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Sydney ('Syd') Kirkby OA, MBE, Polar Medal

explorer, surveyor
1933 -

 

White Hat is delighted to be able to publish the following profile of Sydney Kirkby by David Carstens. Full details on the source of the article can be found at the end. This profile is reproduced with the permission of the author and of Sydney Kirby himself

Sydney Kirkby OA, MBE, Polar Medal

In his retirement, Syd Kirkby lives in sunny Queensland, lectures a little, writes a little, and visits Antarctica a few times a year as specialist lecturer or expedition patron. He is busier than ever.

Virtually all of Syd�s working life has been spent in exploration and mapping and associated survey activities. Antarctic commitment commenced in 1955 when he was appointed as Surveyor at Mawson for 1956, the third year of A.N.A.R.E. operations on the Antarctic continent.

It has been stated by Phillip Law that Syd Kirkby has explored more of Australian Antarctic Territory than any other Australian. This accolade is made in comparison with Sir Douglas Mawson and Phillip Law himself and stems from the many expeditions in which Syd has been engaged, both wintering and summer journeys.

Syd Kirkby was born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1933. Education progressed through primary and secondary levels in his Home State. Syd maintains a close and appreciative attachment to his secondary college, Hale School, in Perth.

Surveying studies followed, qualifying as a Surveyor through the (then) Articles System of experience, evening study, and examination by the Surveyors Board of Western Australia. Syd commenced his indenture in 1951 and completed his final examinations in 1955, just before his first Antarctic engagement for the year of 1956. (The Surveyors Boards of each State had a reciprocal agreement for the Registration of Surveyors. A university degree provided an exemption from the Board theory examinations. Oral ant practical examination was common to both forms of study and preceded registration as a Surveyor. The university course had ceased (temporarily) in Western Australia in 1950).

But some mention of Syd Kirkby�s youth.

Syd�s father was a self educated man, a philosopher of great intellect who considered and treated all people as equals. He was a meteorologist. Syd�s mother was English born and migrated to Australia with her parents, to a land development scheme south of Perth. Mrs. Kirkby was also a self-educated person who took up paid employment in 1954 as an Almoner with the Department of Health and eventually became Head of her Department dealing with Social Welfare.

The family had much contact with Aboriginal people and Aboriginal folks were frequent visitors to the home. Two aboriginal children, in particular, lived with them and were considered part of the family.

Syd�s brother Karl was five years younger than Syd but always a great companion. Syd admired his brother�s achievements. By the age of seventeen he was a dashing favourite with the ladies. (Syd says, �as distinct from himself�). He was able to make a good living from Motor Cycle Racing and achieved fame riding in England and also in continental Europe. Karl died at age twenty-two after a short illness.

Polio struck at Syd Kirkby when he was five years old. He was affected by paralyses from the waist down. His left leg was seriously paralysed and there was diminished function in the right leg. The challenge to overcome this adversity was led by his parents and most notably his father. Kirkby Senior adopted and enforced a strenuous and rigorous regime for his crippled son, stretching the lad to his physical limits in order to regain use of his legs. Meanwhile Syd�s mother attended to a newly born brother and provided a sympathetic support for the older son. Syd was subjected to the theories of the well-known Australian nurse, Sister Kenny, whose work with sufferers of poliomyelitis became world famous. This was in the early days of Sister Kenny and her treatment theories. These theories had less than universal acceptance in 1938. Criticism of the method adopted created additional difficulty for the family due to the strenuous nature of the routine compared with accepted methods of bed rest. The dedication of Syd�s father is typified by the arrangement that he took a night job in order to dedicate the daytime to the rehabilitation of his son.

The challenge was first approached through swimming. Syd would be taken to the sea baths on the petrol tank of his father�s Harley Davidson motorcycle. On the beach Dad would unstrap Syd�s callipers and plunge into the water, leaving Syd to make his own way in to the water. Syd hated the idea of being considered a cripple and met this challenge with determination and he remembers that challenge well. In the water Syd could move more easily and Dad led him in a most strenuous and exhausting range of exercise.

Progress slowed somewhat when Syd�s father served in the armed services during the war. Over time, the game of chess became an important activity and father and son developed very competitive attitudes with this mental engagement.

As mobility improved, boxing was identified as a sport to follow. This was at age eleven or twelve years. Boxing required prowess and mind power and Syd developed considerable skill in this sport. Gradually winning became part of the scene and this was a source of pride and achievement for father and son. Syd only lost two fights out of eighty-four competitive bouts.

Syd Kirkby looks back on a happy and fulfilling family upbringing. Teenage years were idyllic. Camping, fishing and going bush were constant activities of Dad, Syd and brother Karl. Mother attended to her more ladylike pursuits at home during these outside activities. She had her days of roughing it in her youth during the pioneering farming pursuits of her parents in the Mt. Barker district, north of Albany.

Attitudes, developed in overcoming the disability of a withered leg, have been put to advantage in reaching that high level of achievement that is the hallmark of the man Syd Kirkby. Typically, a challenge to his appointment as Surveyor at Mawson for 1960, made during his medical for that expedition, was overcome by arguing that he had already served as Surveyor in 1956. This was a year in which he had participated in some of the most strenuous dog sledging (ever) undertaken out of Mawson. As it will be seen, Syd was appointed Surveyor for 1960. Much more Antarctic work was to follow.

Early plans during schooling were directed towards Syd Kirkby studying Law. Family friend, �Uncle� Frank Goyder, a well known early Surveyor and Surveyor General in South Australia, had regaled the family with his stories of exploration and so Syd had decided at a young age that �The best thing in the world was to be an Explorer�. This influence took effect during the first term of the last year at school. Little did he know when he changed his study from an arts curriculum to science, that Antarctica was to become such an important field of exploration for him.

Having adopted surveying as a career, Syd Kirkby was indentured to the Surveyor General of Western Australia, Mr. W.V. Fyfe. As a Surveyor General is an administrative position and surveying demands practical field training, Mr. Fyfe delegated this latter function to other surveyors.

Syd considers himself fortunate to have served his Articles with, and been encouraged by, some very eminent and challenging Surveyors.

For his first assignment Syd was working on a farm development scheme in the Midlands of Western Australia, 150 miles North of Perth. Much of this time was spent with Survey Hand, Ben Scrivener, who as a Party Leader imparted the necessary practices of field survey work. Ben was not formally trained in the mathematics and theory of survey practice but imparted to fellow workers the practice of getting the work done well. Syd was an appreciative beneficiary of the expertise and guidance of Ben Scrivener who took a special interest in stimulating Syd in his theory studies. Study was mostly by correspondence, using coursework from Melbourne Technical College Correspondence School (now RMIT). Some subjects were studied through textbooks without the benefit of lecture notes.

With Ben Scrivener, Syd undertook additional activities in any spare time available, notably Sundays. This was to boost income; and one notable project was taking on a contract to cut railway sleepers, fence posts and telephone poles. Poles were the preferred work.

After two year in the Midlands, Syd then worked with Surveyor Alister Ewing. This was in a wide ranging Private Practice in Surveying. This experience occupied the second and third years of Articles and in the third year Syd became a Party Leader. Ewing was the inventor of the Stadia Altimeter referred to later in this text.

Harry Payne, a retired Assistant Surveyor General was the next employer. Payne was in Private Practice and Syd was engaged as a Party Leader on a large project of land classification in the timber country of the Valley of the Giants, near Denmark, W.A.. Then time was spent in the Survey Office of the Lands Department working on computing and administrative tasks. This led to involvement with a most challenging and interesting project, encouraged by his Master Surveyors.

In 1954, before he qualified as a Surveyor, Syd Kirkby managed to promote a hobby-like interest in astronomy into a position as surveyor / astronomer with the joint Commonwealth / State Great Sandy Desert Expedition. This provided surveying experience coupled with first hand contact with the local Aborigines. At this time the indigenous inhabitants still lived in this area as they had for time immemorial. This was before they were subjected to the glare of the anthropological spotlight and before the centre of Australia was crossed and recrossed by graded tracks constructed by the Weapons Research Establishment. Now these tracks are a popular attraction for �adventure holidays�. In 1954 the local people were aware of �white man� but mostly had had no contact.

The Great Sandy Desert Expedition set out to map and geologise the area containing the Canning Stock Route which had been established in 1922 with the provision of thirty-one wells. The new Expedition included upgrading of watering points and refurbishing infrastructure at these places and establishing new water sources. This was the first vehicular traverse of this area. Short Wheelbase, Series 1, Land Rovers provided the transport, supported by a Commer Three Ton Truck for fuel and supply depots.

The story Syd tells of finding a particularly heavy piece of rock is interesting, especially in hindsight. Syd was sure he had found gold and his fortune. He submitted the specimen to the geologist who laughed it off as just another rock. The rock was discarded. In view of the gold found in this area subsequently, one is left to wonder --- especially Syd Kirkby.

This Expedition work was an interlude to the office experience in Perth.

Working in Perth gave Syd Kirkby the opportunity to follow an interest in amateur theatre. He took a lead role in two productions of the Perth Repertory Society:

In recent years in Queensland this interest was continued with the role of Scott in Fire on the Snow, Mr. Frank in The Diary of Ann Frank and the doctor in A Kind of Alaska with the Brisbane Arts Theatre. As well he has taken a number of roles with metropolitan and regional theatre companies.

The arrangement by which Syd Kirkby served Articles with the Surveyor General of Western Australia was challenging and beneficial in itself, but it also opened doors to interesting and inventive surveying technology. Of course Syd Kirkby demonstrated the aptitude, ability and enthusiasm to embrace and contribute to all these opportunities. Appointment to the position of Surveyor, Mawson 1956 preceded his formal qualification, but registration as a Surveyor followed before embarkation. Syd considers that Phillip Law took some risk in making this early selection. Time has shown otherwise. Syd considers that some glowing references from his Master Surveyors and colleagues enabled his selection at the age of 21 years when there was a preferred age of 28 years.

The Ewing Stadia Altimeter was an early exposure to a new technology which was considered advanced at the time. By modern electronic standards this equipment was not so mind-boggling. This mechanical survey instrument, which attached to a standard theodolite, increased the rate at which land could be surveyed to provide contours or levels and distances. Heights and horizontal distances could be read and recorded directly as a result of mechanical / graphical reduction of the survey data, no matter how steep the terrain may be. The Ewing Stadia Altimeter is well and truly superseded by electronic measurement and computer reduction of data. However the equipment had to be tested and it was put to practical use. Syd Kirkby was there.

Opportunities such as this came to Syd throughout his career. More correctly, because of Syd Kirkby�s knowledge, experience and intellect, Syd was engaged in grappling with new developments throughout his surveying career. Laser altimeters, airborne bathometric heighting, radar heighting, barometric heighting from aircraft (or on the ground), aerodist electronic distance measuring (1960�s), use of stereomat plotter (1983), orthophoto mapping and the development of computer mapping for topographic maps are special highlights in which Syd has been involved.

As Chair of the National Mapping Technical Sub-Committee Syd Kirkby tabled the first Orthophoto Map developed and produced in Australia by National Mapping.

The use of laser terrain modelling was developed with Antarctica as the application but this was subsequently applied to the provision of height control for the 1: 100000 Mapping of Australia. Also Digital Terrain Modelling occupied experimental and practical time for National Mapping Staff under Syd�s guidance. A very practical application of this technique was the use made of the equipment to provide contour models of body parts, using photography, as a medical aid in, for example, a masectomy. The resulting data could then be applied to the manufacture of a prothesis.

A summary of the time spent in Antarctica serves to highlight A.N.A.R.E. involvement and commitment.

Syd Kirkby was Surveyor and / or Leader of the wintering party at Mawson (15 to 16 months) for 1956 / 57, 1960 / 61, 1980 / 81 and a member of A.N.A.R.E. summer operations (3 to 4 months) in 1961 / 62, 1962 / 63, 1964 / 65 and 1979 / 80. With these visits Syd has worked through all of Australian Antarctic Territory, establishing the most easterly and most westerly astrofixes in Australian Antarctic Territory and also venturing into Norwegian Territory just west of 45 degrees east longitude for an astrofix there. Until 1971 Syd Kirkby could also claim the most southerly astrofix in Australian Antarctic Territory. At that time the Russians discovered a previously unknown peak which is now the most southerly astrofix on solid ground.

In 1956 field work out of Mawson was achieving spectacular exploration of the Prince Charles Mountains. P.C.M, as it is now recognised, was discovered and named only two years before. With Weasels for mechanical power to reach the northern flank of the mountains and dogs for penetrating more difficult areas, the 1956 Party explored well south into the mountains and glaciers of the P.C.M. Syd and his sledging party viewed the Lambert Glacier for the first time, overlooking the glacier, Beaver Lake and the Amery Ice Shelf from Loewe Massif.

This was the first year of aircraft at Mawson and Australia was, after construction of the hanger, the first nation to keep an aircraft operational through the winter. One Auster and one Beaver were in use. This enabled depot laying, transport of surveyor and geologist to spot work-sites and much aerial inspection, photography and terrain heighting.

Dog Sledging journeys were made on the sea ice and the near plateau in July, August and September for mapping and geology and a penguin count at Fold Island. The July trip searched for Douglas Islets north of Mawson which were mapped as �Position Doubtful�. Islets, which now bear this name, were identified and mapped well away from the anticipated position.

Syd Kirkby returned to Western Australia for two years in 1958 and 1959 to complete his bond with the Department of Lands and worked as a Staff Surveyor. He was also involved in photogrammetric control surveys with a mapping company. He returned to Antarctic work in 1959.

During 1960 the pace of surveying and exploration was sped up through the use of a Dakota DC3 aircraft. But first it had to be assembled. It was taken to Mawson with wings detached and assembled in the open. Operational time was productive but short. The aerial photography program was terminated on 8 December 1960 when the DC3 was blown from the tie down moorings at the ice airfield, Rumdoodle, and deposited in seracs at the edge of the continent, eight miles away. The Beaver Aircraft was destroyed at the airfield. This was a devastating blow to the whole party after the huge effort getting the aircraft operational. Nevertheless much was achieved during the year with air support and D4 Tractor Trains penetrating further into the Southern Prince Charles Mountains during the summer of 1960.

During the time the DC3 was being assembled, Syd Kirkby, Ric Ruker (Geologist), and Ken Bennett (Radio Officer) dog sledged from Cape Batterbee to Edward VIII Gulf (Kloa depot) across the hump of Enderby Land. They were transported back to Mawson by the Beaver aircraft along with the dogs. This traverse party was deposited in Enderby Land by the departing relief ship, Thala Dan, on 22 February 1960 retuning to Mawson about 22 April 1960. This was a daring and productive traverse of an area never previously visited.

The Tractor Traverse to Prince Charles Mountains left Mawson in August 1960, a very early start for plateau travel. The seriously cold temperatures of minus 60 to minus 70 F. for the early part of the trip caused some concern but the objective of establishing a depot near Mt Menzies was met. One D4 Tractor was dropped into a crevasse, and left hanging precariously five metres below the surface. The five-man party took five days to recover the machine using the manual chain winch available to them and with much digging of ice.

Syd says of this trip �One of the things I was most happy about was to have had Nev. Collins present�.

(It shouldn�t be necessary to identify Nev. Collins!!; .but perhaps a handful of recent readers do not know him. ----- He is great stalwart of ANARE: A Diesel Mechanic of great experience and initiative and an all-round top-notch expeditioner.).

The two aircraft were operated from an ice airstrip at Binders Nunataks, across the Fisher Glacier from Mt. Menzies, with great success and Syd then flew back to Mawson to carry out aircraft supported survey operations from there. The tractors returned in due course in spite of fuel shortages. With the destruction of the aircraft on 8 December 1960 operations reverted to land based recovery work. This included retrieval of instrumentation from the Dakota and carrying fuel south for the tractors using dog sledging.

Syd Kirkby joined the homeward voyage of the Thala Dan which travelled to Enderby Land on a mapping and geology visit. This took the ship to the west of the Australian Antarctic Territory Boundary where an astrofix was obtained and thence easterly, for mapping, geology, magnetic and gravity observations in Enderby Land, then mapping the edge of the Amery Ice Shelf, and on to Wilkes, which was inaccessible due to pack ice.

1962 / 63 Summer season was a busy trip for Syd Kirkby. During ten days at Wilkes a triangulation network over the islands near Wilkes was established, hydrographic surveys of the approaches to Wilkes and of the anchorage were achieved and investigations for the new Casey Station were carried out.

After departing Wilkes, the ship proceeded east to beyond the boundary of Australian Antarctic Territory, mapping coastline and achieving seven astrofixes on sites never previously visited. Extensive areas were covered by aircraft, capturing aerial photography and heighting data. This was a successful summer season, resulting in the mapping of 480 kilometres of coastline.

During the period December 1962 to March 1963 Syd Kirkby upgraded the triangulation at Wilkes, initiated the previous year, using electronic distance measurement with assistance from Surveyor K Budnick. This survey was extended inland to the proposed location of an ice-coring project. On the subsequent ship based work, progress was hampered by besetment of the ship on two occasions, but six astrofixes were obtained in Wilkes and King George V Lands and 1800 kilometres of radar heighting was carried out.

During the 1964 / 65 Summer season a major Tellurometer Traverse was achieved through the mountain systems in MacRobertson Land, Kemp Land and Enderby Land. This was supported by Mawson Station, the ship, Nella Dan, Beaver aircraft and small helicopters. Syd Kirkby was the leader of a team of four surveyors and their parties.

Through the late 1960�s and in the 1970�s Syd Kirkby worked on Australia�s National Topographic Mapping Program, which also included responsibility for Antarctic Mapping. He became Assistant Director of National Mapping in 1976 from which position he retired in 1984. This position was based in Melbourne, reporting to the Director in Canberra. Before retirement from National Mapping,

Before retirement from National Mapping Syd took sabbatical leave in 1979 to return to Antarctica to lead a multi-disciplinary regional scientific program in Enderby Land. The 1979 / 80 summer expedition was supported by Mawson Station, the Ship, three Hughes 500 helicopters, a Pilatus Porter fixed wing aircraft and a dog team. The work involved 14 scientific staff and a flying and support staff of 25 persons. The program was based at Mt. King. This was a successful operation providing prolific results in the fields of regional geocronology, petrology, structural and tectonic geology, metamorphic studies, glaciology, geomagnetism, paleomagnetism and geology.

Following the successful multi-disciplinary scientific program Syd Kirkby stayed on at Mawson to winter as Station Leader for the 1980 / 81 Mawson Expedition.

During this 1980 year the building construction program was in full operation. The station scientific program was maintained and field trips were carried out. Syd Kirkby led two dog sledge journeys to definitively mark a safe route through the crevassed areas of the Frammes Mountains. Additional use of dog sledging was organised to search for meteorites in the Frammes Mountains. In summer, Syd also led one of three major tractor traverses establishing a safe route to the Northern Prince Charles Mountains near Mt. Jacklyn. These journeys were to depot fuel and to deliver infrastructure material for a proposed inland summer station.

The Expeditioners with whom Syd Kirkby shared a Wintering year at Mawson will remember the nicknames for Syd Kirkby.

1956 �The Uncouth Youth� (Aged 22 years.)

1960 �Jungle� (Rumdoodle Speak --- The Surveyor � Always lost!)

1980 �The Godfather� (Ask the 1980 Party. It may have something to do with making offers to party members which they could not refuse.)

The contribution to Australia�s Antarctic endeavours by Syd Kirkby is recognised in the naming of geographical features throughout and beyond Australian Antarctic Territory. Mount Kirkby is in the Prince Charles Mountains, Kirkby Head on Tange Promontory in Enderby Land, Kirkby Shoal in Newcomb Bay at Casey and Kirkby Glacier on the eastern boundary of Australian Antarctic Territory in the Trans Antarctic Mountains, Oates Land. He was awarded the Polar Medal in 1957 and made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965. In 1997 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Australian Geographical Society as Adventurer of the Year. In 1999 The Australian newspaper, in it�s review of the Twentieth Century, nominated him as one of the ten great Australian adventurers of the century, in company such as Douglas Mawson, Charles Kingsford-Smith, Kay Cottee and Frank Hurley.

In March 2002, Syd Kirkby presented The J.P. Thomson Oration to the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland and was presented with that Society�s award, The J.P. Thomson Medal, the highest award of the Society. This Society has a long history of engagement with Antarctic affairs, having urged and encouraged Antarctic exploration from the date of establishment in 1885. Sir Douglas Mawson was awarded the Society Gold Medal in 1931. The title of the Syd Kirkby lecture for The J.P. Thomson Oration was �Antarctica: a Conducted Tour from Ancient to Modern�.This Oration has now been published by the Society in the Geography Monograph Series, Number 8. (ISBN 0 949286 10 9 ISSN 1037 7158)

In April 1993 Syd Kirkby presented a paper to the above Society �Sledge Dogs to Satellites� and in September 1996 he presented the topic �Surveying in the Great Sandy Desert�. Subsequently in February 2001 Syd gave a presentation on �Shackleton and the Endurance.� These lectures are advertised publicly and for the Shackleton story the lecture hall was filled to overflowing, necessitating a repeat performance some weeks later. �Sledge Dogs to Satellites� Has also been published by the Society in Queensland Geographical Journal, 4th Series. Volume 8. 1993. ISSN 0817 � 489X. The Queensland Surveyors Journal also published the same paper later.

In spite of the Adventure awards listed above, the terminology �Adventurer� does not sit happily with Syd Kirkby. He considers that an adventurer is somebody who takes unnecessary risks and is a thrill seeker. His approach is that exploration is a job to be done and that this is achieved through careful planning and preparation and responsible application of the plans. His attitude to working in Antarctica is summed up in the following statement he has made in one of his presentations:-

�We�d climb a mountain peak (or a height on the plateau) and look out and say: �Wow! In all time, certainly no human being and probably no creature has ever seen this�. It�s a funny feeling. It�s not a possessive feeling, it�s a privileged sort of a feeling � �How did I get this lucky?� �.

Syd Kirkby moved to Queensland in 1985 and immediately made contact with the A.N.A.R.E. Club. He served as Secretary from 1986 to 1988 and then President of the Branch from 1989 to 1998. During this time he took responsibility for the A.N.A.R.E. Jubilee celebrations in 1997. This was an active year, culminating in the successful tour of Queensland with the A.N.A.R.E. Display, �Our Frozen Frontier�, put together by Queensland Branch. This display is now held and curated by the Queensland Museum.

After arrival in Queensland, Syd settled in Brisbane. After a while he purchased an early �Queenslander� house in Yerongpilly. To keep himself busy and fit he then commenced the task of restoring, extending and modernising the residence. This was achieved with great success and the home now is a masterpiece representing the best of timber homes in Queensland, combined with modern amenity.

Unfortunately, completion of this achievement was associated with a deterioration of physical health. Syd was diagnosed with heart dysfunction and underwent open heart surgery. Following this enforced stand-down he bounced back as fit as ever.

Syd and his wife Jude now live at Flaxton in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. They both maintain an active interest in the A.N.A.R.E. Club and the community in general. Their fine new home is in a beautiful location and the steep landscaped gardens continue to keep them both fit and well.

A serious and ongoing involvement with the Antarctic for Syd, and Jude sometimes, is to travel on tourist ships and tourist flights to the Antarctic as expert instructor and commentator. This is enjoyed by both and the knowledge and background that Syd is able to impart is appreciated by all. In a sense Syd is a Roving Ambassador for the Antarctic as he shares his love and knowledge of the continent in his expressive and enthusiastic manner.

Syd Kirkby is an eloquent and perceptive speaker and writer. He is often published in newspaper articles and in letters to the editor. His contributions to the Club through AURORA are well known and his essay on what it means to be an A.N.A.R.E. Expeditioner, �The Spirit of ANARE� published in AURORA of September 1997 and in the Club History 1951 - 2001, is a fine example of this.

Involvement in the community includes many occasions that Syd speaks to organisations and groups on some aspect of his Antarctic experience. On occasions where it is appropriate to request a speaking fee, Syd donates the fee to the A.N.A.R.E. Club, Queensland Branch and sometimes to the main Club.

While living in Brisbane one typical activity in which Syd was engaged as a volunteer (or was he volunteered?) was driving a bus, one day per week, to collect frail aged folks from their homes, giving them a day out among friends. He endeared himself to these folks, all of whom enjoyed the opportunity to chat with him.

Quite recently, in 2003, Syd was interviewed by Margaret Throsby on ABC Radio. Syd chose the Music. In this interview he revealed his eclectic taste in music, his love of life and his fellow travellers, his enthusiasm for exploration, Antarctica in particular, and especially his love for his daughters (from his first marriage, to Joy) and his wife, Jude.

In 1999 Syd Kirkby was elected a Life Member of the A.N.A.R.E. Club.

This article is written for Stalwarts of ANARE as requested by Editor of Aurora, Malcolm Kirton 21 March 2003.
Revised 10 August 2003 using data from Syd Kirkby
It is compiled with the cooperation and input from Syd Kirkby.
This is an abbreviated version of 4800 words.
The more comprehensive version, with family background and extended information can be found in the above publication and is 8600 words.
Historical content has been related as correctly as possible between compilations.

� David Carstens 10 August 2003