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24-653: Ash Road (1965) is a novel for children by Australian author Ivan Southall . It won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers in 1966. Three fifteen-year-old boys are for the first time allowed to go on a holiday together without adult supervision. But an accident with a faulty heater causes the surrounding area to catch alight and a bushfire ensues. Reviewing the novel in The Canberra Times Susan Fuller

48-735: A clockwork mechanism would detonate the mine 25 seconds after impact. If the mine landed in water it would sink to the bottom. If the depth was greater than 8 feet (2.4 m), water pressure and the dissolving of a water–soluble plug would deactivate the clockwork time-detonator, and activate an anti-shipping detonator. These were initially magnetic detonators but later, acoustic or magnetic/acoustic detonators could be fitted. The Luftwaffe began dropping mines in British waters in November 1939, using Heinkel He 115 seaplanes and Heinkel He 111 land–based bombers. The new British cruiser, HMS Belfast ,

72-452: A fictional brave pilot, 'Simon Black' — an Australian counterpart to W.E. Johns ' hero ' Biggles '. Several of these ventured into science-fiction, with space flight, aliens and lost humanoid races. After 1960, Southall's career pivoted into the everyday world of children and teenage characters. Southall dealt in his books both with survival in the face of dramatic events such as fire and flood and with personal and psychological challenges. He

96-447: Is full of praise: "There are few children's writers who steel themselves to bring reality, with all its overtones of pain, injustice and frustration, into their stories. Fantasy and even horror, yes, but they seem to find cold, stark real life too strong a meat for their tender readers. Ivan Southall is not of this school... Ash Road is a frightening story of bush fire run riot, and Mr Southall does not pull any punches. The fear and tension

120-489: Is named for the mythical bird phoenix , which is reborn from its ashes, to suggest the book's rise from obscurity. The Sly Old Wardrobe , written by Southall and illustrated by Ted Greenwood, was named Children's Picture Book of the Year in 1969. After Simon Black , Southall changed emphasis "from the actual adventure ... to the depiction of the way children respond, interact and grow". Parachute mine During

144-472: Is real as the dry brittle forests sigh under the weight of a hot north wind, waiting for that tiny spark to burst into inferno." This article about a young adult novel of the 1960s is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . Ivan Southall Ivan Francis Southall AM , DFC (8 June 1921 – 15 November 2008)

168-581: The London Docks . From October 1940, mines were also dropped in raids on other British cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Coventry. Clearance of these was carried out by the Royal Navy , which quickly dispatched a team to London from HMS Vernon , while Army bomb disposal staff were warned that it was extremely inadvisable to attempt to render them safe without Naval guidance. The official British designation for these weapons on land

192-545: The 1971 award to Josh . A retrospective exhibition Southall A–Z: Ash Road to Ziggurat was held in the State Library of Victoria in 1998 and is available online. It includes an interview conducted in 1997, a biography, bibliography and exhibition of book cover designs with information about the books. Ivan Southall won the 1971 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association , recognising Josh as

216-617: The Brave , describing the courage of Royal Australian Volunteer Naval Reserve bomb disposal officers, Hugh Syme (GC, GM and Bar) and John Mould (GC, GM), who served in England disarming parachute mines . Southall later published a version of this story for younger readers under the title Seventeen Seconds — the time available to run in case the fuse of the mine was accidentally triggered while trying to disarm it. From 1950 to 1962, Southall also wrote, for younger readers, adventure stories about

240-579: The Luftwaffe later used the 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) Bombenmine (BM 1000, Monika, or G Mine). This was fitted with a tail made from Bakelite which broke up on impact. It had a photodetector beneath a cover which detonated the bomb if exposed to light to counteract the work of bomb disposal units. Prior to the war, the Admiralty had been developing mines including acoustic and magnetically-triggered types and these were brought into use early in

264-563: The Second World War, the Luftwaffe used a number of different kinds of parachute mines. The Luftmine A (LMA) and Luftmine B (LMB) weighed 500 kg (1,100 lb) and 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) respectively. The LMA was 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) in length and the LMB 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m). After the parachute opened, the mine would descend at around 40 miles per hour (64 km/h). If it came down on land,

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288-651: The aftermath, and later in Darwin and at Milne Bay . Southall also wrote the official history of his Royal Australian Air Force squadron, 461 Squadron, based at Pembroke Dock, a town in South West Wales, when he was pilot of Short Sunderland flying boats. Later he published a version of this history as They Shall Not Pass Unseen and much later returned to his experiences of combat in Sunderlands in books for younger readers. Southall also wrote Softly Tread

312-586: The attempt foundered, so he became a full-time writer. He met his first wife, Joy Blackburn, during the Second World War and they had four children, Andrew, Roberta, Elizabeth and Melissa. He remarried, to Susan Stanton, whom he met in 1974 on his United States visit to deliver the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture at the University of Washington . Southall died of cancer on 15 November 2008 aged 87. His daughter Elizabeth had three daughters,

336-472: The eldest of whom was murdered in 1999. Elizabeth wrote a book about the case in 2002 titled Perfect Victim . The story was made into a film called In Her Skin in 2009. Ivan Southall began his career as a writer primarily writing historical accounts for adults. Notably, he wrote the biography of Keith Truscott , an Australian fighter ace who served in England in the last stages of the Battle of Britain and

360-510: The installation of electric wires around the inside of the hull, or for smaller vessels, by passing an electric cable under the hull, known as "wiping". Parachute mines were first used against land targets on 16 September 1940 in the early stages of the Blitz . It was rumoured that Hermann Göring had ordered parachute mines to be dropped on London in a fit of temper, but it is more likely that they were originally intended to disrupt shipping in

384-545: The war. Laid in shallow water they would be set off when a vessel passed over them. The operations were an extension of the blockade of Germany and targets were chosen by the Admiralty though the laying was carried out by the RAF. RAF Coastal Command were initially responsible but they had few aircraft and their medium bombers could only carry one mine so RAF Bomber Command took over responsibility with their heavy four-engined bombers which could carry four mines. The Short Stirling

408-578: The year's best children's book by a British subject . He was the first Medalist from outside the United Kingdom and remains the only one from Australia. Ash Road , To the Wild Sky , Bread and Honey and the nonfiction Fly West were all named CBCA Australian Children's Book of the Year (1966 to 1976). Southall was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1981. In 2003 he

432-538: Was "Parachute Landmines", but civilians just called them "land mines". The singer Al Bowlly was killed by a parachute mine which exploded outside his flat in Jermyn Street, London during the Blitz on 17 April 1941. In 1941 a parachute bomb destroyed Victoria Hall, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, site of the Victoria Hall disaster of 1883. The use of standard parachute mines declined after 1941, but

456-525: Was an Australian writer best known for young adult fiction . He wrote more than 30 children's books , six books for adults, and at least ten works of history, biography or other non-fiction. Ivan Southall was born in Melbourne , Victoria . His father died when Ivan was 14, and he and his brother Gordon were raised by their mother. He went to Mont Albert Central School (where he wrote the first of his Simon Black stories) and later Box Hill Grammar, but

480-679: Was awarded the Dromkeen Medal by the Oldmeadow Foundation for his lifetime contribution to children's literature in Australia . Earlier that year, the Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association had recognised The Long Night Watch ( Methuen Children's Books , 1983) as the best English-language children's book that did not get a major award when it was originally published twenty years earlier. It

504-553: Was damaged by a parachute mine on 21 November in the Firth of Forth , while the destroyer HMS Gipsy was damaged at Harwich on the same night. The threat to shipping posed by magnetic detonators was effectively negated after a German parachute mine was captured intact when it landed in mud in the Thames Estuary . Thereafter, a ship's magnetic field could be counteracted by a process called degaussing . This involved either

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528-680: Was forced to leave school early, and became an apprentice process engraver. He joined the Royal Air Force in Britain, and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in sinking a German U-boat, U-385 , in the Bay of Biscay on 11 August 1944. He returned to Australia with his English bride, Joy Blackburn. Their youngest daughter was born with Down syndrome. He tried his hand at farming at Monbulk, but

552-600: Was one of the first to write specifically for young adults . Southall's best known children's novels include Hills End , Ash Road , Let the Balloon Go and Josh (1962 to 1971). The non-fiction Fly West recounts his experiences in Short Sunderland flying boats during the Second World War . He is the only Australian winner of the annual Carnegie Medal for British children's books,

576-424: Was used after it was removed from front-line operations against German cities. Minelaying operations by RAF were known as "Gardening", the term carrying over into codebreaking . Mines were about 9 feet long and 17 in (0.43 m) in diameter. The explosive content of a mine was 750 lb (340 kg) of explosive such as Amatol (TNT and ammonium nitrate) or Minol (TNT, ammonium nitrate and aluminium),

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