Renowned television scriptwriter, author and historian Michael Veitch held a spellbound audience at Ink Bookshop recently when he spoke about his latest release, Borneo: The Last Campaign.

Coinciding with the opening night of the High Country Festival, the street celebrations did little to deter the crowd of about 60 people who packed into the store to hear Veitch unpack the “last campaign of WW2”.

Veitch told the audience that after his television career wound down, he turned his attention to more serious historical research, focusing largely on Australians at war and early migration.

Some projects, he said, involve more than a year of travel to gather interviews and verify detail.

His latest book tells the story of Operation OBOE, the massive three-pronged assault on Japanese-held Borneo in 1945.

It was one of the largest amphibious invasions of the entire war, and a virtually all-Australian operation.

Over the final 12 weeks of World War Two, the 1st Australian Army Corps pushed through burning oil fields, tropical rivers, leech-ridden tracks and steep country in pursuit of the remnants of the Japanese army.

Far from the simple “mopping-up” soldiers had been promised, the fighting proved as savage as anything witnessed in the Pacific theatre.

Veitch outlined the scale and complexity of OBOE.

Australia’s 7th and 9th Divisions stormed ashore at three landing sites, supported by US and Australian naval forces and Dyak guerrilla fighters.

Their objectives were to secure Borneo’s vital oil facilities and liberate local populations who had suffered under occupation.

Although the campaign is now largely forgotten—and debated for its impact so late in the war—the skill and bravery shown by Australian troops is not in question.

More than 70,000 Australian personnel took part.

Over 2000 became casualties, with nearly 600 killed.

The campaign also produced the final two Australian Victoria Crosses of the war, along with dozens of other gallantry awards.

OBOE achieved all of its objectives and stands as the last sustained Allied action of World War Two.

Drawing on a wide range of firsthand accounts, including interviews with the two last surviving veterans, Borneo: The Last Campaign presents the landings and the fighting in meticulous, previously unpublished detail.

Veitch, now considered one of Australia’s strongest researchers in wartime history, has a distinctive narrative style that keeps readers engaged from first page to last.

During the talk, he asked how many in the room had family connections to Borneo.

Several hands went up.

One woman said she had lived on the island, while others had visited and walked the wartime trails.

Veitch closed with news of his next book—this time shifting to a different era entirely.

He is now working on a new account of the Loch Ard shipwreck.

“There is more to this story than has always been told,” he said.

The book is expected to be released in 2026.

Borneo: The Last Campaign is available from Ink Bookshop, High Street, Mansfield.