[Australian Submarine Squadron]. FREELEAGUS, L.G. (Sandy / Hi Rob) (illustrator)

Aarooogah!! [Australian Submarine Squadron Reunion, 23 September 1988 (cover title)]

Everton Park, L.G. Freeleagus, 1988.

Quarto, [145] pages, consisting almost entirely of cartoon artwork by 'Sandy / Hi Rob'.

Synthetic cloth (lettered in gilt on the front cover) a little marked; an excellent copy.

'Limited Edition' is printed on the front cover; the number 356 is stamped on the front pastedown. On the front flyleaf of this copy there is an original two-colour self-portrait in ink of the artist, with the following inscription: 'To Commander James Hume RAN. The nemesis of my adolescence. The person who could recognise me from behind at 200 paces - and instinctively knew I was doing something wrong. Scary stuff. Sandy / Hi Rob R'42489. July 1961 intake'. A potted autobiography of Sandy Freeleagus appears in the 'Navy Engineering Bulletin', March 2003 (available online); he joined the 'now-defunct Naval Apprenticeship Training Establishment, HMAS "Nirimba"' in July 1961. James Hume (1924-2011) on '14 November 1960 ... was promoted Acting Commander, confirmed on 30 June 1963, and posted as Executive Officer to the RAN Apprentice Training Establishment, HMAS "Nirimba", at Quakers Hill in Sydney. It was there that Hume's dedication to discipline and uncompromising fairness shone through. He developed an excellent rapport with the apprentices, all aged between 16 and 18, knew them all by name, and is still held in the highest regard by those who passed through "Nirimba"'s gates. Hume himself considered his time at "Nirimba" as the highlight of his career and would often talk about his tenure there in later years. Hume's appointment at "Nirimba" ended in July 1963 and he returned to Harman as the Director of Naval Recruiting in Navy Office' (from his lengthy biography on the RAN website; it is worth reading in full).