The Great Circle - The Australian Association for Maritime History

The Great Circle is the journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History. Established in 1979, this refereed journal is published twice per year. The Great Circle is distributed in both hard copy and electronically via JSTOR.

2026 Vol 48 No.1

Guest Editorial (Matilda Hatcher)
The Southern Continent of Franciscus Monachus: Australis Orę (Robert J. King)
Slavery, Indian Ocean Africa and the Global Crosscurrents of Forced Migration (Jeremy Prestholdt)
‘Out of the Usual Line of Duty’: The Marines on Australia’s First Fleet (Gary L. Sturgess and Glen Lambert)
The Phantom Carpenter: A Convict’s Transoceanic Escape in the Wake of Mutiny (Stefan J. Ramonat)
Building Sophia Jane: Setting the Record Straight (Peter Cooke)
Allied Naval Operations: The Royal Australian Navy and Royal Hellenic Navy in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1940–41 (Anna Efstathiadou and Charles Adams)

2025 Vol 47 No.2

Guest Editorial: Coastal Forts and Maritime Cultural Landscapes (Rod Mather and John O. Jensen)
Honouring Both the Links and the Chain: Conservation Challenges for Maratha Maritime Heritage of Konkan, India (Mugdha Kulkarni)
Glocal Defence: Siting Coastal Fortifications in Maritime Context (Peter Hobbins)
The Fortified Bay: Unveiling World War II Heritage in Port Stephens (Judy Washington)
Rethinking Coastal Archaeology Using LiDAR (Greg Jackson, Pam Forbes and Brad Duncan)
Interpreting Shared Histories Through Southeast Asian Maritime Collections (Hasna Alya, Andrew Henderson, Retno Ayu Lestari, Dyah Pandam Mitayani, Natali Pearson and Dwirahmi Suryandari)
The Botany Baymen: Notes on Australia’s Early Maritime Trade. The Wreck of HMS Guardian (Gary Sturgess)
Obtaining the Lines of an Early Sydney Colonial Boat (Benjamin Wharton)
The First Settlers of Lord Howe Island (Jann Barry and Chris Murray)
Life Aboard Balaena: the Rise and Fall of the British Whaling Industry After World War II (Alex MacRitchie)

2025 Vol 47 No.1

HMS Orpheus Memorialisation and Relief Fund: Tragedy on the Australia Station, 7 February 1863 (Jeff Hopkins-Weise)
Unravelling Historical Maritimer Connections: China and Sri Lanka Through the Lens of the Tribute system (Nirmali Wijegoonawardana)
Competition, Conflict and Cooperation: The Voyage of Mathew Weatherhead Across the Pacific in 1792 (Marion Amies and Gary Sturgess)
Regia Nave Puglia: An Italian torpedo Ram Around the World 1901-23 (Bruno Cianci)
Australian Rum and the Royal Navy During the Second World War (Brian Bertosa)
The Botany Baymen Exporting Australian Mahogany in 1792 (Gary L Sturgess)
Tracing HMS Blanche: Stories Behind Officers’ Portraits and Archival; Records (Yuk Kei Lo)

2024 Vol 46 No.2

The Southern Continent on the Globe by Guillaume Nicolai Belga, Lyon 1603 (Robert King)
Whaling in the early decades of the Australian colonies (David Stuart)
The Botany Baymen: Notes on Australia’s Early Maritime Trade. The Melvill Cup (Gary L. Sturgess)
The History of Sailing Vessels in the Australian Merchant Fleet (David W Turner)
Book reviews

2024 Vol 46 No.1

Caroline Chisholm, Australia's Famous Humanitarian, & William Schaw Lindsay, a British Shipping Magnate (Bill Lindsay)
The Botany Baymen: Notes on Australia's Early Maritime Trade The Britannia Cashbook (Gary L Sturgess)
The History of Australia's Merchant Steamer Fleet through the Prism of Shipwrecks (David Turner)
Fregattenkapitan Theodor Detmers: A captivating tale of escape and resilience (Peter Sleeth and Ron Jithoo)
Classic Texts Revisited: Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore (Gary L Sturgess)

Aims and scope

The Great Circle encompasses all aspects of maritime history but encourages a focus on the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans, especially for the period 1500 CE to the present. Authors intending to submit work for publication are welcome to contact the Editor to discuss topics prior to submission.

To view the journal’s Style Guide, please click here.

Authorship

Authors must be the creators of original work submitted to The Great Circle. All named authors must have contributed materially to the research, design and expression within the submitted manuscript.

Submissions must address topics suitable to the scope of The Great Circle.
Articles are only accepted and published in English.
Citing prior articles in The Great Circle within your endnotes is a good indicator that your work will address the journal’s audience.
Submissions must not have been concurrently submitted or previously published elsewhere.

Authors of research articles or research notes who are not currently members of the AAMH are entitled to one year’s free membership in the Association.

When submitting manuscripts, authors must clearly state the extent to which artificial intelligence (AI) tools have contributed to the work: a) Little or no AI input (may include spell checking or image correction); b) Basic AI analysis of source materials and/or text review (e.g. data manipulation, translation of passages, grammar correction); c) Extensive AI use (e.g. data mining, substantial translations, comprehensive assistance with structure, composition and expression). Submissions primarily or wholly generated by AI will not be accepted.

Title

A Great Circle is any circumference of a sphere with its radius fixed at the sphere’s centre. On Earth that includes the Equator and all meridians of longitude, but a Great Circle can also lie at any angle across them.

The shortest distance between two points on Earth lies along the Great Circle that links them. This concept was crucial for ocean navigation as it developed during the great eras of sail.

Likewise, The Great Circle links scholars and organisations, while encompassing all aspects of maritime history. This journal of the Australian Association of Maritime History particularly encourages a focus on the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans.

ISSNs

Print: 0156-8698
Digital: 2209-9409

Peer review

Articles of up to 10,000 words (including endnotes) deemed suitable for The Great Circle will be double-blind peer reviewed by at least two assessors. This process usually takes 4–8 weeks. Authors will be provided with the reviewers’ comments, including an assessment of whether the article is appropriate for publication, plus any suggested revisions. Authors will be given 2–3 weeks to revise and return the manuscript in response to reviewer comments. Accepted items will be published with an indicator that ‘This article has been peer reviewed’.

The Great Circle does not use AI to review, edit or proofread submissions. All peer reviewers are required to confirm that they have not used AI in assessing manuscripts.

Research Notes of up to 3,000 words (including endnotes) will be reviewed by the Editor, who reserves the right to forward manuscripts for double-blind peer review prior to deciding whether to publish. Accepted items will be published with an indicator that ‘This research note has not been peer reviewed’.

Publishing schedule

The Great Circle is published twice per year.

Access

Each issue of The Great Circle is distributed in hard copy to all members of the Australian Association for Maritime History. Membership is via an annual subscription fee.

Each issue of The Great Circle becomes available digitally on JSTOR one year after the hard copy is distributed. Access to JSTOR requires an institutional subscription or may entail payment for individual articles. Past issues can be searched and accessed at https://www.jstor.org/journal/greacirc

At present, there is no option for Open Access publishing of The Great Circle articles or issues.

Indexing and ranking

The Great Circle is indexed by EBSCO and Scopus.

Two indexes are maintained for the contents of The Great Circle.

Papers in The Great Circle 1979-2026

Reviews in The Great Circle 1979-2025

The Great Circle’s 2026 SCImago media rankings are:
SJR 2024: 0.132 Q2
H-Index: 2

Ownership and management

The Great Circle is owned and managed by the Australian Association for Maritime History, a not-for-profit organisation based in Fremantle, Western Australia. The committee of the Association include a President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. Both the committee and the Editorial team for the journal serve in a voluntary capacity.

Editorial team

General Editor:	Dr Peter Hobbins, State Library of New South Wales
Review Editor:	Matilda Hatcher, Australian National University
Production Manager:	Dr Ian Chambers, independent scholar

Contact

Dr Peter Hobbins
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Great Circle

PO Box 1873
Fremantle, WA 6959
Australia

Editorial Board

The Great Circle is indebted to the members of our international Editorial Board, who serve in a voluntary capacity.

Associate Professor Alessandro Antonello, University of Tasmania, Australia
Dr Margaret Cook, Griffith University, Australia
Dr Kristie Flannery, Australian Catholic University, Australia
Dr Eureka Henrich, University of New South Wales, Australia
Dr Rohan Howitt, Monash University, Australia
Professor Catherine Kelly, University of Bristol, England
Dr Ross Mackie, Sea Power Centre, Royal Australian Navy, Australia
Professor Rod Mather, University of Rhode Island, USA
Dr Natali Pearson, University of Sydney, Australia
Associate Professor Tiffany Shellam, Deakin University, Australia
Associate Professor Frances Steel, University of Otago, New Zealand

Ethics and malpractice statement

All authors submitting work to The Great Circle must certify the following.

The manuscript is their original work and has not been concurrently submitted or previously published elsewhere.
All published and unpublished sources used in the work have been appropriately cited, with direct quotations clearly marked as such.
That information, images and data (including fieldwork) included in the manuscript have been collected ethically and in accordance with local and international laws and regulations.
Subject to the standards of scholarly critique and historical analysis, the work does not contain any libellous content.
Any affiliations or funding arrangements that may have affected the conduct or presentation of the material in the manuscript must be disclosed.
Every individual who has made a material contribution to the research, design and expression of the submitted manuscript will be nominated as an author; no authors are to be listed unless they satisfy these authorship requirements.
The corresponding author must secure approval from all named authors to publish the final version of the laid-out article prior to publication.
Any copyrighted materials such as figures have been appropriately cited and any permissions and/or fees have been finalised with the copyright holder prior to publication.
It is acknowledged that all work published in The Great Circle is copyrighted to the publisher and must not be reproduced without express permission and appropriate licensing.

Research misconduct

The Great Circle operates on the principle of good faith, assuming that authors have conducted their research and prepared original manuscripts honestly, ethically, conscientiously and in compliance with relevant ethical standards and laws.

The Editor and the journal’s peer reviewers will query any potential indicators of research misconduct, plagiarism or infringement of copyright. In such instances, the Editor will liaise with the corresponding author to seek clarification and evidence as required. Manuscripts will not be published until any such concerns are resolved to the satisfaction of the Editor. The Editor also reserves the right to consult with members of the Editorial Board for advice and guidance in addressing potential cases of misconduct.

Any suspected instances of research misconduct within items already published in The Great Circle should be reported to the Editor, who will then instigate an investigation. At the Editor’s discretion, any affected works may be withdrawn from digital circulation and/or subject to a correction or retraction note. The Editor will seek the advice of the Editorial Board in resolving any such matter.

Publishing ethics

Authorship and contributorship: every individual who has made a material contribution to the research, design and expression of the submitted manuscript will be nominated as an author; no authors are to be listed unless they satisfy these authorship requirements.

Complaints and appeals: all complaints about content, including suggestions of inaccuracy, misrepresentation or misconduct, should be referred to the Editor. The Editor will, at their discretion, escalate investigation and resolution of complaints and subsequent appeals to the Editorial Board.

Conflicts of interest: all contributors to The Great Circle are required to state that they have declared any potential sources of personal, institutional or financial conflict of interest, and that any such conflict has not affected the research or presentation of information in their manuscript.

Data sharing: authors whose work includes the analysis and presentation of data are requested to make available all relevant data sources for confidential inspection by the Editor, should questions arise regarding its collection, completeness or veracity. Authors will not be expected to share their raw or processed data with third parties, unless in response to serious and substantiated concerns regarding misconduct or misrepresentation. Authors whose work includes datasets not published in the final article are encouraged to lodge their data with open repositories such as the Australian Research Data Commons.

Ethical oversight: all research submitted to The Great Circle must have been conducted ethically and with relevant permits, including appropriate oversight by human ethics research committees and local regulatory bodies.

Intellectual property: the moral right to be identified as the author(s) remains with the creators of all work submitted to The Great Circle, notwithstanding the intellectual property in any copyrighted materials reproduced with permission. Upon publication, the copyright in the final form of written and visual presentation of work published in The Great Circle rests with the Australian Association for Maritime History as the publishers.

Post-publication discussions and corrections: where authors or other parties detect errors or substantive concerns with a published article, The Great Circle reserves the right to publish errata or addenda to the digital versions of the article. In cases where other parties dispute or seek to present an alternative perspective on published works, at the Editor’s discretion a right-of-reply publication may be commissioned, after which no further correspondence will be entered into. In cases of significant disputes arising from content published in The Great Circle, the Editor will seek the counsel of the Editorial Board.

Archiving

The National Library of Australia is the library of record for all past copies of the journal: https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn7858458

Revenue sources

The Great Circle is supported by the Australian Association for Maritime History, a not-for-profit organisation. The journal receives revenue from licensing and indexing agreements with JSTOR and EBSCO, based on published content.

Advertising

The Great Circle does not accept advertising or content supported by advertising revenue.

Direct marketing

The Editor may approach potential authors to contribute articles or reviews for general or special issues of The Great Circle. Any such approaches will be individually addressed and targeted to a specific topic or series of contributions.

Author fees

No author fees are payable for publishing in The Great Circle, with the exception that reproduction of colour figures in the hard copy version may attract additional production expenses. Any such costs will be discussed with the author(s) in advance.

Additional hard copies of an issue may be commissioned. Any fees for production and postage costs will be agreed with the author(s) in advance.

Authors are responsible for the costs of all figures supplied with the manuscript, including commissioned charts and artwork, high-resolution photographs, and licensing fees levied by copyright holders.

Copyright

Copyright in the published work is held by the Australian Association for Maritime History as the publisher. This copyright incorporates the final form of written expression, plus the layout and reproduction rights for any original figures. Authors must not subsequently re-use the work or circulate copies of published articles without the advance permission of the Editor and the Australian Association for Maritime History. In submitting work to The Great Circle, authors agree to these terms.

Licensing

Licensing for digital versions of articles published in The Great Circle rests with JSTOR. Published articles must not be distributed or displayed in any format or on any other platform.

Pre-acceptance versions of articles may be shared digitally once the content has been published by The Great Circle, but must be clearly identified as not representing the definitive version.