User:AustralianRupert

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. – Dwight D. Eisenhower <!-- Hello and welcome to my userpage. It is currently (UTC) on Monday, 29 July 2024, although where I live it is  (UTC+11:00). If you wish to leave me a message, please do so on my talk page. Otherwise, feel free to take a look around. Cheers.

About me
I am currently a resident of the Victoria, although I am a Queenslander by birth, and have lived, or spent time, in all mainland Australian states and territories (moving around due to work, which likes to send me to a new place every two to three years). I've never made it to Tasmania, unfortunately. My work has taken me to various parts of the world, but I would still have to say that my favourite place is rural Victoria, although South Australia, particularly the Adelaide Hills, is a close second. I have been editing Wikipedia since January 2009, having come to the encyclopedia when I was recovering from an injury that kept me off work for a while. My wife says that I now spend too much time on Wikipedia and she is probably right (of course!). I am a member of the Military History project.

I am rather busy in real life these days due to family commitments and work, but when I get some free time I try to contribute to articles on Australian Army units (please feel free to take a look at my own unofficial Wikiproject) and battles and campaigns that have involved Australia. Within this area I have concentrated mainly upon battles of the Salamaua–Lae, Huon Peninsula, Markham and Ramu Valley, Kokoda Track, New Britain and Bougainville campaigns during the Second World War, although I have branched out and written a couple of articles on First World War battles/campaigns and one from the Boer War.

In addition, I have also written a couple of articles on New Zealand military units, some biographies, and several articles on Queensland colonial naval vessels, and a couple on Dutch naval vessels that served in Australian waters during the Second World War. (You can see more by viewing my listed contributions).

I am an occasional contributor to sports related articles (cricket, rugby league, soccer), too. I played league in my teens. Generally, a full back or half-back as I couldn't wear a tackle as everyone got bigger than me around the age of 16, I briefly held a record for field goals as a school boy in Queensland, but my league career ended when I was knocked out contesting a high ball in the dying moments of the grand final in my last year at high school. I don't remember much, except that we were down by four at the time and when I came to we had won by two...I was also a very sub-par district cricketer in my youth and into my mid-twenties. An opening batsman whose critics were being kind when describing me as a "corpse in pads", my fondest memory is of hitting a former Test bowler for six the first ball I faced in grade cricket as a 16-year-old, hooking a bouncer more out of self preservation than design. Of course, I was out plumb lbw the very next ball, and was dispatched to the pavilion with some choice words and was promptly dropped back to the seconds for the next match, but I don't usually get to that part in the story when I tell it at the pub... I was an even worse junior soccer player, filling the centre forward role as I was pretty good off both feet, even if I lacked the height of a proper forward. Regardless, I somehow ended up as a rep player in the services in my early twenties, more by luck than skill.

I also try to help out with general copy editing as well as with reviewing at Good Article Nominations and the Military history project A-Class Review page. I occasionally review at Featured Article Candidates and Peer Review, but only rarely. I also have an account on Commons where I upload images relating to military history, and do other minor work such as adding categories and licences, and moving/renaming files.

Showcase
Featured content:
 * List of Brigade of Gurkhas recipients of the Victoria Cross
 * Reg Saunders
 * Battle of Milne Bay
 * No. 450 Squadron RAAF
 * Battle of Goodenough Island
 * Bougainville counterattack

A-class articles:
 * No. 3 Commando
 * Battle of Slater's Knoll
 * No. 6 Commando
 * Battle of Milne Bay
 * Reg Saunders
 * 2/18th Battalion (Australia)
 * Australian Army during World War II
 * 15th Battalion (Australia)
 * No. 450 Squadron RAAF
 * 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion (Australia)
 * 12th Light Horse Regiment (Australia)
 * 2/3rd Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/9th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/17th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/48th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/5th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/14th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion (Australia)
 * Battle of the Hongorai River
 * Battle of Porton Plantation
 * Battle of Tsimba Ridge
 * 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/15th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/43rd Battalion (Australia)
 * Battle of Isurava
 * 2/7th Battalion (Australia)
 * Bougainville counterattack
 * New Britain campaign
 * Landings at Cape Torokina
 * Battle of Elands River (1900)
 * Landing at Jacquinot Bay
 * 1st Armoured Brigade (Australia)
 * 10th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/10th Battalion (Australia)

Good articles:
 * Australian Army Reserve
 * Military history of Australia during World War I
 * Battle of the Hongorai River
 * 6th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/48th Battalion (Australia)
 * 27th Battalion (Australia)
 * 61st Battalion (Australia)
 * 7th Battalion (Australia)
 * 3rd Division (Australia)
 * 2/9th Battalion (Australia)
 * 1st Parachute Battalion (Australia)
 * Battle of Sattelberg
 * Battle of Porton Plantation
 * 2/14th Battalion (Australia)
 * 14th/32nd Battalion (Australia)
 * 23rd Battalion (Australia)
 * 29th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/31st Battalion (Australia)
 * Māori Battalion
 * Battle of Milne Bay
 * 12th Light Horse Regiment (Australia)
 * 2nd Battalion (Australia)
 * 31st/51st Battalion (Australia)
 * Reg Saunders
 * 2/18th Battalion (Australia)
 * Huon Peninsula campaign
 * Battle of Lone Pine
 * Australian Army in World War II
 * 2/3rd Battalion (Australia)
 * 15th Battalion (Australia)
 * Gallipoli campaign
 * 11th Battalion (Australia)
 * 6th Division (Australia)
 * 49th Battalion (Australia)
 * 28th Battalion (Australia)
 * 39th Battalion (Australia)
 * 10th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/10th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/6th Battalion (Australia)
 * No. 450 Squadron RAAF
 * No. 82 Squadron RAAF
 * First Australian Imperial Force
 * No. 20 Squadron RAAF
 * 32nd Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion (Australia)
 * Gordon Bennett (general)
 * 2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/17th Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/5th Battalion (Australia)
 * Landing at Lae
 * 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion (Australia)
 * Battle of Wareo
 * Battle of Tsimba Ridge
 * Battle of Ratsua
 * Battle of Pearl Ridge
 * Battle of Slater's Knoll
 * Landing at Jacquinot Bay
 * 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/15th Battalion (Australia)
 * 3rd Pioneer Battalion (Australia)
 * 2/43rd Battalion (Australia)
 * Bougainville counterattack
 * Battle of Isurava
 * 2/7th Battalion (Australia)
 * Battle of Finschhafen
 * Battle of Madang
 * New Britain campaign
 * Landings at Cape Torokina
 * Richard Travis
 * Battle of Elands River (1900)
 * New Zealand and Australian Division
 * Battle of Cape Gloucester
 * 1st Armoured Brigade (Australia)
 * 2nd Armoured Brigade (Australia)
 * Battle of Balikpapan (1945)
 * Borneo campaign (1945)
 * Battle of North Borneo

Did You Know?:
 * I ANZAC Corps
 * John Durnford-Slater
 * No. 3 Commando
 * Layforce
 * Ronnie Tod
 * No. 6 Commando
 * 61st Battalion (Australia)
 * 7th Battalion (Australia)
 * Darwin Mobile Force
 * 47th Battalion (Australia)
 * Richard Travis
 * Battle of Ratsua
 * 30th Battalion (Australia)
 * Battle of Sattelberg
 * 7th Combat Service Support Battalion (Australia)
 * Australian Flying Corps
 * Tom Rees (British airman)
 * 10th Battalion (Australia)
 * No. 20 Squadron RAAF
 * Landing at Lae

Admin links
-->