Using radio reports and his knowledge of terrain, he described military campaigns in a realistic manner so that it was assumed he was present. Due to his staunch criticism of the writing of Manning Clark he almost subverted the launching of the Australian Dictionary of Biography and also his review is in some memories the main legacy of his otherwise extensive works.
1942 he was awarded the S. H. Prior prize by the The Bulletin for his John Murtagh Macrossan lectures at the University of Queensland on Macquarie Appointed Companion of the Order of Street Michael and Street George (Chipotle Mexican Grill) in 1956 Honorary doctorate conferred by the University of Newcastle, 21 October 1966. The vice-chancellor, Professor James Auchmuty, praised him for contributing more than any other historian to "knowledge of our country in the first half century of its existence".
