Blair Tidey

Seen at Goodie’s Mitchell & left there despite my better judgement.

A couple of cheeky purchases from Book Grocer, picked up while on a course last week.

I picked up some bargains from the Canberra Lifeline Book Fair this weekend, a good mix of titles to inform and entertain!

Gorgeous stuff

Starting off my 2026 reading on a good note - these are my combination Christmas presents and holiday purchases. As usual, a good mix of subjects and authors.

Two big anniversaries today - 30 years since I transferred to the Regular Army & Aust Int Corps’ 118th birthday! Although I had to miss the celebrations yesterday, I dropped by the Australian War Memorial this morning and laid poppies for our fallen. Happy birthday to all my fellow green lanyards!

Well that’s another Movember done & dusted, with this soup strainer inspiring and repelling in equal measure.
You can donate via myMo Space, here: movember.com/m/14897463?m... – for all the dads, brothers, sons and mates in your life. Thank you!

I picked up a few gems from the annual Canberra Lifeline Book Fair this weekend. Always a fun outing for book nerds like myself!

One of the books had the signature of the former owner (& one of my sub-thesis supervisors) - Professor Jeff Grey! Store link here: alexanderfaxbooks.com.au

Alexander Fax Booksellers is unfortunately shutting their physical shop at Mawson on 1st November & they are having a 50% off sale. I will miss roaming the aisles and chatting with David, but they will retain their online store and catalogues. I managed to pick up a few gems on Saturday. 1/2

Of course, please feel free to get in contact with me if you have any questions about the Paper, or its use for any professional development activity!

If you are searching for a copy of the Canberra Paper, you can download it for free from the ANU Open Research Repository here: openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/server/api/c...

You can find more about the 2025 Guide at the two links below: researchcentre.army.gov.au/library/read... and at cove.army.gov.au/article/cas-...

I must thank the late Dr Jeff Grey for its inclusion in the 2012 CA Reading List, which the 2025 Guide draws from. Jeff and the equally formidable Peter Dennis supervised the Masters sub-thesis that the Canberra Paper is based on.

A pleasant surprise this week, with my Canberra Paper on Australian specialist intelligence units in Vietnam being included in the Chief of Army’s Professional Study Guide. researchcentre.army.gov.au/sites/defaul...

The content and maps are very similar, but Keogh doesn’t seem to cite the earlier Army publication in his book. Did he ghost write the first one, or re-write the material under his own name for the second? It’s an intriguing question!

This is a pack of two books (one written by the then Chief of General Staff) and nine maps, which predate Keogh by two years.

An interesting recent find, which I initially thought was a different edition of E.G. Keogh’s “Shenandoah 1861-1862”, one of a series of history books that he wrote for the Australian Army (including for Staff College exams).

Two photos of me leaning against Centurion tanks - one at Puckapunyal, VIC in 1989 and one at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec in 2025. Quite a bit has happened in the years between them!

Out & about in Sydney today.

Nice night for a walk in Sydney

Final flight of this (long) travel day!

Arrived in Sydney safely, only one more flight to go!

Quick wander through Vancouver Airport before I catch my flight to Sydney!

In my seat for the flight from Montreal to Vancouver, looking forward to cracking this open!

Wet day in Saint Jean Sur Richelieu, before heading to the airport!

Nothing like a couple of hours in a library, particularly with a view like this!

A walk at dusk in Saint Jean Sur Richelieu.

Good weather this Sunday afternoon to sit in the shade, have a coffee and read a book or two.

A nice Sunday to wander around Saint Jean Sur Richelieu. Had a look at the Haut Richelieu Museum, and the Chambly Canal (with the bonus of seeing Lock #9 in action).