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Author Brennan Keats spoke to audiences at Orange and Cowra Libraries this week about his latest book Quiet Waters and presented both libraries with a copy (Caroline and Brennan pictured at Cowra below). His presentation included originally composed music and images from the book. It is an account of HMAS Canberra and one of her sailors, Brennan's brother Russell,
as well as three USS cruisers and their men, who rest in the deep quiet waters of Iron Bottom Sound, Guadalcanal. It is so named because of the huge number of ships and planes that sunk there.
His talk covered details about the ships of the day, what it was like for the men working on them and the fate of his brother Russell. He also told many anecdotes including when a Japanese float plane was seen flying about in Sydney Harbour, the arrival of Japanese submarines and mines being placed right along the NSW coast.
He spoke passionately about the heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra which did not share the battle honours of the Australian cruisers of her time. He says it should be given due recognition for its substantial contribution to Australian Naval history.
Brennan is also author of “A Poet's Composer”, the biography of the Australian composer, Horace Keats, 1895 1945, Russell and Brennan Keats' father.
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