I was sitting at the bar in a Sydney pub and the fellow next to me said, “If we go and send our second tank off to the Ukraine, what will we do if the Chinese attack?”

“Well,” I said, “I know it seems like we don’t have enough military equipment to even defend Parramatta, but this isn’t the first time.”

“In the 1880s, there was fear that the Russians or Germans might attack Australia. The British government sent Major General Edwards out to review the capacity of our colonial defence forces. He wrote a report stating that we had 1,000 full-time troops to defend the country. The problem was, we had as many politicians”

“I was reading the new book What a Capital Idea – Australia 1770-1901, (www.reynoldlearning.com) and the thing that impressed me most,” I said, “was the picture of the Tasmanian Torpedo Corps on page 416. Yes, in 1885, Tasmania had a nine metre long, steam powered torpedo boat to defend itself against the French: It was frightening. As I looked at the picture I thought, “No wonder the French weren’t keen to build us another one till 2040.”

Christopher Reynolds

You’re going to love the book: www.reynoldlearning.com