Pathfinder, ‘Kriegie” and Gumboot Governor

The Adventurous Life of Sir James Rowland AC, KBE, DFC, AFC

By Peter Yule and Sir James Rowland

Published by Big Sky Publishing
RRP $34.99 in paperback  |  ISBN: 9781922387400

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It is thanks to James Rowland’s daughter that this memoir has seen the light of day. Rowland wrote the majority of it following his lung cancer diagnosis – he died in 1999.

Peter Yule, fortunately, has been able to successfully take over the story telling and give us a highly readable account of an extraordinary man’s life.

Aged just 22, Rowland became a Lancaster pilot in the elite Pathfinder force via the Empire Air Training Scheme. He was awarded the DFC.

Later he was taken prisoner following a collision with a Canadian aircraft over Germany.

And so began his decades-long association with military aviation.

Back in Australia, having completed tertiary studies, he joined the RAAF, eventually rising to become Chief of the Air Staff in 1975, via a career as a test pilot.

On retirement he was appointed Governor of New South Wales and later sat on a number of boards, including chairing the Aerospace Foundation, set up to run the Avalon Air Show.

He was universally respected and admired.

Who knew he was a cousin of Australia’s great literary icon Judith Wright?

VERDICT: This and other intriguing and little-known facts emerge in this book that many readers, especially those who worked alongside Jim Rowland, will find fascinating. I certainly did.