Ray Parkin
Encyclopedia
Ray Parkin was an Australian writer, amateur artist, and self-taught historian
, noted for his memoirs of World War II
and a major work on Captain Cook's Endeavour voyage.
. As a boy he was always interested in ships and was in the sea scouts. He was always keen on drawing (especially drawing ships), and after leaving school at age 14 that interest got him a job at an engraving
firm. In 1928 aged 18 he joined the Royal Australian Navy
, which took him to ports around the Pacific and gave him plenty more subjects to draw.
He rose through the ranks of the navy to become a chief petty officer
, and in 1939 was drafted onto the newly-commissioned light cruiser HMAS Perth
. Its sole peaceful mission was a trip to New York
to represent Australia at the World's Fair
, from which it was straight into World War II
.
in the Sunda Straits in the early hours of 1 March 1942. He spent about 11 hours in the water, and reckoned it was during that time he realized the romantic novel had a fatal flaw – life is not romantic.
Parkin was among ten men who washed up on a small island. They found a steel lifeboat and rigged a sail to try to get back to Australia. For 16 days they slipped past enemy shipping and tropical storms before reaching Japanese occupied Tjilatjap where they were captured.
In June 1942, Parkin was imprisoned in Bandoeng camp. He met Laurens van der Post
there and they immediately became friends. Several prisoners there liked to draw, including for instance Dutch artist Keis von Willigen, and they would scrounge up paper from wherever they could. Van der Post managed to get Parkin a set of watercolour paints from a Chinese contact. Portraits of fellow inmates were a favourite.
In November 1942, Parkin was among the "Dunlop 1,000" under elected commander and surgeon Lieutenant Colonel "Weary" Dunlop
who were sent to the building of the infamous Burma-Thailand Railway. In that misery, Parkin focused on the beauty that could be found: plants, butterflies, nature generally. Others, like English-born artist Jack Chalker, recorded the horrors of the camps.
In March 1944, Parkin was to be shipped to Japan. He couldn't keep his collection of drawings and diary notes concealed on that trip, so Dunlop offered to look after them for him. Dunlop had a false bottom in his operating table, where he could hide things like Chalker's medical drawings and Parkin's papers.
Parkin ended up working an underground coal mine near the Japanese village of Ohama
and remained there until the Japanese surrender in August 1945. Although his war experiences were harrowing, they didn't leave him with hatred of the Japanese, as he believed hate caused war.
A lot of ex-POWs wrote books about their experiences. Parkin wrote his memoirs in novel form, the character of John (or Jack) is Parkin in all but name. Laurens van der Post
recommended them to the Hogarth Press
in London, and the result was Out of the Smoke in 1960, Into the Smother in 1963, and The Sword and the Blossom in 1968. The works were praised for the simple poetry in the writing.
. He was first inspired by an inaccurate picture of the ship when searching for a representation on which to base a Christmas card. Over the years he discovered and dispelled several misconceptions built up about Cook, his crew, and the ship, including rehabilitating the reputation of Sydney Parkinson
's drawings of the ship.
Parkinson was a draftsman
on the voyage and his sketches are the only surviving contemporaneous drawings of the ship, but the received wisdom among historians was that Parkinson had taken artistic license, since the drawings seemed inexact and differed from Admiralty plans. Parkin's detailed knowledge of the ship and seafaring showed that what had been thought just squiggles were actual equipment on the ship, and where the sketches and the plans differed it was almost certainly from variations during building (it being fairly common at the time for shipwrights to have some freedom).
Parkin's neighbour, history professor Max Crawford, encouraged Parkin to publish. The research took 13 years, and it then took a further 17 years to find a publisher. In the end John Clarke
(best known as a satirist) showed it to publisher Mark Kelly, who in turn recommended it to the speciality academic imprint The Miegunyah Press at the Melbourne University Press.
The result was H. M. Bark Endeavour published in two volumes in 1997. It won the Douglas Stewart Prize for non-fiction and the NSW Book of the Year in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
for 1999. Parkin thought himself a little out of place at the awards ceremony, as he put it, "It was funny, though, this doddering old bloke who used to work on the wharves–what did I have in common with the intellectual literary crowd?"
In 2003, Parkin's three wartime memoirs were republished in paperback by Melbourne University Publishing
.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, noted for his memoirs of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and a major work on Captain Cook's Endeavour voyage.
Early life
Parkin was born in the Melbourne suburb of CollingwoodCollingwood, Victoria
Collingwood is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
. As a boy he was always interested in ships and was in the sea scouts. He was always keen on drawing (especially drawing ships), and after leaving school at age 14 that interest got him a job at an engraving
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
firm. In 1928 aged 18 he joined the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
, which took him to ports around the Pacific and gave him plenty more subjects to draw.
He rose through the ranks of the navy to become a chief petty officer
Chief Petty Officer
A chief petty officer is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards.-Canada:"Chief Petty Officer" refers to two ranks in the Canadian Navy...
, and in 1939 was drafted onto the newly-commissioned light cruiser HMAS Perth
HMAS Perth (D29)
HMAS Perth was a Modified Leander class light cruiser operated by the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. She was constructed for the Royal Navy , and commissioned as HMS Amphion in 1936...
. Its sole peaceful mission was a trip to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to represent Australia at the World's Fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
, from which it was straight into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
World War II
Parkin's first attempt at writing was during his war service. He started a romantic novel, which was lost when Perth was sunk by Japanese actionBattle of Sunda Strait
The Battle of Sunda Strait was a naval battle which occurred during World War II. On the night of 28 February – 1 March 1942, the Australian light cruiser and the American heavy cruiser faced a major Imperial Japanese Navy task force. After a fierce battle of several hours duration, both Allied...
in the Sunda Straits in the early hours of 1 March 1942. He spent about 11 hours in the water, and reckoned it was during that time he realized the romantic novel had a fatal flaw – life is not romantic.
Parkin was among ten men who washed up on a small island. They found a steel lifeboat and rigged a sail to try to get back to Australia. For 16 days they slipped past enemy shipping and tropical storms before reaching Japanese occupied Tjilatjap where they were captured.
In June 1942, Parkin was imprisoned in Bandoeng camp. He met Laurens van der Post
Laurens van der Post
Sir Laurens Jan van der Post, CBE was a 20th century Afrikaner author of many books, farmer, war hero, political adviser to British heads of government, close friend of Prince Charles, godfather of Prince William, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer, and...
there and they immediately became friends. Several prisoners there liked to draw, including for instance Dutch artist Keis von Willigen, and they would scrounge up paper from wherever they could. Van der Post managed to get Parkin a set of watercolour paints from a Chinese contact. Portraits of fellow inmates were a favourite.
In November 1942, Parkin was among the "Dunlop 1,000" under elected commander and surgeon Lieutenant Colonel "Weary" Dunlop
Edward Dunlop
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Ernest Edward "Weary" Dunlop, AC, CMG, OBE was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II.-Early life and family:...
who were sent to the building of the infamous Burma-Thailand Railway. In that misery, Parkin focused on the beauty that could be found: plants, butterflies, nature generally. Others, like English-born artist Jack Chalker, recorded the horrors of the camps.
In March 1944, Parkin was to be shipped to Japan. He couldn't keep his collection of drawings and diary notes concealed on that trip, so Dunlop offered to look after them for him. Dunlop had a false bottom in his operating table, where he could hide things like Chalker's medical drawings and Parkin's papers.
Parkin ended up working an underground coal mine near the Japanese village of Ohama
Ohama
Ohama may refer to:*Ohama Branch Line, a former branch line of the Hankai TramwayPeople*Ohama Kagetaka , a pirate and naval general during the late Sengoku period and early Azuchi-Momoyama period*Natsuko Ohama, a Japanese-Canadian actress...
and remained there until the Japanese surrender in August 1945. Although his war experiences were harrowing, they didn't leave him with hatred of the Japanese, as he believed hate caused war.
Post war
Back in Melbourne with his wife and children he worked as a tally clerk on the wharves. Weary Dunlop had kept his drawings, and Parkin made them into a little volume dedicated to Dunlop. Some of the sketches were printed in Dunlop's published diaries about the camps.A lot of ex-POWs wrote books about their experiences. Parkin wrote his memoirs in novel form, the character of John (or Jack) is Parkin in all but name. Laurens van der Post
Laurens van der Post
Sir Laurens Jan van der Post, CBE was a 20th century Afrikaner author of many books, farmer, war hero, political adviser to British heads of government, close friend of Prince Charles, godfather of Prince William, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer, and...
recommended them to the Hogarth Press
Hogarth Press
The Hogarth Press was founded in 1917 by Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond, in which they began hand-printing books....
in London, and the result was Out of the Smoke in 1960, Into the Smother in 1963, and The Sword and the Blossom in 1968. The works were praised for the simple poetry in the writing.
H.M. Bark Endeavour
In 1967, Parkin started researching Captain Cook's voyage to Australia aboard HM Bark EndeavourHM Bark Endeavour
HMS Endeavour, also known as HM Bark Endeavour, was a British Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery, to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771....
. He was first inspired by an inaccurate picture of the ship when searching for a representation on which to base a Christmas card. Over the years he discovered and dispelled several misconceptions built up about Cook, his crew, and the ship, including rehabilitating the reputation of Sydney Parkinson
Sydney Parkinson
Sydney Parkinson was a Scottish Quaker, botanical illustrator and natural history artist.Parkinson was employed by Joseph Banks to travel with him on James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific in 1768. Parkinson made nearly a thousand drawings of plants and animals collected by Banks and Daniel...
's drawings of the ship.
Parkinson was a draftsman
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
on the voyage and his sketches are the only surviving contemporaneous drawings of the ship, but the received wisdom among historians was that Parkinson had taken artistic license, since the drawings seemed inexact and differed from Admiralty plans. Parkin's detailed knowledge of the ship and seafaring showed that what had been thought just squiggles were actual equipment on the ship, and where the sketches and the plans differed it was almost certainly from variations during building (it being fairly common at the time for shipwrights to have some freedom).
Parkin's neighbour, history professor Max Crawford, encouraged Parkin to publish. The research took 13 years, and it then took a further 17 years to find a publisher. In the end John Clarke
John Clarke (satirist)
John Morrison Clarke is a New Zealand-born Australian comedian, writer, and satirist. He was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand, and has lived in Australia since the late 1970s...
(best known as a satirist) showed it to publisher Mark Kelly, who in turn recommended it to the speciality academic imprint The Miegunyah Press at the Melbourne University Press.
The result was H. M. Bark Endeavour published in two volumes in 1997. It won the Douglas Stewart Prize for non-fiction and the NSW Book of the Year in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities...
for 1999. Parkin thought himself a little out of place at the awards ceremony, as he put it, "It was funny, though, this doddering old bloke who used to work on the wharves–what did I have in common with the intellectual literary crowd?"
In 2003, Parkin's three wartime memoirs were republished in paperback by Melbourne University Publishing
Melbourne University Publishing
Melbourne University Publishing is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne .MUP was founded in 1922 as Melbourne University Press to sell books and stationery to students, and then began publishing books itself...
.