I am currently working on a biography of Thomas Edmonds of baking powder and cookbook fame! This should take me about a year to complete, so watch this space for more info next year.

Last month there was an article in the Christchurch Press, written to help track down more info. It worked brilliantly!

Thomas Edmonds researcher looks for Sure to Rise family ties for first biography

If you have stories or photographs to share from the Edmonds family history, please email me on dawsonsbjl@xtra.co.nz

The Plimmer Legacy – a family story from early Wellington to modern farming in the Rangitikei is shortly to go to print. It’s beautifully illustrated with a mixture of archival images and photographs by Wellington photographer Chris Coad. The book is to be published by Penguin Random House at the end of April 2019.

A Career Less Ordinary – the book I wrote to celebrate 75 years of women in the RNZAF – has finally been published. It won’t appear in bookshops but will be sent to all schools and cadet forces.

Overview of A Career Less Ordinary

As the author of Laucala Bay – The story of the RNZAF in Fiji 1939 to 1967 I was invited to Suva, Fiji, for the unveiling of a monument celebrating 25 years of the RNZAF during the flying boat years at Laucala Bay. While there I had the opportunity to make a presentation on the book at the University of the South Pacific. The event received quite a bit of media coverage in Fiji, as did the book.

Monument Unveiled In Fiji For RNZAF Flying Boat Veterans

New Zealand Defence Force on Medium.com, 23 March 2018

A commemorative monument has been unveiled in Fiji to recognise the service of veterans from the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s (RNZAF) flying boat operations, based at Laucala Bay in Suva, from 1941 to 1967.

RNZAF’s №5 Squadron conducted anti-submarine patrols, maritime reconnaissance and transport and air-sea rescue missions, flying Short Singapore, Consolidated Catalina and Short Sunderland aircraft.

The monument, designed and made in Fiji, was unveiled yesterday by Fiji Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama and New Zealand Defence Minister Ron Mark at the University of the South Pacific, on the land that was formerly home to the RNZAF №5 Squadron. Read more…

Book Reveals Legacy of No. 5 Squadron

Fiji Sun, 21 March 2018

On September 3, 1939, the day New Zealand declared war on Germany, the New Zealand Aerodrome Services Branch of the PWD declared that “bare facilities” were open for operation at the flying boat operation, in Suva, a soon-to-be-released book says.

The book, Laucala Bay – The story of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in Fiji 1940 to 1967, says “this was a bold claim given that the site had not yet been surveyed, let alone developed.”

“At that point the facilities amounted to a couple of mooring buoys and an expanse of water, not even the most elementary construction had been done,” wrote New Zealand author Bee Dawson.

“This extraordinary overoptimistic announcement so piqued the curiosity of the captain of a passing PAA (Pan American Airways) Boeing 314 Clipper that he detoured over Fiji in order to overfly the new seaplane alighting area. The sight of the flying boat over Suva and neighbouring Laucala Bay was a major event in this hitherto quiet Pacific spot.” Read more…

Strict Rules on Social Life Maintained Standards at Early Laucala Bay Base

Fiji Sun, 22 March 2018

While members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force at Laucala Bay in Suva were preparing for war, their social life also came under scrutiny, a new book soon to be released, reveals.

Rules were put in place to “protect them”, the book, Laucala Bay – The Story of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in Fiji 1940 to 1967, shows.

The author, New Zealander Bee Dawson, wrote “it was fortunate that the station facilities were attractive, as there was little opportunity to go anywhere else.”

Camp bounds were strictly laid down by the army authorities in the early days of the base operations and with Fiji firmly under British rule.

“The following places are out of bounds to airmen: Nasese Village, Toorak Dance Hall, lounges of the Grand Pacific and Metropole Hotels.

“The first two of these locations were banned in order to prevent fraternisation with the locals, the second because the lounges of these upmarket hotels were to be patronised only by officers,” Ms Dawson wrote. Read more…

Romance Was In The Air When First NZ Women Joined Laucala Bay Station

Fiji Sun, 23 March 2018

Bee Dawson is the author of Laucala Bay -The story of the RNZAF in Fiji 1939 to 1967. Today she will make a presentation on her book at the University of the South Pacific in conjunction with the unveiling of a RNZAF monument and USP’s 50th anniversary

The excerpts from the book reveal an interesting perspective of life at the former flying boat base.

Romance was in the air when the first 12 members of the post-war WAAFs (Women’s Auxilliary Air Force) arrived in 1953 at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base at Laucala Bay in Suva.

As in the war years, romantic liaisons between WAAFs and the male personnel flourished under the tropical sun.

Within 15 months three of the first contingent of WAAFs were married to airmen. Read more…

Flying boat troops

The Fiji Times Online, 26 March 2018

LAST Friday marked a new beginning for Fijian and New Zealand defence ties.

A monument was unveiled to recognise the service of veterans from the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s (RNZAF) flying boat operations who were based at Laucala Bay in Suva from 1941 to 1967.

The unveiling of the monument also coincided with the visit by NZ Defence Minister Ron Mark and the celebration of the University of the South Pacific’s 50th Anniversary.

The event was a day of wonderful memories for many and especially those Fijians who once lived and worked at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base, who returned five decades later to their old home. Read more…

My new book Laucala Bay. The RNZAF in Fiji 1939 to 1967 was launched at the Ohakea Air Tattoo, 25-26 February 2017.

The best way to fly to Fiji – on an RNZAF P3 Orion!

This is me with some of the crew just after we landed at Nausori after a fascinating seven hour flight from Auckland to Fiji. This was part of ‘Operation Big Eye’ (Pacific Fisheries Patrol) so there was a lot of swooping down to 300 feet as we inspected fishing vessels and reefs. And the onboard cooking was brilliant – eggs Benedict for brunch, steak, onions and wedges for late lunch. An amazing day.

This was the beginning of a week researching the RNZAF in Fiji, with an emphasis on the seaplane station at Laucala Bay, Suva. 29 July 2015.

With You. The Mary Potter Hospice Story was launched at the Michael Fowler Centre on 20 November, 2014.

With You was commissioned by the Little Company of Mary as a gift to the Hospice and the people of Wellington. It is fitting that the book is being launched 100 years after the first Sisters of the Little Company of Mary arrived in New Zealand.

The book will be available at the Hospice bases and shops from the end of November.

My new book Puketiti Station: The story of an East Cape sheep station and the 180-year-old Williams legacy was published on 18 October.

No Journey Made Alone – 35 Years of the Child Cancer Foundation was launched in the billiard room of Highwic House, Newmarket, Auckland on 21 August.

When Prince Charles visited RNZAF Base Ohakea on 15 November the Chief of Air Force, AVM Peter Stockwell presented him with a copy of the newly published Wigram – Birthplace of Military Aviation in New Zealand.

This was a particularly appropriate birthday gift as, not only is the Prince the Air Commodore in Chief of the RNZAF, but on page 310 there’s a 1983 picture of a much younger prince inspecting a parade accompanied by the then Flight Lieutenant Stockwell!