HMAS Sydney's destruction of the German cruiser Emden in the first weeks of the war was acclaimed across the world. Sydney and her sister cruiser Melbourne clocked up more sea miles than any other Allied warship. The RAN saw action in every ocean and most of the world's seas. Rivers, too. Yarra steamed high up the Sepik River in New Guinea. The jaunty little cruiser Pioneer braved the treacherous shallows of the Rifiji in East Africa. Swan crossed the Black Sea to help the Cossacks of the River Don hold off Bolshevik revolutionaries ...

They Sang Like Kangaroos offers stories from the earliest days of the Royal Australian Navy that are largely unheard, including the battle before Gallipoli; drama in Port Phillip Bay with a German steamer; the hero denied a promotion who went down with his ship; a real-life James Bond, and more.