THROUGH his research and writing about Australians' connections with water, Hunter author and historian John Bach has become part of the nation's story.
As well as writing some acclaimed books, notably A Maritime History of Australia, Dr Bach edited the journals of early colonial mariners, including a transcription of the notes by William Bligh recording his legendary open-boat voyage in the wake of the mutiny on his ship, the Bounty.
"In the field of maritime history, he was a leader," said John Bach's close friend and former University of Newcastle colleague Dr Noel Rutherford.
John Bach died on July 7, on the eve of his 98th birthday, at his Coal Point home, on the shores of Lake Macquarie.
A passion for the sea coursed through John Bach's blood. He was born in Sydney in 1923, the son of a British master mariner.
"I'm sure it was his father's legacy that he was picking up," said Noel Rutherford of his friend's interest in maritime subjects.
As a young man, John Bach was in the air and in the thick of trouble, enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force and flying in bomber missions over Europe during World War Two.
After the war, he worked for Qantas as a navigator before being drawn back to the water, buying a boatshed and hire business in Sydney.
While he moved on from that business into the academic world, he didn't leave the sea behind, focussing on maritime subjects in his writing, even though he taught other branches of history.
In 1954, he moved to Newcastle to be the first history lecturer at the city's infant university college. John Bach remained at the university until he retired in 1985, having primarily lectured in Chinese and Japanese history.
"He was a highly respected historian," recalled Dr Bernie Curran, a former university colleague and fellow historian.
"He really adhered to the search for facts. He was relentless in his pursuit of truth."
In 1966, the Australian Chamber of Shipping commissioned John Bach to write a history of Australian sea transport and industry.
Over the next decade, that project grew into A Maritime History of Australia.
Kevin Sumption, Director and CEO of the Australian National Maritime Museum, said John Bach would remain "a seminal figure in the investigation and recording of Australian maritime history".
"His landmark 1976 publication A Maritime History of Australia was vital in rethinking Australia's relationship with the oceans," he said.
"We are all indebted to his scholarship."
The development of Newcastle as a port over two centuries features in A Maritime History of Australia.
More than 45 years ago, John Bach wrote in the book, "It is impossible to predict the future of Newcastle as a port, despite all the encouraging talk of the moment."
John Bach also wrote a book about the Royal Navy's presence in the Pacific during the 19th century, as well as taking readers on that extraordinary six-week, 5800-kilometre open-boat voyage with William Bligh, via his notebook, from Tonga to Timor in 1789.
"He was the ideal person to do the Bligh notebook, because he was an outstanding historian and outstanding navigator," said Dr Bach's partner of 40 years, Hilary Purves.
John Bach was also a member of a number of history and maritime archaeology committees. He was a chairman of the Australian Netherlands Committee on Old Dutch Shipwrecks, helping maintain and distribute artefacts from four historic wrecks, including that of the infamous Batavia, discovered off Western Australia.
Bernie Curran said as a historian, John Bach was "very significant".
"You knew that from the number of people who referred to his work and the integrity of his work; he stood high among historians," Dr Curran said.
More than writing about it, John Bach loved venturing onto the water, sailing his yacht on Lake Macquarie.
"He loved the lake, because it's such a wonderful yachting place," said Dr Purves.
Noel Rutherford recalled his friend was always neat and proper.
"When he came to my place for a beer, he'd be in a reefer jacket and tie," Noel Rutherford said.
"He was meticulous in everything he did," said Hilary Purves.
John Bach will be farewelled at a service at Lake Macquarie Memorial Park at 2pm on Thursday.
