudite Matthew L. James:
Long anticipated and worth the wait, this official Defence Department
history is an absorbing, well-presented overview of the people, technologies and politics
of the Woomera rocket programmes
Given the daunting task of assembling such a history, Peter Morton has well captured the
spirit of Woomera with a popular style
Complete chapters in the book are devoted to the Black Knight, Black Arrow, Blue Streak,
Wresat and ELDO programmes with a level of detail not seen in any other summary publication.
In concluding the text, Morton assesses the relative total contributions to Woomera and the
United Kingdom after noting some of the political disputes involved. He also discusses the
value of the project in hindsight, suggesting that today's defence programmes are better
defined and probably of more practical use. It is difficult to fault the book on any count,
but it is clear that despite its comprehensive nature and indexed 550 pages, by the author's
own admission more material was left out than incorporated. Despite the many amusing
anecdotes, for instance, there is only a concise coverage of the social history of Woomera.
This impressive coffee-table book will serve for many years as the standard reference
text on Australia's entry into the space age.
A Vertical Empire by C.N.Hill - Published by: Imperial College Press: 2001
Whilst Stephen O'Brien's Britain in Space on GeoCities was the first Space related site I ever visited, his
links page led me Nicholas Hill's (he doesn't like his first name) original British Rockets and Satellite
Launchers Website, then hosted on AOL. The site has long moved to a new URL:
British Rockets and Satellite Launchers - C.N.Hill
When I first heard that he was writing a Book based on his researches, I hoped for something special
and I was NOT disappointed!
A Review by William Rees, sums up this book far better than I could:
A Vertical Empire is a lucid and exceptionally well researched book. What makes it stand out
further is it is also an easy and coherent read with many pictures and drawings. I have read
the book cover to cover but still find myself dipping into it regularly. Although its an
interesting and enjoyable book, the down side is that it is also an obituary on the British
Launcher programme and (as the author points out) all such British programmes are now utterly
dead. Never the less, this is an important historical document that will, I am sure, be used
for future academic research as well as popular reading. Excellent. Well worth the money.
Whilst slightly off-topic, I also recommend that you visit C.N.Hill's
Eagle and Dan Dare website
Black Arrow Rocket by Douglas Millard - Published by: The Science Museum: 2001
A short (58 Pages), but perfectly formed Soft Cover book covering the History of the
Black Arrow Satellite Launch Vehicle and Its Engines.
Black Arrow R4 is Britain's only surviving satellite launch vehicle. In 1971, its
predecessor, R3, carried out the only launch of a spacecraft by a British vehicle.
This book draws on the Science Museum's unique collection of rocket engines and vehicles
to tell Black Arrow's story. It traces the evolution of engines from those that boosted
German aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s to the Gammas of the Black Knight ballistic research
vehicle, from which Black Arrow originated. It relates this technological history to the
political climate at the time, both in Britain and abroad, and also to the activities of
government research establishments and industry. In doing so, the book outlines how and
why Black Arrow was created and later allowed to die. This book will be of interest both
to those who wish to know more of the forces that drive space exploration and to those who
are interested in Britain's political, military and technological aspirations during the
Cold War.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
This is a technically updated version of the site as it was Hosted on GeoCities.
Yahoo closed GeoCities on the 26th October, and this
site needed to be protected from being lost (although the some of the site has
been archived by:
Internet Archive GeoCities Project Team
it is incomplete).
As all efforts to contact Stephen O'Brien have so far been without result, I have taken the unusual step
of mirroring the content, whilst making technical updates. Obviously without Stephen O'Brien's involvement
this is not an acceptable long term solution. To assist in this, or to make comments on the site please
Douglas Ian Holland
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