Ian Howie-Willis - VD: The Australian Armys experience of sexually transmitted diseases during the twentieth century

Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

This book has been a collaborative effort, with input from many individuals. Heading the list of people I must accordingly thank are Dr Andrew Richardson of the Australian War Memorial (previously of the Australian Army History Unit), Professor Dennis Shanks of the Australian Defence Force Malaria & Infectious Diseases Institute and Professor John Pearn of the Queensland Childrens Hospital in Brisbane. These three friends and advisers made possible the Army History Research Grant enabling me to research and write this book.

I thank the Australian Army History Unit, and especially its Director, Mr Tim Gellel, for making the research grant available. Particular thanks to Mr Nick Anderson for providing the backup support which helped me undertake and complete the research and writing phases of my project. The unit does a magnificent job of supporting grantees and stimulating general interest in Army history.

I owe a great debt to the members of my panel of critics who patiently read and commented on my chapter drafts as I produced them. They walked along journey with me. They were: Professor Gavan Daws, Dr Brian Fotheringham, Dr Gavin Hart, Mr Ross Kennedy, Professor John Pearn, Dr Tom Roberts, Professor Dennis Shanks, Dr John Taylor, Mr David Willis, and the late Mr Stan Walden, who made a heroic effort to ensure that the book accurately reflected a serving soldiers view of the subject. I also thank Professor Pearn for contributing the Preface to this book.

My thanks go to Gavin and Astrid Hart for their hospitality. I am particularly grateful to Gavin for granting me access to his autobiography, MD thesis and journal publications on sexually transmitted diseases.

I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the staff of the Australian War Memorial, the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia, three great national repositories of historical records.

My editor, Dr Evelyn Graham, has ensured that the original manuscript was efficiently translated into a published book, and a much better book than it would otherwise have been. Behind every good book is an excellent editor, and with gratitude I can say that this book and its author have been especially fortunate that Evelyn was the editor.

With the greatest pleasure I acknowledge the efforts of Denny Neave, my publisher at Big Sky Publishing, and his team of specialists. These include Pat Kan (graphic designer), Chris Nesci (designer-typesetter), Phillipa (indexer) and Sharon Evans (marketing and sales). As previously, being able to work with this obliging, talented team has been a special pleasure.