COMP CLOSED: ‘Australian Code Breakers’ by James Phelps

The extraordinary story of a headmaster turned cryptographer, and our top-secret war with the Kaiser’s Reich…

This week we have three copies of Australian Code Breakers by James Phelps to be won. James is Australia’s #1 bestselling true crime writer and recently we enjoyed a video conversation with James – you can check the replay of it here.

On 11 August 1914, just days after war had been declared, Australian Captain J.T. Richardson boarded a German merchant vessel fleeing Melbourne’s Port Phillip and audaciously seized a top-secret naval codebook. The fledgling Australian Navy had an opportunity to immediately change the course of the war. But what exactly had they found? Enter the Australian code breakers…

Recruited by savvy top brass, maths whizz and German speaker Frederick Wheatley worked night and day to fathom the basic principles of the code and start tracking the German Navy’s powerful East Asia Squadron, led by the brilliant Maximilian von Spee. Soon Melbourne was a hub of international Allied intelligence.

This is the untold story of how a former Australian headmaster, and his mostly female team, cracked one of Germany’s most complex codes, paving the way for the greatest Allied naval victory of World War I.

Keen to win yourself a copy? To be in to win, tell us the most memorable thing that YOU have ever broken. Our favourite three answers will WIN a copy of the book!

Entries close midday Monday 25 May, Sydney/Melbourne time.

THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR YOUR ENTRIES! WINNERS WILL BE CONTACTED BY EMAIL AND ANNOUNCED IN OUR NEWSLETTER.