Gavin Long | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Gavin Merrick Long (1901-05-31)31 May 1901 |
| Died | 10 October 1968(1968-10-10) (aged 67) |
| Awards | Officer of the Order of the British Empire (1953) Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix (1956) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
| Influences | Charles Bean |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Australian War Memorial |
| Main interests | Australian military history of the Second World War |
| Notable works | Australia in the War of 1939–1945 |
Gavin Merrick LongOBE (31 May 1901 – 10 October 1968) was an Australian journalist andmilitary historian. He was the general editor of theofficial history seriesAustralia in the War of 1939–1945 and the author of three of its twenty-two volumes.
Gavin Long was born inFoster, Victoria, on 31 May 1901, the eldest of six children ofGeorge Merrick Long, a clergyman, and his wife, Felecie Alexandranée Joyce.[1] He was educated atTrinity Grammar School inKew, Victoria, where his father was the first headmaster,[2] andAll Saints' College, Bathurst,[3] the family having moved there when his father became the local bishop.[4]
Long completed aBachelor of Arts degree at theUniversity of Sydney in 1922 and taught atThe King's School, Parramatta in 1922 and 1923.[3] After working as ajackeroo in 1924, he earned aDiploma of Education from the University of Sydney in 1925.[1] In 1925, he travelled to England, where he secretly married Mary Jocelyn Britten, the daughter of a former headmaster of All Saints' College, at the register office inKensington on 5 September. During his time in England he worked atAustralia House. Jocelyn returned to Australia two weeks after their marriage; Long followed in March 1926. They were married again atSt Peter's Church, Eastern Hill, inMelbourne, on 24 September 1926.[1] They had two children: a daughter, Jenifer, and a son, Jeremy.[5]
After his return to Australia, Long worked as a journalist and moved between several newspapers. He worked for theDaily Guardian in Sydney, and then, from 1926 to 1930, at theThe Argus in Melbourne.[6] He was made a senior reporter in 1930 but was later reduced in rank due to the impact of theGreat Depression on the paper. He was appointed a sub-editor atThe Sydney Morning Herald in July 1931, becoming chief cable sub-editor.[5] He held this job until he was posted to theHerald's London office in 1938.[7]
During this time, he become a leading writer on defence matters. Under the editorship ofHugh McClure Smith, theHerald condemned the British government's policy ofappeasement of Germany and Japan, a position Long endorsed. Long accompanied theGovernor-General of Australia,Lord Gowrie on a visit to Java and Singapore in March and April 1938, as a result of which he produced a series of articles that sounded warnings against reliance on theSingapore strategy. Long wrote 60,000 words on defence matters, calling for the development of the munitions industry, the procurement of additional equipment and increases in the size and capability of the Australian defence forces.[6][7]
On 9 January 1939, Long, with his wife Jocelyn and children, arrived in the United Kingdom on a two-year assignment toThe Sydney Morning Herald's cable office onFleet Street.[8] The family visited Germany in April.[9] On 10 October, shortly after the outbreak of theSecond World War, Long became theHerald's war correspondent with theBritish Expeditionary Force in France.[10] As such, he covered thePhoney War and theBattle of France,[6] until he was evacuated fromBoulogne on 21 May 1940. Jocelyn and children embarked for Australia on theSS Orcades on 2 July.[11]
In October 1940, Long was sent to Egypt where he reported on the6th Australian Division in its campaigns inLibya and theGreece,[1] where he participated in another evacuation on 24 April 1941. He was then recalled to Australia, arriving atMascot Airport on 10 June, and continued writing on defence matters as theHerald's defence correspondent.[12]
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On 16 February 1943, on the recommendation ofCharles Bean, the editor of theOfficial History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Long was appointed general editor of theAustralia in the War of 1939–1945.[6][13] Based at theAustralian War Memorial inCanberra, he spent the remainder of the war planning the series and visiting forward areas to interview members of the Australian military, during which he sought out information not just about events as they unfolded, but also about events earlier in the war to fill in gaps in the narrative.[6]
After the war Long played a key role in the official history project, which ultimately became a 22-volume official history of Australia's involvement.[14] Long chose the authors of his volumes: five, including himself, were journalists and five were academics; half had served in uniform during the war and two had been closely involved in the events they were writing about.[15] At Long's insistence, all were "of the generation that belongs to this war rather than to the last".[16] As well as providing guidance to the other authors, he wrote three of the volumes in the series:To Benghazi (1952),Greece, Crete and Syria (1953) andThe Final Campaigns (1963).[1]
Long retired as general editor in 1963. This was because he believed that a full-time editor was no longer required as the series was nearing completion.[1] His books were well received by reviewers,[17] and his close involvement with the other authors gave the series a unity of purpose and method.[1] He produced a style guide for the project that was regularly updated between 1945 and 1953.[18] By the time of his death, all but one of the volumes of the official history had appeared;[19] that final volume,War Economy 1942–1945, appeared in 1977.[20]
Long continued to write after his retirement from the official history project. He was a research fellow with theAustralian Dictionary of Biography, was part of the team which produced the Australian Government'sStyle Guide and contributed over ninety articles and book reviews toThe Canberra Times.[1] He also wrote two further military history books,MacArthur as Military Commander (1969) andThe Six Years War (1973), a concise, one-volume summary of Australia's involvement in the Second World War.[6]
Long was appointed anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the1953 Coronation Honours for his services as editor of the official history.[21][22] In 1956, he was awarded the Greek Gold Cross of the RoyalOrder of the Phoenix for "promoting Greece’s stature abroad".[23] All Saint's College named two of itshouses after Bean and Long.[24]
Long died of lung cancer on 10 October 1968 at his home inDeakin, Australian Capital Territory, and was cremated.[1] His papers are held by the Australian War Memorial.[25]
