Talk:Hal Colebatch/Archive 1

I'll look forward to he article on the "crisis". There are many forms of industrial action and they don't all involve a refusal to work, by any means. But it's just nonsense for De Garis to say that. There were other ways Colebatch could have acted and the rapid termination of his premiership is a indication of public feeling on the matter.Grant65 (Talk) 00:50, Apr 20, 2005 (UTC)

• I suspect you're right. I think that biographers have a tendency to try to make their subjects look good, and this can bias the writing of even the best of historians. Certainly this is the case in H.G.P. Colebatch's biography of his dad. De Garis's biography is much better, and he does make a pretty good case for the assertion that Colebatch had very few options open to him throughout the crisis. But even in De Garis there have been a few points where I felt he held back from criticising Colebatch when criticism was warranted. Snottygobble 01:10, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Yep. I'm very familiar with De G's works and he has a consistent propensity to call a spade a teaspoon. So you won't mind dropping the quote then?Grant65 (Talk) 10:50, Apr 20, 2005 (UTC)

Yes, okay. Certainly some historians disagree with De Garis's assessment. Victor Courtney comes to mind as someone who said that Colebatch was "obviously wrong". Since I'm not prepared to include a complete discussion of the range of views held by various scholars, I guess the best thing to do is leave it out altogether. Snottygobble 01:38, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Why "Sir"?

If you only have a CMG, you don't have the right to call yourself "Sir"; that is reserved for KCMGs and GCMGs. Looking at the references, it would seem beyond dispute that Hal Colebatch was a "Sir". Does anyone know by what right? Snottygobble 06:03, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Ah, Knight Bachelor, 1927. Snottygobble 12:20, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Contact with German anti-Nazi?s

Does anyone have a source for this? I have long though that this seems unlikely. I will take it out in a week or two unless someone comes up with something. Grant65 | Talk 05:46, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

• This is clearly stated in Steadfast Knight. I also have my doubts about the extent to which this happened, but the reference is legit. (Snottygobble | Talk) 05:55, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
  • Apparently the source is Sir Hal's memoirs; I have made a change to reflect this. Snottygobble 00:24, 5 October 2006 (UTC)