Commander D’A T Gale DSC RAN (1911-1973)

Officer-in-Charge

Division of National Mapping Antarctic Mapping Branch

1959-1971

Prepared by Laurie McLean - May 2018

 

Tom Gale at Nat Map’s Canberra office in 1965.

XNatmap image.

 

D’Arcy Thomas Gale was born at Orange, New South Wales on 27 July 1911.  He was the only son of Thomas William Gale and his wife Amy Gale, née Archer.  Tom Gale’s parents were married at Orange in 1910.  Tom’s only sibling was his younger sister Mollie.

Tom Gale’s father Thomas William Gale was born at Orange in 1887 to James Patrick Gale and his wife Johanna Gale, née Fuller.  Thomas William Gale died at Granville on 20 February 1916 after a long illness.  Tom Gale’s mother Amy Archer was born at Brunswick, Victoria in 1886 and died at Parkdale, Victoria in 1965.

 

Start of Royal Australian Navy Career

On 1 January 1925 at age 13 years, Tom Gale joined the Royal Australian Navy and became a Cadet Midshipman in the Permanent Naval Forces.  Tom was one of 14 cadets in the 1925 entry to the Royal Australian Naval College.  The College was then located at Captain's Point on the southern shores of Jervis Bay in the Commonwealth Territory on the south coast of New South Wales. 

The first intake of Australian naval cadets was in 1913.  In 1915, the Royal Australian Naval College moved from temporary accommodation at Osborne House on the Corio Bay foreshore at North Geelong, Victoria to new facilities on Captain's Point at Jervis Bay.  Later, the economic depression forced closure of the College.  In 1930 it was relocated to HMAS Cerberus, the Flinders Naval Depot on Western Port in Victoria.

The Royal Australian Naval College returned to Captain's Point in 1958.  Also in 1958, the Navy establishment on Captain's Point was renamed HMAS Creswell in honour of Vice Admiral Sir William Rooke Creswell KCMG KBE RAN (1852-1933).  Creswell was a former Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and an important Australian colonial naval officer.  Creswell was said to be the father of the Royal Australian Navy as he was instrumental in the formation of an independent Australian Navy and served as the First Naval Member of the Naval Board from 1911 to 1919.

In early 1925, the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis Bay was under the command of Captain Richard Hayden Owen Lane-Poole OBE RN later Vice Admiral Sir Richard Hayden Owen Lane-Poole KBE CB RN (1883-1971).  The College commander from early in 1927 was Captain Herbert Acheson Forster MVO RN, later Rear Admiral HA Forster MVO RN (1885-1975).

The College Head Master during Tom Gale’s attendance was Dr Frederick William Wheatley BSc (Oxon) BA DSc (Adelaide) (1871-1955).  The South Australian born Wheatley studied the ionisation of gases and became fluent in German.  Dr Wheatley was a RAN cryptographer during World War I.  With the aid of a captured code book, Wheatley worked out the cypher key used to encrypt messages sent by German Vice Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee's East Asiatic Cruiser Squadron.  (Admiral von Spee was killed during the Battle of the Falklands in December 1914.)  Wheatley's work earned him the thanks of the Admiralty.  In 1932 Dr Wheatley was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

The 1925 Entry of Cadets to the Royal Australian Naval College.

Royal Australian Naval College photograph.

 

Royal Australian Naval College 1925 Entry Cadets

As indicated above Tom Gale was one of the 14 Cadet Midshipmen who entered the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis Bay in February 1925.  Four of these Cadets (Messrs Grace, O’Grady, Roberts and Wilkie) were not amongst the 11 Cadets who completed the course.  One Cadet (Mr Hodgman) transferred to a Paymaster Cadet course in early 1928.  Two other Cadets from earlier entries (Messrs Dine and Saunders) later joined the 1925 Entry.  Names and other details of the 1925 Entry Cadets are provided below.

·    Charles Cecil Francis Bourne completed RANC, resigned RAN 29 December 1929, joined Army in 1934 later Lieutenant Colonel CCF Bourne DSO 2/12 Australian Infantry Battalion during World War II afterwards Brigadier 7th Infantry Brigade

·    Harold Douglas Bowden completed RANC left RAN on 9 July 1931 was Private in Volunteer Defence Corps during World War II

·    Warwick Seymour Bracegirdle later Commander WS Bracegirdle DSC and Bar US Legion of Merit RAN (son of Rear Admiral Sir Leighton Bracegirdle KCVO, CMG, DSO RAN)

·    Leonard Norman Dine joined 24 March 1925 later Captain LN Dine RAN, afterwards General Manager HMA Naval Dockyard Williamstown, Victoria

·    D’Arcy Thomas Gale later Commander D’AT Gale DSC RAN

·    Oliver George Campbell Grace appointment terminated 2 September 1926, Army Artillery Lieutenant during World War II

·    Gerald Mellor Haynes later Lieutenant Commander GM Haynes DSO RAN, commanded No 828 Naval Air Squadron, Fleet Air Arm (RN) in attacks on enemy shipping from Scotland and from HMS Victorious at sea.

·    Leigh Baily Hodgman appointed Paymaster Cadet on 21 January 1928 and Paymaster Midshipman on 1 May 1929, resigned 27 August 1929, later Lieutenant LB Hodgman RANVR, cryptographer in New Guinea

·    Thomas Kenneth Morrison later Rear Admiral TK Morrison CBE CB DSC RAN afterwards Trade Commissioner and Prime Minister’s Department

·    Donald Edmund O’Grady dismissed RANC 16 August 1928

·    Richard Terence Power later Commander RT Power RAN

·    Godfrey Alfred Rattigan terminated 1932 later Lieutenant GA Rattigan RANVR afterwards worked in Trade, Customs and headed Tariff Board, awarded OBE CBE AO

·    Thomas Ferris Roberts appointment terminated 12 December 1927, joined RANR on 1 July 1929 later Lieutenant Commander TF Roberts RANR

·    Frank Sinclair Saunders initially in 1924 Entry but attached to 1925 Entry by January 1927, completed RANC, discharged from RAN on 2 October 1933 died 1991 at age 80 years

·    John Patrick Carr Watson later Lieutenant Commander JPC Watson RAN

·    Allan Henry Wilkie appointment terminated 1 October 1925 served as Lance Sergeant in 57 Australian Anti-Aircraft Regiment in World War II

 

The 1925 Entry to the Royal Australian Naval College had their passing out ceremony on 9 December 1928.  In the 1928 College prize list DT Gale was second in Grand Aggregate.  By regulation no Cadet Midshipman could take more than two first prizes.  DT Gale was awarded the following prizes: Mathematics: first; English: first; Physics and Chemistry: second; History: second; French: second; and Seamanship: third.

 

In 1925 Tom Gale was entered as a College Sports Record Holder for the 100 yards event for under 14 year olds; he equalled the 12 second record.  The College’s athletic sports in 1928 were in two divisions: cadets over 5 feet 4 inches and those under that height.  Tom Gale competed in the unders.  He was first in the 100 yards; the 440 yards; and in the mile.  Tom was one of the last to finish in the cross country.  He was not prominently reported in team sports.  Tom was eliminated in the first round of both the singles and doubles in the tennis championships; and did not get into double figures as a batsman.  In the College’s first XV rugby team for 1928 the position of right wing three‑quarters was filled by Tom Gale for the first half of the season.

 

Tom Gale RAN Career Milestones

 

Date

Appointment

Comment

 1 January 1925

Joined Royal Australian Navy

 

 4 February 1925

Cadet Midshipman

In Permanent Naval Forces

 1 May 1929

Midshipman

 

 1 September 1931

Acting Sub-Lieutenant

 

 1 January 1932

Sub-Lieutenant

 

 30 July 1933

Lieutenant

Seniority from 1 June 1933

 1 June 1941

Lieutenant Commander

 

 7 July 1952

Acting Commander

Until 26 July 1958

 27 July 1958

Commander

Honorary rank upon retirement

 27 July 1958

Commander

Transferred to Emergency List

 27 July 1971

Commander

Transferred to Retired List

Source: Extracted from RAN service record entries.

HMAS Australia (II) entering Sydney Harbour circa 1939.

Royal Australian Navy photograph.

HMAS Australia (II)

Tom Gale’s first ship attachment was as a Cadet Midshipman on a brand new heavy cruiser.  He was attached to HMAS Australia (II) from 22 January 1929 to 4 January 1930 and was promoted to Midshipman on 1 May 1929.

HMAS Australia (II) was one of two County class heavy cruisers ordered by the Australian Government as part of a five-year naval development program begun in 1924 and completed in 1929.  Her Australian sister ship was HMAS Canberra.

Australia was built by John Brown & Co Ltd at Clydebank, Scotland to the Kent class design of County class cruisers.  She displaced some 9 000 tons and had a length of about 630 feet.  She was powered by Brown-Curtis geared turbines through four screws and produced 80 000 horsepower.  Australia could make 31.5 knots and had a peacetime crew of 679 men.  She was commissioned on 24 April 1928.

Following sea trials Australia departed Portsmouth on 3 August 1928 and proceeded via Montreal, Quebec, Halifax, Boston, New York, Annapolis, Kingston, Balboa, Tahiti, Wellington and Brisbane to reach Sydney on 23 October 1928.  She spent the first six years of her commission on the Australia station, mostly in home waters.  Tom Gale’s attachment to Australia was during that initial home waters period.

During his 33-year Navy career, Tom Gale had two separate periods of secondment to the Royal Navy for training courses and service on British ships.  These two periods were from January 1930 to November 1932 and from March 1937 to January 1939.

 

First Period of Royal Navy Duty 1930-1932

Tom Gale was attached for duty with His Majesty’s Australian Naval Depot London on 5 January 1930 and on 13 February 1930 was formally loaned to the Royal Navy for service and training.  The London Depot was then at Australia House, the location of the Australian High Commission in the Strand, London.  Tom Gale remained on loan to the Royal Navy until 11 November 1932.

Australia House London circa 2012.

Thomann-Hanry Company image. 

According to the Navy List of 1 January 1930, Midshipman Gale was one of 8 RAN Midshipmen serving on Royal Navy’s HMS Marlborough, an Iron Duke class battleship (so called super dreadnaught) of 25,000 tons commissioned in June 1914.  However, this listing appears to have been pre-emptive as there is no such entry in Tom Gale’s personal service record.  The following issue of the Navy List (on 1 April 1930) records Midshipman Gale as one of 4 RAN Midshipmen serving on Royal Navy’s HMS Royal Oak.

Between 9 February 1930 and 14 August 1931, Tom Gale served on HMS Royal Oak.  She was a Revenge class battleship of about 30 000 tons displacement with a length of about 620 feet.  Launched in 1914, Royal Oak was powered by 4 shafts from twin turbines and 18 boilers.  With some 40 000 horsepower she could make 22 knots.  Normally crewed by about 900 men, she had a complement of over 1 200 in early October 1939 when she was sunk by torpedoes from a German U-boat (U-47) while at anchor in Scapa Flow (the British North Sea Naval Base in the Orkney Islands); there were less than 400 survivors.

 

Between January 1930 and September 1931, the Royal Oak was on Mediterranean service that included Fleet exercises and visits to Malta and Gibraltar was well as several French ports.  However, Tom Gale did not spend all the period of his attachment to Royal Oak onboard the battleship.  Tom’s service record indicates that he was loaned to several other ships.

Between 2 January 1931 and 25 March 1931, Tom Gale was with HMS Egmont (II), the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean shore station at Fort St Angelo at Birgu in Malta.

Fort St Angelo at Birgu in Malta

Frank Vincentz image.

Between 26 March 1931 and 5 May 1931, Tom Gale was with HMS Vampire; a V-class destroyer of some 1 500 tons displacement with a length of about 312 feet that was launched in 1917.  Vampire had twin screws and a three-boiler twin‑turbine propulsion system that could make 34 knots.  She had a crew of around 120 men.  During the early 1930s she served in the Mediterranean.  Vampire was sold to the Royal Australian Navy in 1933.

Tom Gale had commenced his first period of Royal Navy attachment as a Cadet Midshipman and from 1 May 1929 as a Midshipman.  But on 1 September 1931 he was appointed Acting Sub-Lieutenant and on 1 January 1932 he was promoted Sub‑Lieutenant.  The rank of Sub-Lieutenant was a pre-requisite for attendance at the Royal Naval College.

Between 23 September 1931 and 28 October 1932, Tom Gale attended the Royal Naval College.  The College was established at Greenwich in 1873.  It took in officers who were already Sub‑Lieutenants and operated as the university of the Navy.  The College’s academic staff included professors of mathematics, physical science, chemistry, applied mechanics, and fortification.  While at the College Tom Gale undertook courses but these were not further specified in his Navy record.

During Tom’s time at the College he was listed as serving on several other Royal Navy shore stations.  Between 25 March 1932 and 13 May 1932 Tom was with HMS Dryad, then the Royal Naval Navigation School near Portsmouth.  Between 11 June 1932 and 28 October 1932 Tom served on HMS Excellent the Royal Navy Gunnery School on Whale Island off Portsmouth.

Between 15 August 1931 and 22 September 1931 Tom Gale was attached to HMS Victory.  Rather than the famous 18th and 19th Century battleship this Victory was a Royal Navy shore station at Portsmouth that was principally an accounting station.  Tom Gale was again attached to Victory between 29 October 1932 and 11 November 1932, immediately prior to his return to Australia.

From 12 November to 22 December 1932, Tom Gale was attached to HMAS Cerberus as an administrative unit for his return to Australia.  Tom’s means of returning to Australia are not clear in his service record.  From 23 December 1932 until 29 January 1933 Tom was attached to HMAS Penguin as an administrative unit while he was on leave.

HMAS Penguin is a RAN base located at Balmoral on Middle Head on the lower north shore of Sydney Harbour; overlooking Balmoral Beach.  The base contained a number of units including the Balmoral Naval Hospital, Australian Defence Force Diving School, RAN Hydrographic School, RAN Medical School, RAN Recompression Chamber Facility, and the Submarine and Underwater Medicine Unit.

HMAS Canberra (I)

Between 30 January 1933 and 26 April 1933, Lieutenant Gale was attached to HMAS Canberra (I).  Commissioned in July 1928, she was a heavy cruiser and sister ship of HMAS Australia (II).  During Tom’s period of attachment the Canberra was stationed in Australian waters.

From 1933 Tom Gale undertook naval duties as an Assistant Surveyor and became a Charge Grade surveyor in 1948.  Tom’s advancement as a RAN Surveyor is outlined below.

 

Tom Gale RAN Surveyor Advancements

In April 1933, Sub-Lieutenant Gale was appointed as an Assistant Surveyor Class IV.  At that time he was one of 12 Royal Australian Navy officers employed as Hydrographic Surveyors.  Tom Gale’s advancement as a RAN Hydrographic Surveyor is listed below.

Date

Surveyor Classification

27 April 1933

Assistant Surveyor Class IV

14 June 1935

Assistant Surveyor Class III

1 July 1937

Assistant Surveyor Class II

1 January 1942

Assistant Surveyor Class I

1 January 1948

Charge Grade Surveyor

Source: Extracted from RAN service record entries.

On 1 January 1943, Lieutenant Commander Gale was advanced to Assistant Surveyor Class I and that advancement was antedated to 1 January 1942 with pay from 25 April 1942.  On 18 March 1948, the Admiralty asked whether Lieutenant Commander Gale was considered qualified for Charge Grade Surveyor.

Apparently as a consequence of that inquiry, on 9 July 1948 Lieutenant Commander Gale was advanced to Charge Grade Surveyor with effect from 1 January 1948.  At the beginning of 1948 there were 17 RAN officers employed as Hydrographic Surveyors.  Five of these surveyors (including Tom Gale) were at Charge Grade.

Between 1925 and 1958, Tom Gale was attached to a number of RAN ships as listed below.

Tom Gale Ship Attachments 1925-1958

Ship

Start Date

End Date

Comment

HMAS Fanklin

1 January 1925

21 January 1929

For RAN College

HMAS Australia

22 January 1929

30 April 1929

 

HMAS Australia

1 May 1929

3 January 1930

Re-appointed on promotion

HMAS Cerberus

4 January 1930

8 February 1930

 

HMS Royal Oak

9 February 1930

14 August 1931

 

HMS Victory

15 August 1931

22 September 1931

 

RN College

23 September 1931

28 October 1931

Courses

HMS Victory

29 October 1931

11 November 1931

 

HMAS Cerberus

12 November 1931

22 December 1931

Passage to Australia

HMAS Penguin

23 December 1931

29 January 1932

For leave

HMAS Canberra

30 January 1932

26 April 1933

 

HMAS Moresby

27 April 1933

29 July 1933

Assistant Surveyor Class 4

HMAS Moresby

30 July 1933

14 December 1934

Assistant Surveyor Class 4

HMAS Penguin

15 December 1934

31 December 1934

Assistant Surveyor Class 4

HMAS Penguin

1 January 1935

10 April 1935

Assistant Surveyor Class 3

HMAS Moresby

4 April 1935

12 February 1937

Assistant Surveyor Class 3

HMAS Cerberus

13 February 1937

29 March 1937

Passage to England

HMS Fitzroy

30 March 1937

2 January 1938

Navigation officer & A S Class 3

HMS President

3 January 1938

29 January 1938

Loan for Met course

HMS Fitzroy

30 January 1938

20 November 1938

Assistant Surveyor Class 2

HMS Fitzroy

21 November 1938

20 January 1939

In command & A S Class 2

HMS Osprey

5 December 1938

17 December 1938

Loan for course

HMS Cochrane

21 January 1939

14 March 1939

Loan defence boom course

HMS President

15 March 1939

29 March 1939

For Hydro Depot AS Clas 2

HMAS Cerberus

30 March 1939

10 May 1939

Passage to Australia

HMAS Penguin

11 May 1939

31 August 1939

 

HMAS Adelaide

1 September 1939

18 March 1940

Navigation duties

HMAS Adelaide

19 March 1940

31 March 1940

Assistant Surveyor Class 2

HMAS Adelaide

1 April 1940

6 December 1940

Navigation duties

HMAS Moresby

7 December 1940

15 December 1940

 

HMAS Moresby

16 December 1940

27 April 1941

Assistant Surveyor Class 2

HMAS Penguin

28 April 1941

31 May 1941

Assistant Surveyor Class 2

HMAS Penguin

1 June 1941

8 June 1941

Assistant Surveyor Class 2

HMAS Bungaree

9 June 1941

10 April 1942

Navigation duties

HMAS Penguin

11 April 1942

31 August 1942

For Noumea survey

HMAS Penguin

1 September 1942

November 1942

Approaches to Pt Jackson svy

HMAS Moreton

November 1942

February 1943

Moreton Bay survey

HMAS Penguin

February 1943

1 January 1944

Deputy OC Hydro Branch

HMAS Penguin

(20 April 1943

7 May 1943

HMAS Assault)

HMAS Benalla

2 January 1944

2 May 1945

Command & Svy Class 1

HMAS Penguin

3 May 1945

8 August 1945

Deputy OC Hydro Branch

HMAS Moresby

9 August 1945

13 March 1946

Command & Svy Class 1

HMAS Penguin

14 March 1946

18 July 1946

Deputy OC Hydro Branch

HMAS Kattabul

18 July 1946

14 April 1947

Deputy OC Hydro Branch

HMAS Barcoo

15 April 1947

15 July 1949

Command & Svy Class 1

HMAS Kattabul

16 July 1949

22 August 1950

Deputy OC Hydro Branch

HMAS Cerberus

23 August 1950

30 September 1951

For Joint Intelligence Bureau

HMAS Lonsdale

1 October 1951

3 July 1952

For Joint Intelligence Bureau

HMAS Warrego

4 July 1952

8 April 1954

In charge of survey

HMAS Penguin

9 April 1954

25 April 1954

For leave

HMAS Lonsdale

26 April 1954

25 September 1955

In command & recruiting offcr

HMAS Kattabul

26 September 1955

26 July 1958

In command & recruiting offcr

Emergency List

27 July 1958

 

Honorary Commander

Source: Extracted from RAN service record entries.


 

Marriage to Ena Cantor

On Wednesday 10 February 1937, the then 25-year old Lieutenant Gale married Ena Elizabeth Amelia Cantor at Saint Mark's Anglican Church, at 1 Greenoaks Avenue Darling Point.  Canon Howard Lea, rector at St Mark’s, officiated at the ceremony that commenced at 5:00 pm.  Afterwards, the wedding reception was held at Elizabeth Bay House.  Located at 7 Onslow Avenue, Elizabeth Bay House is a substantial and historic colonial home.  It was built in the 1830s for the then New South Wales Colonial Secretary.

At the time of Tom and Ena’s wedding, Tom Gale’s father Thomas had died and his mother Amy was living at Burwood (NSW) and gave her occupation as storekeeper.

On 12 February 1937, just two days after their wedding, Lieutenant and Mrs Gale left for England on the Orient Steam Navigation Company’s passenger liner SS Oronsay.  As mentioned above, Lieutenant Gale was attached to the Royal Navy from March 1937 to January 1939.  The passage to England on the Oronsay was an own arrangement, presumably at Tom’s expense.

Tom and Ena Gale were to have one child, their daughter Toni.  On 9 November 1939 Tom and Ena Gale’s daughter was born at the St Luke Hospital in Roslyn Street Potts Point.

Ena Cantor was frequently reported in the social pages of the Sydney papers before and after her wedding; see Appendix 1.

 

About Ena Cantor and her Family

Ena Cantor was born on 9 July 1908 and educated at Monte Sant’ Angelo College in North Sydney.  She was the only child of John Cantor and his wife Evelyn Cantor, née Clarke.  At the time of their daughter’s wedding, both of Ena’s parents were of independent means and resided in Mona Road Darling Point.  From at least the early 1920s John Cantor had been the proprietor of the Customs House Hotel at 11-19 Macquarie Place at Sydney’s Circular Quay.

Mrs D’Arcy Gale at her parents’ Darling Point home in October 1937 on a visit from England.  The Sun (Sydney) photograph.

Customs House Hotel (left) at Circular Quay in the 1930s.

State Library of New South Wales image call number IE1642756

The Cantors’ Customs House Hotel (now only the Customs House Bar) has operated from the same site for over 150 years.  The building now consists of a three-storey Victorian Italianate facade and ground‑level bar area.  The upper storeys are now part of the Sydney Harbour Marriot Hotel at 30 Pitt Street and are not accessible from the Customs House Bar.

The facade of the Customs House Hotel had simple stucco decoration and was symmetrical about a central pediment.  The building does not retain any of its original internal detailing or structure except for the relocated marble bar.  All other furniture and finishings are from a 1988 development of the site and surrounding buildings.

Customs House Bar Macquarie Place Circular Quay circa 2018.

Google Street View image.

 

Second Period of Royal Navy Duty 1937-1939

From 30 March 1937 to 20 January 1939, Lieutenant Gale was attached to HMS Fitzroy a Hunt class minesweeping sloop (of the later and larger Aberdare group within that class) initially completed and used as a survey ship in 1919.  She was the Royal Navy’s last coal-burner.

HMS Fitzroy was of some 800 tons with a length of 231 feet and was powered by two coal‑fired boilers that produced 2 200 horsepower and gave 16 knots.  Fitzroy had a crew of 74 men.  In 1939 she was converted back to a minesweeper and took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940; making five return-voyages.  On 27 May 1942 Fitzroy was sunk by a mine in the North Sea some 40 miles off the coastal town of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk.

The first ship Tom Gale commanded HMS Fitzroy seen here in 1925.

Tom’s attachment to Fitzroy was interrupted by loans to other Royal Navy ships to attend specific training courses.  For the period from 30 March 1937 to 21 January 1938, Tom’s attachment to Fitzroy was as Assistant Surveyor Class III and as Navigation Officer.  Between 30 January 1938 and 20 November 1938, Tom Gale was reappointed to Fitzroy and advanced to Assistant Surveyor Class II.  From 21 November 1938 to 20 January 1939, Lieutenant Gale was in command of HMS Fitzroy and was also Assistant Surveyor Class II.

From 3 January to 29 January 1938, Lieutenant Gale was at HMS President for a metrological course.  President was a Flower class anti-submarine decoy (Q-ship) launched in 1918 as HMS Saxifrage.  She was renamed HMS President in 1922 and moored permanently on the Thames as a Royal Navy Reserve drill ship.

HMS President on Thames Bank in 2009.

David Jones image.

All naval personnel working at the Admiralty and elsewhere in London were nominally attached to the President and paid and administered by her staff.  But rather than operating from the vessel in the Thames, Tom Gale’s President was a stone frigate or shore station on the northern bank of the Thames near Tower Bridge.  Lieutenant Gale was again with HMS President from 15 to 29 March 1939 for attachment to the RN Hydrographic Depot as a temporary Assistant Surveyor Class II.

Between 5 and 17 December 1938 Lieutenant Gale was loaned to HMS Osprey to undertake unspecified courses; presumably in anti‑submarine warfare.  Osprey was a Royal Navy establishment at the Isle of Portland in Dorset.  The establishment was a naval air station and also had an anti‑submarine school.

Between 2 January 1939 and 14 March 1939 Lieutenant Gale was loaned to HMS Cochrane for a boom defence (chain, net and other navigation obstacles) course.  Formerly a depot ship Cochrane was then the name of the establishment at Royal Naval Dockyard Rosyth on northern side of the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

 

Return to Australia

Between 30 March 1939 and 10 May 1939, Tom Gale was attached to HMAS Cerberus for return to Australia.  According to his Navy service record, for this passage Tom made his own travel arrangements on the MV Port Alma.  Both Tom and Ena Gale travelled from England on the Port Alma, a 7 980 gross register tons refrigerated cargo ship of some 477 feet in length.  She was built on the River Tyne in 1928 and could make 14.5 knots from two 4‑cylinder oil engines that produced 1 374 horsepower that was delivered through twin screws.  Port Alma was one of several Port ships built for the New Zealand-England trade.  She carried the first cargo of chilled beef from New Zealand to London in 1933.  From November 1937, the Port Alma was operated by the Port Line Ltd of London 

The Port Alma.

Roy Muir image from Tyne Built Ships website.

It appears that the Port Alma took Tom and Ena Gale to New Zealand.  According to the Sydney newspaper The Sun of Thursday 11 May 1939, the Gales both arrived that day onboard the Awatea.  The TSS Awatea was a luxury liner that was operated on the trans‑Tasman route by the Union Steam Ship Company.

Completed by Vickers‑Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness in July 1936, Awatea was of some 13 490 gross register tons with a length of 545 feet.  She was powered by six steam reduced geared turbines through twin screws and had a maximum speed of 26 knots.  Famed for the speed of her trans‑Tasman crossing, the Awatea was requisitioned as a British troop carrier during World War II.  On 11 November 1942 she was lost to enemy bombs and torpedos during the first day of Operation Torch landings at Bougie in Algeria.

HMAS Adelaide during World War II.  Royal Australian Navy photograph.

HMAS Adelaide

Lieutenant Gale served on HMAS Adelaide for three continuing periods from 1 September 1939 until 6 December 1940.  Between 1 September 1939 and 18 March 1940 Tom was assigned to navigation duties.  Between 19 and 31 March 1940 he was an Assistant Surveyor Class II but then resumed navigation duties until completing his attachment on 6 December 1940.

HMAS Adelaide was an improved version of the Chatham group of British light cruisers within the Town class.  She was built at the Naval Dockyard at Cockatoo Island, Sydney and commissioned in 1922.  Adelaide displaced some 5 000 tons and had a length of about 462 feet.  She was powered by Parsons turbines that delivered 25 000 shaft horsepower through twin screws and was originally equipped to burn both coal and fuel oil.  Adelaide could make 24.8 knots and had a crew of 462 men.

On 1 September 1939 Adelaide was commissioned for war service under the command of Captain Henry Arthur (Harry) Showers RAN (1899-1971), later Rear Admiral Showers OBE RAN.  From that time Adelaide operated on the Australian coast conducting patrol and convoy escort work for the defence of trade.

After the capitulation of France on 22 June 1940, the Vichy Government (that collaborated with Nazi Germany) made a very strong bid to establish a Vichy regime in New Caledonia despite a predominantly Free French following amongst the local population.

Australia had concerns with this move as the threat of having a hostile government off the east coast of Australia was very serious and could not be tolerated by the Australian Government.  Adelaide supported the Free French takeover of New Caledonia on 19 September 1940 and Captain Showers was commended for his noteworthy diplomacy in ensuring the pro-de Gaulle government was installed.  As the situation ashore in New Caledonia gradually became normal, Adelaide departed Noumea in early October 1940 and arrived back in Sydney on 8 October 1940.  She then carried out patrols, convoy escort and shipping protection duties on the Australia station.

HMAS Bungaree

The newly promoted Lieutenant Commander Gale served as Navigation Officer on HMAS Bungaree from 9 June 1941 until about 10 April 1942.  She was the Royal Australian Navy’s only minelayer.

Bungaree was a coal-fired former cargo vessel of some 3 000 tons displacement and about 357 feet in length.  She could make 10.5 knots from a triple expansion, low-pressure geared turbine that produced 2 500 horsepower.  She had a crew of 179 men.

HMAS Bungaree was commissioned at Garden Island, Sydney under the command of Commander Norman Keith (Tuskie) Calder RAN (who was awarded an OBE in 1943).  Bungaree’s commissioning occurred on 9 June 1941 as she approached the end of her conversion from a requisitioned coastal cargo ship to an auxiliary minelayer.  Bungaree departed Sydney on 19 June 1941 and arrived in Geelong four days later.  With dummy mines, she underwent trials and exercises in Port Phillip Bay in company with the mine recovery vessel HMAS Toorie.  Bungaree embarked her first load of 254 live mines on 30 July 1941 and departed Geelong the next day in company with HMAS Sydney (II).

Bungaree arrived in Sydney on 3 August 1941 where she had a 12‑pounder high angle/low angle gun mounted forward; she had numerous other armaments.  (The high angle/low angle gun was capable of engaging both surface targets and aircraft.)  Bungaree embarked a 28-foot survey motor boat before departing for Port Moresby that evening, escorted by HMAS Adelaide (I) and later HMAS Manoora (I).

Bungaree laid her first defensive minefield near Port Moresby on 15 August 1941 before heading back to Australian waters.  She went on to lay minefields in the Torres Strait north and west of Prince of Wales Island and on the Great Barrier Reef near Cook’s Passage (through the Great Barrier Reef about 70 miles north east of Cooktown) and Trinity Opening (about 40 miles north east of Cairns) before the end of 1941.

Bungaree underwent further alterations and additions in Sydney in December 1941 and January 1942 before returning to Geelong on 27 January 1942 for more mines.  She laid minefields in New Caledonian waters in February 1942 and in New Zealand waters off Auckland in March 1942.  Minelaying operations continued in Palm Passage, Queensland in April 1942.

HMAS Bungaree.  Royal Australian Navy photograph.

HMAS Moresby

Moresby was one of the 24-class of Royal Navy minesweeping sloops commissioned as HMS Silvio in May 1918.  She was refitted at Pembroke Dockyard in South Wales as a surveying vessel in 1924-25.  She was subsequently transferred to the Royal Australian Navy and commissioned as HMAS Moresby in June 1925.  She had a full‑load displacement of 1 650 tons and a length of about 276 feet.  Moresby could make 14 knots.  Moresby was the RAN’s second survey ship; the first was the 1 250 ton sloop HMAS Geranium (1919-1927).  At the start of World War II, Moresby was the RAN’s only survey ship.

Tom Gale was attached to the Moresby for five periods of duty between April 1933 and March 1946.  Sub-Lieutenant Gale joined Morseby on 27 April 1933 as Assistant Surveyor Class IV and served in that capacity until 29 July 1933.  On 30 July 1933 the recently promoted Lieutenant Gale was reappointed to the Moresby as Assistant Surveyor Class IV until 14 December 1934.

 

On 11 April 1935, Tom Gale returned to the Moresby as Assistant Surveyor Class III; pending promotion to that grade which took effect on 14 June 1935.  Lieutenant Gale remained with the Moresby until 12 February 1937.  But on that date he was on leave for his marriage to Ena Cantor two days earlier and for passage to England with his bride to take up his second Royal Navy attachment.

 

HMAS Moresby in 1943.  Royal Australian Navy image.

 

On 7 December 1940, Lieutenant Gale returned to the Moresby as Assistant Surveyor Class II until 15 December 1940 and then from 16 December 1940 until 27 April 1941.  From 9 August 1945, Lieutenant Commander Gale DSC was posted to command HMAS Moresby and also as Assistant Surveyor Class I.

 

Tom Gale actually assummed command of the ship from Commander Robert Bagster Atlee Hunt OBE RAN on the morning of 16 August 1945.  Tom’s command continued until 13 March 1946.  (Commander Hunt was an usher at Tom Gale’s wedding a few years earlier.)

 

On 1 September 1945 Moresby was en-route from Darwin to a survey area in the Cambridge Gulf about 250 miles to the south west when she was ordered to return to Darwin forthwith.  At Darwin she was required for Operation TOFO, the surrender for all Japanese Forces in Timor.

 

A fleet of 21 Australian and Dutch vessels was being assembled, namely: HMA Ships Moresby, Benalla, Horsham, Echuca, Parkes, Katoomba, Kangaroo, and Bombo with Harbour Defence Motor Launches 1322, 1324, and 1329 in company; together with the Royal Netherlands Navy Ship Abraham Crijnssen (a 476-ton minesweeper) and the Dutch transport Van den Bosch.  Benalla, Echuca, Parkes, and Katoomba each towed two landing craft.

Moresby sailed from Darwin on 7 September 1945 at the head of the Australian-Dutch force sent to Koepang for the surrender of Japanese forces on Timor.  She carried the Senior Naval Officer of the Operation, Commander Glen Loftus Cant, RAN and Brigadier Lewis Glanville Howard Dyke 2nd AIF (Royal Australian Artillery).

The ships arrived at Koepang on 11 September 1945.  Aboard the Moresby at noon that day Colonel Kaida Tatsuichi* commander of the Japanese Fourth Tank Regiment and the overall commander of Japanese forces on Timor signed the instrument of surrender to Brigadier Lewis Glanville Howard (Gunner) Dyke CBE DSO (1900 1984) (later Major General LGH Dyke CBE DSO).  *Spelt Tachuichi Kaida in Lieutenant Commander Gale’s 1945 record which provides more details, see link at Department of the Navy (1941 1945).

The Japanese Timor surrender on HMAS Moresby 1945.

Commander Cant RAN seated left, Brigadier Dyke seated right partly obscured.

John Thomas Harrison image from Australian War Memorial.

Accession Number OG3484.

During the remainder of September and into early October 1945, Moresby was engaged in operations to help secure the peace in Timor.  At times she acted as the headquarters ship for Brigadier Dyke, commander of TIMFORCE and transported the Brigadier for inspections of Japanese camps.  Moresby also assisted in positioning demolition parties to deal with Japanese tanks and artillery.  On 3 October 1945 Moresby was at Koepang with Lieutenant Commander Gale ashore to attend the surrender of Lieutenant General Yamba of the Japanese 48th Division to Brigadier Dyke and his Staff.

At 0800 on 4 October 1945 there was a serious breach of discipline on the Moresby when 50 seamen ratings refused duty.  A few days later Moresby was in Darwin where the Naval officer-in-charge convened a Board of Inquiry.  As a consequence the ratings were later charged and punished.  Later in October and during November 1945, Moresby was engaged on survey duties in Cambridge Gulf and Yampi Sound.

On 1 December 1945 Moresby departed Darwin and arrived at Sydney on 13 December 1945.  Tom Gale remained in command of Moresby until 13 March 1946 while she was tied up in Sydney.  Moresby was paid off on 14 March 1946 and on 3 February 1947 she was sold to the Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd for breaking up and was subsequently scrapped at Newcastle.

 

RAN Hydrographic Branch Attachments

Tom Gale was attached to the Royal Australian Navy’s Hydrographic Branch on several occasions.  The Branch was then based in Sydney.  During these attachments Tom’s ships (for administrative purposes) were HMAS Penguin and later HMAS Kuttabul.

Tom Gale was attached to HMAS Penguin during 15-31 December 1934 as Assistant Surveyor Class IV and from 1 January 1935 to 10 April 1935 as Assistant Surveyor Class III.

Between 28 April 1941 and 31 May 1941 and from 1 to 6 June 1941 Tom Gale was attached to HMAS Penguin as an Assistant Surveyor Class II.  From 11 April 1942 to 31 August 1942 Tom Gale was attached to Penguin for the Hydrographic Branch as Assistant Surveyor Class II.  The attachment continued from 1 September until November 1942 during which time Tom Gale was an Assistant Surveyor Class II for the Noumea survey and later in that period for the Port Jackson Approaches surveyUnfortunately Tom’s service record provides no further details on these two surveys nor the ships or boats used.

Between 7 February 1942 and 1 January 1944, Tom Gale was again attached to Penguin as deputy officer-in-charge Hydrographic Branch and as Assistant Surveyor Class I.  From 3 May 1945 to 8 August 1945, Tom Gale was again attached to Penguin as deputy officer‑in‑charge Hydrographic Branch and as Assistant Surveyor Class I.  Between 14 March 1946 and 14 April 1947, Lieutenant Commander Gale was deputy officer-in-charge of the RAN Hydrographic Branch and Assistant Surveyor Class I.

Between 16 July 1949 and 22 August 1950 Lieutenant Commander Gale was deputy officer-in-charge of the RAN Hydrographic Branch, during this time he was attached to HMAS Kuttabul.

 

RAN Hydrographic Office – some history

The RAN assumed responsibility for the conduct of hydrographic surveys on the Australian station in October 1920 and for the publication of hydrographic charts in 1942.  In 1946, the Australian Government assigned the Commonwealth Naval Board responsibility for hydrography and endorsed a 25‑year program of surveys in an effort to provide modern chart coverage of Australian waters.  At the same time an agreement with the British Admiralty effectively made the RAN’s Hydrographic Office the charting authority for all Australian waters, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the Coral Sea.  That ambitious plan was abandoned within three years due to funding constraints (Hydrographic Office, undated).

A programme of hydrographic surveys was resumed in 1952 with HMAS Barcoo and HMAS Warrego and has continued to present times.  Tom Gale’s attachments to these ships are discussed elsewhere in this article.

Some highlights from a personal recollection of the history of the Royal Australian Navy’s Hydrographic Office were given in a 1985 address by the then Rear Admiral David Martin AO RAN, Flag Officer Naval Support Command; later Rear Admiral Sir David James Martin KCMG AO RAN (1933-1990) Governor of New South Wales 1989-1990.  These highlights are provided at Appendix 2.

Between 1920 and 2000 the name of the RAN’s hydrography unit and the title of the officer-in-charge have both varied over time.  Lists of Hydrographic Branch officers-in-charge that relate to the relevant period of Tom Gale’s Navy career are provided at Appendix 3.  These lists have been adapted from Whyte, 2016 and some additional information has been included.

 

Service with Commander Oom

 

Tom Gale served with the then Lieutenant Commander Oom on HMAS Morseby during 1936-37.  Later Commander Oom was officer‑in‑charge of the Hydrographic Branch for four separate terms.  For several periods, the longest being in 1945, Tom Gale was Oom’s deputy at the Hydrograhic Branch.  The Sydney-born Commander Karl Erik Oom OBE RAN (1904-1972) served in the Royal Australian Navy from 1918 to 1952.  The then Lieutenant Oom was a member of Sir Douglas Mawson's British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition 1930-31 during which he carried out valuable surveys and cartographic work. 

From November 1947 Commander Oom commanded HMAS Wyatt Earp; a 135-feet sail-assisted former Norwegian wooden-hull trawler.  After an earlier false start due to engine trouble in December 1947, the Wyatt Earp finally left Melbourne on 8 February 1948 in an unsuccessful attempt to land on the Antarctic continent; although a brief landing was made in the Balleny Islands on 28 February 1948.

Off Cape Gray near Commonwealth Bay the Wyatt Earp encountered sea ice and traversed along the ice edge.  A reconnaissance aircraft flight reported unfavourably on pack ice conditions.  The unfavourable weather and the early ice formation forced the vessel to head to Macquarie Island.  On this voyage the Wyatt Earp carried an Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition scientific team under RAAF Group Captain Stuart Alexander Caird Campbell (then chief executive officer of ANARE) with Phillip Garth Law as senior scientist.  (Group Captain Campbell had only returned to Melbourne on 18 January 1948 from a voyage to Heard Island on HMA Landing Ship-Tank 3501 later renamed HMAS Labuan.)

 

HMAS Benalla

Lieutenant Commander Gale was attached to HMAS Benalla (J 323) from 2 January 1944 to 1 May 1945 as commander and officer-in-charge of survey.  Benalla was launched in 1942 as one of 60 Australian-built Bathurst class minesweepers (corvettes).  Benalla had a full war load displacement of 930 tons, a length of about 187 feet and could make 15 knots.  Benalla had a twin screw triple expansion propulsion system of 2 000 horsepower.  For survey duty she had a crew 107 men.

Benalla sailed from Sydney on 29 January 1944 under Tom Gale’s command and returned to survey duties in New Guinea waters.  During March and April 1944 she participated in surveys of Seeadler Harbour (at Los Negros Island, third-largest of the Admiralty Islands that include Manus Island) following the capture of the Admiralty Islands by the United States.  In August 1944 she returned to Brisbane for a refit lasting two months.

 

HMAS Benalla in 1944.  Royal Australian Navy photograph.

 

On 11 October 1944 Benalla sailed for Hollandia on the north coast of the then Dutch New Guinea.  From there she sailed to the Philippines on 29 October 1944 with the United States Lighthouse Tender Buttonwood as part of the escort for 20 United States Liberty ships (a class of some 2 710 cargo vessels built in the United States during World War II).

Benalla arrived at Leyte Gulf (between the eastern Philippine islands of Samar and Leyte) on 4 November 1944.  There she joined the frigate HMAS Gascoyne for survey duty in San Pedro Bay (at the north western end of Leyte Gulf).  During that night several enemy air raids were carried out but no bombs fell near the Benalla.  It was decided that Benalla would carry out a survey of San Pedro Bay at 1:25 000 scale south of the line between Dio Island and Punubulu Island.  Survey operations were badly interrupted by a typhoon on 8 November 1944 during which shore parties could not be recovered.

Benalla arrived at Seeadler Harbour at Los Negros Island on 4 December 1944 and, after maintenance work, investigated reported reefs about 40 miles north of Seeadler Harbour.  Benalla returned to New Guinea waters initially at Langemak Bay north of Finschhafen on the north east coast on 18 December 1944.  There she continued soundings, surveys and photographic work with Department of Information photographer Mr RT Edwards.

Lieutenant Commander Gale (left) exchanging duties with Able Seaman Anthony Copley (right) as part of Christmas Day 1944 merriment onboard HMAS Benalla at Nuakata Island off Milne Bay in New Guinea.

Clifford Bottomley photographs Australian War Memorial.

Benalla spent Christmas Day 1944 at Nuakata Island off Milne Bay in New Guinea.  Benalla arrived at Darwin on 6 January 1945 to take up duty with a group of several other Australian survey vessels off the north west Australian coast for four months.

Benalla’s work off the north west coast included laying beacons that she fixed by radar ranging and stellar observations; soundings at Baldwin Bank in the Timor Sea (12° 52’ South 124° 09’ East); soundings at Penguin Shoal in the Timor Sea (about 80 miles north west of Cape Londonderry); laying light buoys on Abbott Shoal (at about 11° 41’ South 131° 39’ East); and soundings around Port Nelson off the west Kimberley coast.  Benalla also carried out soundings in Darwin Harbour.  Lieutenant Commander Gale left Benalla on 1 May 1945.  Two days later she sailed from Darwin for Fremantle, where she remained until returning to Darwin on 20 July 1945 to resume survey duty.

 

Distinguished Service Cross

On 27 February 1945 Lieutenant Commander Gale was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross as commander of HMAS Benalla when she carried out successful survey work under dangerous conditions in the Far East and Philippines during World War II.

 

HMAS Barcoo

Between 15 April 1947 and 15 July 1949 Lieutenant Commander Gale was attached to HMAS Barcoo, one of 12 River class Frigates built in Australia during World War II.  She had a full-load displacement of 1 923 tons and a length of about 302 feet.  The Barcoo had a crew of 140 men.

 

Tom Gale’s attachment to the Barcoo was as commander, Assistant Surveyor Class I, and as officer-in-charge of survey.  The Barcoo under Tom Gale left Sydney on 24 April 1947 and returned on 5 November 1947.  She first surveyed the harbour of Kokopo, in New Britain.

 

The only previous survey had been made by the Germans many years before the war.  In three weeks, the Barcoo obtained complete data for a new chart to show the extent of anchorage and where wharves could be built.

 

From New Britain the Barcoo sailed to Yampi Sound and spent three months sounding approaches along which Broken Hill Proprietry Company ships carrying iron ore were to pass.  A fleet of BHP Yampi class iron ore carrying ships each of 12 000 dead weight tons was then being built at the Company’s Whyalla shipyard.  The first of these vessels Iron Yampi, had her maiden voyage in June 1948.

 

HMS Fantome had partly surveyed approaches in Yampi Sound during 1909-1911 but some of those soundings were very sketchy.  Earlier soundings had been taken by Lieutenant Phillip Parker King in the Bathurst during 1821.  Therefore it was not surprising that the Barcoo discovered a dangerous reef in the western approaches close to the main shipping track on the north-west coast.  Barcoo Shoal, as it was later named was only 14 feet under low tide.  Although 12 miles from Adele Island, no reports had ever been received about it.

 

The Barcoo also disproved the existence of a supposed reef which had appeared on hydrographic charts since 1865 as Calliance Reef.  It was named after the Calliance that was grounded there just before Christmas Day in 1864.  She floated free but was lost on rocks at Camden Harbour in the Bonaparte Archipelago on 5 January 1865.  The Calliance was one of three vessels bringing some 70 potential settlers, principally from the mining and pastoral areas around Ballarat and Bendigo.  They had bought shares in the Camden Harbour Pastoral Association in Melbourne in late 1864.  (The Camden Sound venture was abandoned by late 1865.  The Calliance had probably struck a since-charted reef about three miles further south.)

 

No trace could be found either of Low Sandy Island, which had appeared on charts since HMS Beagle reported its presence in 1838. The Barcoo took soundings to 23 fathoms over the spot where the island was charted.  The Barcoo also found several other dangers were two to three miles out of the positions previously assigned to them.

 

In November 1947, the then Commander George Dalton Tancred DSC RAN officer-in-charge of the RAN Hydrographic Branch stated that the surveys by the Barcoo and by HMAS Lachlan had completed the Navy's charts from Cape York to King Sound.  The charting of the north west was untill then the most incomplete of the Australian coast-line.

 

A programme had been drawn up to be carried out over 22 years.  When it was complete the whole of the Australian coast would be covered by complete, comprehensive Australian-produced hydrogrphic charts.

 

On 6 January 1948, the Barcoo under Tom Gale slipped from Garden Island (Sydney) and proceeded to Rivoli Bay, south of Beachport in the far south of South Australia to undertake triangulation surveys and soundings.  Similar work was also carried out around Cape Jaffra from 23 January 1948.  During February 1948, Barcoo proceeded to Williamstown for maintenance work and the sailed to Port Adelaide where soundings commenced on 27 February 1948 using the Barcoo’s boats.

 

During 3-4 March 1948, Lieutenant Commander Gale accompanied the Honourable Thomas Playford MLA, Premier of South Australia, and others on an inspection of deep water port sites at Cape Jaffra and Robe.  Later in March the Barcoo and her boats continued soundings of the approaches to Port Adelaide and on several evenings anchored off Glenelg for the night.

 

Soundings by ship and boats in the St Vincent Gulf approaches to Port Adelaide continued in early April 1948.  During a hurricane force storm in the early hours of Sunday 11 April 1948 the Barcoo was driven ashore off Glenelg.  The vessel went aground about a mile north of Glenelg jetty near a sewerage works after dragging her anchors.  There was no warning of the storm which did much damage by unroofing houses, felling trees and destroying parts of the Glenelg jetty and numerous small craft.  The Barcoo was stuck fast in about 10 feet of sand on her starboard side and there was some concern that she may capsize.  Sand entering the ships condensers required the engines to be shut down to avoid serious damage to her twin three‑drum boiler triple expansion steam propulsion system.

 

HMAS Barcoo aground off Glenelg South Australia in April 1948.

Royal Australian Navy image.

 

Efforts to refloat the Barcoo went on for some 10 days and were also driven by concern for the spring tides due around 25-26 April.  (The spring tides would bring an increase to the height of high tides and a lowering of the height of low tides.)  Stores and ammunition were removed from the Barcoo and about 280 tons of fuel oil were pumped to a Shell Oil Company lighter using electrical power from a land line.  After several efforts with tugs were unsuccessful, a channel was dredged for the ship.

 

The Barcoo was eventually refloated and towed by HMAS Warrego to Port Adelaide.  There was relativey minor damage to the vessel and none of her sounding equipment was damaged.  After clearing of the condensor tubes and other repairs, the Barcoo sailed to Sydney under her own steam.

 

On 8 June 1948 Tom Gale appeared before a court martial that was convened in Sydney by Rear Admiral HB Farncomb RAN.  Tom faced a charge of negligently or by default having hazarded his ship (HMAS Barcoo at Glenelg on 11 April 1948).  The court martial found that the charge was not proven and Tom was formally acquitted.

 

Rear Admiral Harold Bruce Farncomb CB DSO MVO RAN (1899‑1971), was Flag Officer Commanding His Majesty’s Australian Squadron during parts of the 1940s.  He was amongst the first cadet intake to the Royal Australian Naval College in 1913. After retiring from the Navy in 1951, Farncomb studied law and became a successful barrister.

 

In mid-July 1948 Barcoo departed Sydney for Darwin and from there conducted surveys on the north west coast to Port Nelson in the West Kimberley.  She continued surveys in that area and around Yampi Sound in August, September and early October 1948.  Barcoo arrived in Darwin on 28 October 1948 and later that month carried out surveys in Torres Strait.  Barcoo arrived in Sydney on 13 November 1948.

The Barcoo, returned to Port Adelaide from Sydney on 15 January 1949 to carry out further survey work in South Australian waters, mainly in Spencer Gulf.  Her initial task was the triangulation of Investigator Strait and Spencer Gulf connecting with work previously undertaken by Royal Australian Survey Corps surveyors.

The starting point of the Barcoo’s survey was Mount Lofty from which a party from the ship took theodolite readings.  Over the next four months she continued triangulation and hydrographic surveys and soundings in South Australian waters.

The work was undertaken off the Fleurieu, Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas, off Kangaroo Island, in Investigator Strait, Spencer Gulf and numerous islands at the Gulf’s entrance.  Barcoo proceeded as far west as Port Lincoln.  On 29 April 1949 Barcoo berthed at the Outer Harbour Port Adelaide for provisions and Lieutenant Commander Gale held a final conference with Major Walter Bernard (Wally) Relf of the Royal Australian Survey Corps.

On 5 May 1949 Barcoo arrived at Sydney where she was immobilised for a refit.  She was still immobilised at Garden Island on 15 July 1949 when Lieutenant Commander Gale was discharged to HMAS Kuttabul for service with the Hydrographic Branch.

 

Other World War II Attachments

Tom Gale’s service record indicates that he had several short-term attachments to Royal Australian Navy World War II shore stations.

HMAS Moreton: a Royal Australian Navy base on the Brisbane River in New Farm (Brisbane) that opened in 1932 as HMAS Penguin (IV) but on 1 August 1940 was renamed as HMAS Brisbane.  The base was again renamed as HMAS Moreton on 1 October 1942.  The base was located at the corner of Merthyr Road and Gray Street in New Farm and had its own wharves, warehouse buildings and assembly areas.

Moreton was decommissioned in 1994 and many of its services were relocated to Bulimba Barracks under the name Naval Headquarters Southern Queensland which renamed as HMAS Moreton on 14 May 2016.  Between November 1942 and February 1943, Lieutenant Commander Gale was attached to HMAS Moreton for a survey of Moreton Bay.  Tom’s service record provides no further details of this work.

HMAS Moreton at New Farm.

Showing RAN Landing Craft Heavy secured alongside in the Brisbane River.

Royal Australian Navy photograph.

HMAS Assault: between 20 April and 7 May 1943, Lieutenant Commander Gale was attached to HMAS Assault; a combined services amphibious operations training centre at Nelson Bay on the Karuah River near Port Stephens about 30 miles north east of Newcastle.  The nature of Tom’s work here is not clear but is likely to have been related to hydrographic surveys to support the establishment of the training centre.

During 1943 the facilities at HMAS Assault were under construction.  This work included numerous buildings, laying out boat moorings, completely rebuilding an existing jetty, extending its length to 510 feet and adding an L-shaped extrusion of 162 feet to form a boat compound.  A boatshed and slipway were also constructed and completed in August 1943.

In March 1942, the Australian Government recognised the need for amphibious operations capability and began exploring the requirements for combined operations training in Australia for both Australian and United States forces.  The British Admiralty returned to Australia Commander Frederick Norton Cook DSC RAN who had been commanding HMS Tormentor; a combined operations shore establishment based on the River Hamble near Warsash in Hampshire.  With various others, Cook was to establish a combined operations training centre in Australia.

United States soldiers landing at Shoal Bay Beach near Port Stephens as part of a HMAS Assault training exercise in World War II.

Port Stephens Examiner photograph.

Subsequently General Douglas MacArthur decided to bring combined operations training in Australia under the control of the American General Head Quarters.  One Australian and two American divisions were to be trained as soon as possible with the RAN producing one third of the total number of boat crews required and providing the naval requirements for soldiers under training.  After an extensive search along Australia’s east coast, the site at Nelson Bay was chosen.

(The later Captain FN Cook DSC RAN had a remarkable Navy career that included surviving the sinking of two ships by enemy action in seven months during World War II: HMS Royal Oak and HMS Curlew.  Cook came from an outstanding Shepparton district [Victoria] family as outlined in the link at Anonymous [1954] below.  Of particular note is a younger brother, Captain William Frank Cook MVO RAN who was First Lieutenant on the 1947-48 Antarctic voyage of HMAS Wyatt Earp under Commander Karl Erik Oom OBE RAN.  WF Cook was later Registrar of the New South Wales Bar Association where he was known for his disarming greeting: Hello, I’m Captain Cook.  This had an unfortunate outcome for one lady later being examined as to her mental fitness.  After correctly saying she had recently had a cup of tea with Captain Cook she was committed to a mental institution until the situation was clarified; see link at Greenwood and others 2004 below.)

HMAS Ladava: was a Royal Australian Navy World War II depot near the Ladava Catholic Mission at the head of Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea that operated from 1943 to 1945.  According to his service record Lieutenant Commander Gale was attached to HMAS Ladava with the Benalla between 2 January 1944 and 30 September 1944.  However, from other records it is clear that the Benalla ranged far from the depot during that period.

HMAS Madang: was a Royal Australian Navy World War II depot at Madang on the north coast of Papua New Guinea that operated from 1944 to 1946.

 

According to his service record Lieutenant Commander Gale was attached to HMAS Madang with the Benalla between 1 October and 30 November 1944.  However, from other records it is clear that the Benalla was away from the depot at Hollandia and Leyte Gulf during much of that period.

 

War Pension

On 9 June 1950 the then Commonwealth Repatriation Department granted Tom Gale a war pension at the 40 per cent rate for the war‑caused disability of myopic astigmatism or near-sightedness from light failing to come to a single focus on the retina to produce clear vision.  The pension rate was an indication of the extent of Tom’s disability.

 

Duty with the Defence Department

Immediately after World War II, Australian defence and foreign intelligence functions were shared between the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force.  There was also a Joint Intelligence Bureau within the Department of Defence.  The JIB was responsible for geographic, infrastructure, economic, scientific and technical intelligence in the Asia-Pacific region.  Between 23 August 1950 and 30 September 1951, Lieutenant Commander Gale was attached to the Joint Intelligence Bureau as a Charge Grade Surveyor.  The period of secondment was later extended until 2 July 1952.  During his time with the JIB Tom’s administrative attachment was to HMAS Cerberus, the RAN’s Flinders Naval Base on Victoria’s Western Port.

 

 

HMAS Warrego (II)

From 7 July 1952 to 8 April 1954, Acting Commander Gale was attached to the sloop HMAS Warrego II (U73) as senior surveying officer and officer-in-charge of survey.

During this period the Warrego was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Anthony Hawtrey Cooper RAN.  (Tony Cooper went on to serve as Hydrographer RAN for three terms and retired with the rank of Commodore.  He later worked as a contractor on Nat Map’s Bathymetric Mapping Programme in 1972.)

HMAS Warrego (II) in white paint as part of the RAN's survey fleet.

Royal Australian Navy photograph.

Warrego II was a Grimsby class sloop with a full-load displacement of 1 575 tons and a length of about 266 feet.  She was launched on 10 February 1940 by Mrs Pattie Menzies whose husband was the then Prime Minister.  The Warrego had twin-screws and a Parsons geared turbines propulsion system that could make 17 knots.

During July August 1952 Warrego sailed from Sydney via Western Port, Adelaide and Fremantle to conduct survey operations in the Exmouth Gulf – Onslow area.  On 3 October 1952, Warrego was surveying in Exmouth Gulf about 130 miles from the first British atomic test that occurred that day at Trimouille Island in the MontebellosWarrego berthed at Garden Island, Sydney on 18 November 1952.

In January 1953, Acting Commander Gale was the officer in charge of RAN survey operation in Bass Strait using HMAS Warrego and the surveying tender HMAS Jabiru; a former harbour defence motor launch.  Warrego remained under the command of Lieutenant Commander Cooper.  During this Bass Strait operation the two vessels assisted in positioning Nat Map survey parties undertaking a triangulation survey in Bass Strait.

On Sunday 11 January 1953, Jabiru positioned Dave Hocking’s Nat Map observing party onto Hummock Island.  Nat Map’s Reg Ford was positioned on to Deal Island in a mail contractor aircraft from Flinders Island.

On Tuesday 20 January 1953, after Nat Map observations were complete the Deal and Hummock Island observing parties were picked up by the Jabiru and after a very rough trip made rendezvous for the night with the Warrego.  At dawn on Friday 22 January 1953, a Nat Map observing party was placed on Babel Island by the Warrego (Department of the Navy 1952-1953; Ford, 1979).

Warrego then proceeded to Hobart.  Later she continued surveys in Bass Strait including soundings in the Kent Group, completing triangulation in the Furneaux Group and connecting that to the Franklin Sound triangulation.  On 31 March 1953 she sailed for Western Port in Victoria.  A survey was started in the vicinity of the wharf at the Flinders Naval Depot.  Later the Warrego sailed to Port Philip Bay to undertake soundings and tidal stream observations.  She then undertook soundings off the north east coast of Flinders Island and around other Bass Strait islands.  Warrego sailed for Sydney on 16 April 1953.  Here she was laid up for extensive maintenance and repairs and eventually sailed for Gladstone on 20 August 1953.

The survey tenders Warreen and Jabiru departed Sydney on 27 June 1953 to assist Commander Gale in the survey of Gladstone Harbour.  Survey operations at Gladstone commenced on 6 July 1953 with the erection of triangulation beacons at Tide, Garden, and Bush Islands and at Datum and Auckland Points.

An automatic tide gauge was established at the main Gladstone wharf.  Soundings of Port Curtis commenced with the sounding boat Mermaid and to a lesser extent with JabiruWarrego arrived at Gladstone on 24 August 1953 and survey work was continued with soundings, coastlining, tidal observations and tide stream observations.

During September 1953 the survey of the approaches to Port Curtis was completed, a tide pole camp was established on Lady Musgrave Island and surveys were carried out at Lady Elliot Island and later Lady Musgrave Island.  Warrego and her tenders Warreen and Jabiru arrived at Sydney’s Garden Island on 25 September 1953.

During January 1954, Warrego undertook soundings in Victorian waters off Cape Otway, Point Lonsdale and Cape Wickham.  Tidal observations were carried out at Apollo Bay and at Loutit Bay (Lorne) and tidal stream observations were made off Cape Otway lighthouse.  During February 1954 Warrego continued operations in Victorian waters and made boat soundings in the vicinity of a proposed sewer outlet three miles north west of Cape Schanck for the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works.  Warrego arrived at Jervis Bay on 3 March 1954 where she carried out a triangulation survey and commenced sounding the approaches to the Bay.  The surveying season closed on 17 March 1954 when Warrego departed for Sydney.

 

HMAS Warreen

With the Warrego under repair during April-August 1953, Commander Gale undertook detached duty on the survey auxiliary HMAS Warreen.  With the Jabiru, Warreen undertook surveys in and around Gladstone Harbour with Commander Gale until Warrego arrived at Gladstone on 24 August 1953.  It then appears that Commander Gale again attached to the Warrego.  However, the timing Commander Gale’s loan to the Warreen is not clear from either his service record or from the Warrego’s Reports of Proceedings.  Further brief details of Warreen’s history and her role in the British atomic test in the Montebello Islands in October 1952 are provided at Appendix 4.

 

HMAS Lonsdale

Tom Gale’s work on HMAS Warrego was his last sea-going attachment.  For the remainder of his Navy career, Tom’s attachments were to shore-based command positions.  In Navy parlance Tom had swallowed the anchor.

From 26 April 1954 until 25 September 1955 Tom Gale was attached to HMAS Lonsdale with the rank of Acting Commander.  Here he was in command and also Recruiting Officer.  (HMAS Lonsdale was a RAN training base located in Beach Street Port Melbourne.  Originally named Cerberus III, the Naval Reserve Base was commissioned as HMAS Lonsdale on 1 August 1940.  Lonsdale was decommissioned in 1992 and the site is now a luxury apartment complex.)  In 1954 while attached to HMAS Lonsdale, Tom and Ena Gale resided at 61 Marne Street South Yarra near Melbourne’s Royal Botanical Gardens and Shrine of Remembrance.

 

HMAS Kuttabul

From 26 September 1955 until his Navy retirement on 27 July 1958, Acting Commander Gale commanded HMAS Kuttabul where he was also Recruiting Officer.

HMAS Kuttabul is the RAN base located at Potts Point in Sydney adjacent to the Garden Island dockyard.  Kuttabul provides administrative, training, logistics and accommodation support to naval personnel assigned to the various facilities that form Fleet Base East, the main operational navy base on the east coast of Australia.  The base was named for the steam ferry HMAS Kuttabul that was sunk while docked at Garden Island during a World War II Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour in 1942.  (In 1957 Tom and Ena Gale resided at 3 Gilbert Street Rose Bay.)

 

Retirement from RAN

On his forty-fifth birthday, 27 July 1956, Acting Commander Gale’s RAN retirement age was extended by two years.  On 6 May 1958, Tom Gale declined an offer to be placed on the RAN Emergency List of Officers with the rank of Lieutenant Commander until 26 July 1960.  On 26 July 1958 Acting Commander Gale was discharged to shore on retirement.  On 27 July 1958 Tom Gale was placed on the Emergency List of Officers with the honorary rank of Commander.  Tom Gale was placed on the RAN List of Retired Officers on 27 July 1971; his sixtieth birthday.

 

Nat Map’s Antarctic Mapping Branch

In 1958, Phillip Garth Law (later Dr PG Law CBE AO AC [1912 2010]) the Director of the Australian Antarctic Division then within the Department of External Affairs and Bruce Philip Lambert (later Dr BP Lambert OBE [1912-1990]) the Director of National Mapping within the Department of National Development entered into a work agreement. It was for Nat Map to undertake the mapping of the Australian Antarctic Territory and provide suitable surveyors for field duty with Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions.

The agreement was to endure for over 30 years.  It was to fulfil this agreement that Lambert appointed Tom Gale to head Nat Map’s Antarctic Mapping Branch after Tom had retired from the Royal Australian Navy in July 1958.  Tom most likely took up the Nat Map position after he and Ena returned from London onboard the P&O’s SS Arcadia (of 30 000 gross register tons).  The Gales departed London as First Class passengers on 14 January 1959 bound for Sydney.  On the passenger list for this voyage, Tom’s occupation was shown as retired.

The Antarctic Mapping Branch was responsible to the Director of National Mapping for planning and carrying out survey and cartographic activities in the Australian Antarctic Territory in collaboration with the Australian Antarctic Division.  From 1961, the Branch also performed, on the Director's behalf, the routine duties of the Secretariat to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Working Group on Geodesy and Cartography.

Between 1959 and 1977 the Antarctic Mapping Branch was located at Nat Map’s Melbourne Office in the now heritage listed Rialto Building at 497 Collins Street toward the western end of the central business district.  Around the time of Tom Gale’s retirement in 1971, the Branch was redesignated as the Antarctic Mapping Section within the Survey and Map Compilation Sub-section of National Mapping’s Melbourne‑based Topographic Survey Branch.

Nat Map’s Melbourne office was restructured when it moved from the city to Ellery House at 280 Thomas Street Dandenong in April 1977.  In that restructure the Antarctic Mapping Section was disbanded.

 

Personnel in Nat Map’s Antarctic Mapping Branch

Between 1958 and 1976 Antarctic Mapping Branch personnel are known to have included (others have not been identified):

·      Tom Gale, officer-in-charge

·      Sydney Lorrimar (Syd) Kirkby, surveyor (August 1959-1962)

·      John Manning, senior surveyor (from 15 July 1971 post Tom Gale; temporary surveyor field October 1966)

·      Norman Edward (Norm) Harding*, chief draughtsman

·      SL (Sid) Davy*, senior draughtsman

·      Richard Arthur (Rick) Bryse*, senior draughtsman

·      Ronald Robert (Ron) Wilson* draughtsman grade 1

·      Alan Clayton (Alan) Mason*, senior draughtsman

·      Garhards (Graham) Lamberts*, draughtsman grade 1

·      TEE (Terry) Rayner, draftsman grade 2

·      NJ (Norm) Oliver, drafting assistant grade 2

 

*These draughtsmen had features in Antarctica named for them in recognition of their contributions to the mapping of that Australian Territory; see Appendix 6.

 

The Antarctic Mapping Branch personnel reflected the predominance of the male workforce of its era.  However, some talented women worked in Branch.  Unfortunately precise memories have faded but Betty (family name uncertain) and Mavis Eddie were in the Branch circa the early 1960s.

From 1959, Nat Map’s Antarctic Mapping Branch (and the later section) engaged suitable surveyors for field duty with Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions.  As mentioned above, prior to that ANARE surveyors were engaged by the Department of External Affairs.  Surveyors and other survey officers known to have been engaged in Antarctic field survey duty during Tom Gale’s time in charge of the Antarctic Mapping Branch are listed in Appendix 5.

 

Hydrographer on Antarctic Voyages

During his time as officer-in-charge of the Antarctic Mapping Branch, Tom Gale participated in two voyages to Antarctica.  On both voyages Tom was the hydrographer for the Australian National Antarctic Expeditions.  The voyages were in early 1961 and in the summer of 1961-62.

January 1961 Mawson Harbour survey Tom Gale (left) and Bosun Möller in boat from MV Thala Dan.  Mount Henderson (left) and Fischer Nunatak in background.

David Carstens photo.

1961: Tom Gale departed Melbourne on 5 January 1961 and returned on 22 March 1961.  Travel was on the chartered Danish vessel MV Thala Dan on her 1960-61 ANARE Voyage 3 under Captain Hans Christian Petersen.  The voyage leader was ANARE Assistant Director Donald Franklin (Don) Styles (1916-1995).  During this voyage Tom Gale was assisted by Nat Map surveyor David Carstens who was on his first Antarctic expedition; David wintered at Mawson in 1962.

Tom Gale at West Arm trig station (NM/S/55) near Mawson station in January 1961 with David Range in backround.  David Carstens photo.

Tom Gale’s primary task was to carry out hydrographic surveys of the harbours at both Davis and Mawson ANARE stations.  The survey of Mawson Harbour was undertaken using the boat from MV Thala Dan as the echo sounder on the ANARE boat used at Davis had failed (Carstens, 2018).  After completing the harbour surveys and other work, the Thala Dan left Mawson on 11 February 1961 to undertake exploration of western Enderby Land.  Don Styles’ intention was to go along the coast to 44° East (Styles, 1964).  Near Kronprins Olav Kyst in Norwegian Territory some 22 miles west of the Australian sector, Styles wanted to fix the position of a rocky outcrop first noticed at the end of an aerial photography run in 1956.

On 13 February 1961 the Thala Dan was stopped by fast ice nearly 16 miles from the rocky outcrop on the coast.  An astrofix (NMA/S/63) was undertaken on 15 February 1961 by David Carstens with Tom Gale taking the role of booker (Carstens, 2018).  The reliability of the astrofix with the theodolite on floating sea ice was checked with sextant observations by J Wennerberg Möller the Bosun of the Thala Dan (Styles, 1964).

From the astrofix and triangulation, the position of the aerial photograph reference point (a notch near the top of the highest hill on the coast in that area) was found to be 67° 58’20” South 44° 02' 45” East.  This swung the whole coast in that area some 13 miles South East from the position previously estimated and plotted on the maps (Styles, 1964).

1961-62: Tom Gale was again engaged as the ANARE hydrographer on the summer voyage (Voyage 2) of the MV Thala Dan under Captain Hans A J Nielsen.  On this voyage the expedition leader was Phillip Law and the Nat Map surveyor was Syd Kirkby.  The voyage departed Melbourne on 22 December 1961 and returned on 8 March 1962 (via Macquarie Island).

This Thala Dan voyage conducted the Wilkes station changeover, inspected a site for a new station in the Wilkes area and made the first comprehensive survey of the Wilkes and Oates Land coasts, making it possible to map 480 kilometres of coast and some 52 000 square kilometres of previously unknown territory. New landings were made at eight places.  Of the 14 500 kilometres travelled on this voyage, some 1 300 kilometres were in ice. More than 1 600 kilometres of ocean soundings and sea ice observations were made and Tom Gale carried out a hydrographic survey of Wilkes Harbour and its approaches. For further details of this voyage please refer to Report of the 1962 Voyage of MV Thala Dan to Wilkes and Oates Land (Law, 1962).

Antarctic Features named for Tom Gale

Two features were named in recognition of Tom Gale’s substantial contributions to the mapping of Antarctica:

Gale Escarpment is located in Antarctica at 72° 55' South 75° 23' East.  It is an escarpment of ice and rock in the Grove Mountains of Princess Elizabeth Land.  Plotted from ANARE air photographs.  This feature was named for Tom Gale, officer-in-charge of Nat Map’s Antarctic Mapping Branch for his substantial contributions to Antarctic mapping.

Mount Gale is located in Antarctica at 70° 46' South 166° 12' East.  It is a promontory at the northern end of Frecker Ridge in the ANARE Mountains in Victoria Land.  Mount Gale stands at the southern side of the confluence of Ludvig Glacier and Kirkby Glacier.  It was named by Antarctic Names Committee of Australia for Commander D’A T Gale, formerly of the RAN, hydrographic surveyor with the ANARE (MV Thala Dan) cruise that explored this coast in 1962.

Features named on Antarctic Maps from Tom Gale’s work

A number of features on maps of Antarctica were located by Tom Gale during his two voyages as an ANARE hydrographer.  Listed below are some of these features (the list is not exhaustive):

Carstens Shoal is located at 67° 34' 21" South 62° 51' 09" East and is an almost circular shoal area about 3 kilometres from Béchervaise Island (and some 1 500 metres to the south of Möller Bank).  The least depth obtained was 11 metres but it was not completely surveyed.  Discovered in February 1961 during a hydrographic survey of Mawson Approaches by Tom Gale hydrographic surveyor with the ANARE Expedition on the MV Thala Dan led by Don Styles.  It is named after David Carstens wintering surveyor at Mawson in 1962 who assisted in the hydrographic survey in 1961.

Kirkby Shoal is located at 66° 15' 21" South 110° 30' 43" East and is a small shoal area with depths of less than 18 metres extending about 140 metres westwards and SSW about 3.4 kilometres from the summit of Shirley Island in the Windmill Islands.  Discovered and charted during a hydrographic survey of Newcomb Bay and approaches by Tom Gale hydrographic surveyor with the ANARE Expedition on the MV Thala Dan in 1962, led by Phillip Law.  It was named after Syd Kirkby surveyor with the expedition.

Möller Bank is located at 67° 33' 55" South 62° 52' 00" East and is a submarine bank with depths less than 91 metres, about 3 kilometres from the Welch Island triangulation point on a bearing 257°.  The bank is about 366 metres long in a NNE-SSW direction and about 137 metres wide with a least depth of 31 metres.  It was charted in February 1961 by Tom Gale, hydrographer on an ANARE voyage led by Don Styles in the MV Thala DanMöller (or Møller) Bank was named for J Wennerberg Möller, third mate of the Thala Dan in 1961 who assisted in the hydrographic survey.

(Surveyor David Carstens who was on the 1961 hydrographic survey with Commander Gale recalled in 2018 that Captain Peterson provided the use of the Thala Dan’s service launch as well as Boson Möller for the duration of the Mawson Harbour survey.  The echo sounder on the ANARE launch intended for that survey failed after the earlier survey of Davis Harbour.  The ANARE launch had a high superstructure which was difficult to manage for horizontal sextant work; its echo sounder was repaired while at Mawson.)

Davis Anchorage is located at 68° 34' 36" South 77° 55' 45" East and is the body of water with general depths of 18 to 24 metres extending about 2 kilometres southwards from the southern point of Anchorage Island off the Vestfold Hills.  It is bounded on the west by a line joining Krat Rocks and Newman Shoal and on the east by the rocks and shoal water extending for about 1 kilometre offshore from Davis station.  This anchorage has been used by ANARE relief expedition ships since 1957.  A hydrographic survey was carried out in 1961 by Tom Gale, hydrographer on an ANARE voyage in MV Thala Dan led by Don Styles.

Davis Anchorage in 2009 looking south from 2 500 feet.

Nathan Saunders photograph from Australian Antarctic Data Centre website.

Catalogue id IA21878.

Anchorage Patch is located at 68°34' South 77°56' East.  It is a small, isolated, shoal patch within the anchorage area at Davis and about 1 kilometre from Anchorage Island.  The least depth of water over the patch is 11 metres.  It was plotted in January 1961 by Tom Gale during a hydrographic survey by an ANARE voyage in the MV Thala Dan led by Don Styles.

Dahl Reef is located at 66° 15' South 110° 29' East.  It is a narrow reef or rock 5 kilometres from the summit of Shirley Island in the Windmill Islands.  The reef is 46 metres long and uncovers at low water.  It was charted during a survey of Newcomb Bay and approaches by Tom Gale, hydrographer on an ANARE voyage in the MV Thala Dan in 1962 that was led by Phillip Law.  It was named after Egil Dahl, Third Mate on the MV Thala Dan in 1962.

 

Nat Map Retirement

Tom Gale is believed to have retired from Nat Map in 1971 shortly before his sixtieth birthday.  Unfortunately Tom did not have a lengthy retirement.

 

Body Corporate Chairman

For some years Tom Gale was chairman of 272 Williams Road Pty Ltd, the body corporate for his unit complex at Toorak.

Tom Gale’s last home at 272 Williams Road Toorak seen here in 2018.

 

Vale

Sadly Tom Gale died at Toorak on Sunday 9 September 1973 at age 62 years.  Tom was survived by his wife Ena Elizabeth Amelia Gale; they had been married for over 36 years.  Tom was also survived by his sister Mollie (Mrs RJ Bell) and by his and Ena’s only child Toni and by her husband (barrister) Bryan Malpass.

Tom Gale’s funeral service was held at the Western Suburbs Memorial Park Crematorium.  The service commenced at 1:40 pm on Wednesday 12 September 1973.  The funeral arrangements were conducted by Messrs T Bathurst and Company of Elsternwick.  Located in Doherty’s Road Altona North, Western Suburbs Memorial Park has since been renamed Altona Memorial Park.

After her husband’s death, Ena Gale returned to Sydney where her daughter and son-in-law resided.  Ena lived in Rose Bay until her death on 30 December 1981 at age 73 years.

 

Acknowledgements

The kind assistance with the preparation of this article by Nat Mappers Con Veenstra, Syd Kirkby, John Manning and Paul Wise was greatly appreciated.  David Carstens kindly provided information on Antarctica-related matters as well as the two photos of Tom Gale in Antarctica in 1961; David’s assistance was greatly appreciated.  Also greatly appreciated was the generous assistance of Ailsa Chittick who kindly provided access to excellent resource material held by the Royal Australian Naval College including the annotated photo of the 1925 Cadet Entry.  Ms Chittick is the Collections Curator, Fleet Air Arm Museum/HMAS Creswell Historic Collection and is stationed at HMAS Albatross.

 

 

 

Appendix 1

 

Some Clippings from the Social Pages of the Sydney Papers

 

The Sun (Sydney), Sunday 24 January 1937, Page 31

Through the Social Lens

A garden picture of Miss Ena Cantor, only daughter of Mr and Mrs John Cantor, of Mona Road, Darling Point, who will marry Lieut D T Gale, RAN, of the Moresby, at St Mark’s Darling Point, on February 9. The reception will be at Elizabeth Bay House. Lieut Gale and his bride-to-be will leave by the Oronsay on February 12 for England, where then will live for two years.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/230792154

 

The Sun (Sydney), Thursday 4 February 1937, Page 31

Studies by the Candid Camera

St Mark's Darling Point will be the scene of a naval wedding on Tuesday, at 5 pm, when Ena Cantor, only child of Mr and Mrs John Cantor, will marry Lieutenant D Thomas Gale, RAN, of HMAS Moresby. The Candid Camera caught Ena Cantor (centre) at the Australia yesterday, at a tea party given by Mrs H Newby (extreme left) and Kitty Crowley (extreme right), with Paula Cantor (next to Miss Crowley), and Molly[sic] Gale, who will be the bridesmaids, with Valerie Cantor and Norma Hillier.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/230786571

 

Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 10 February 1937, Page 9

Arch of Swords. Naval Wedding at St Mark's. White and Gold.

White and gold to harmonise with summer naval uniforms was the colour scheme chosen by Miss Ena Elizabeth Cantor, only child of Mr and Mrs John Cantor, of Darling Point, for her wedding late yesterday afternoon, with Lieutenant D'Arcy Thomas Gale, RAN, only son of the late Mr T Gale and of Mrs A Gale, of Strathfield.

Fellow officers of the bridegroom formed an arch of swords for the bridal party leaving the church, and the traditional wreath hung from the masthead of the bridegroom's ship, HMAS Moresby. Lieutenant and Mrs Gale will sail by the Oronsay for England, where the former will be on exchange duty for two years.

White and gold cloque was the material chosen for the bride's frock, which was cut on Empire lines, with a fitted train, and high neckline. Her Brussel's lace veil, which was arranged with a coronet of white and gold bends in a rising sun design, was bought in Brussels when the bride and her mother were abroad recently. Her flowers were lily of the valley and yellow waterlilies arranged in a sheaf.

The Bridesmaids.

The bridesmaids, Miss Paula Cantor and Miss Valarie Cantor, cousins of the bride, and Miss Mollie Gale, sister of the bridegroom, wore frocks of off-white faille, with lacquered gold leaves, mounted on gold taffeta, and shoulder length veils of tulle caught with coronets of gold leaves. Little Norma Hillier, who was trainbearer, wore a replica of the bridesmaids' frocks, and carried a posy of deep yellow roses a miniature of the larger ones carried by the older attendants.

Canon Howard Lea officiated at the ceremony at St Mark's, Darling Point. The bridegroom was attended by Lieutenant Commander Sydney Boulton*, as best man, Lieutenant Oscar Rankin*, and Lieutenant Peter Hancocks* [sic-Hancox]. The ushers were Mr W Mosslin, and Lieutenant-Commander R A Hunt*. [*Fellow officers on HMAS Moresby.]

A reception was held at Elizabeth Bay House, where the decorations were in white and gold. The bride's mother wore a frock of black satin faille beaded in milk white, and a black velvet toque. Her flowers were a shoulder spray of lily of the valley. The bridegroom's mother wore a mist grey ensemble and carried a bouquet of red roses.  The bride left the reception wearing a black satin and silver lame dinner flock.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17307315

 

The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 22 July 1937, Page 19

Social and Personal: News from England

Mrs D'Arcy Gale, who was formerly Miss Ena Cantor, of Darling Point, will leave England by the Oronsay on August 28 and spend a holiday with her parents, Mr and Mrs John Cantor, before travelling to Bermuda to join her husband, Lieutenant Gale, of HMS Fitzroy. Lieutenant and Mrs Gale are at present in the Shetland Island, where Mrs Gale has returned after spending a holiday with Miss Kitty Crowley, of Lindfield, and Mr Leslie Stuart, of Goolgumbla, Jerilderie, as the guests of the latter's father, at Dallyhivistock, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Miss Crowley will return with Mrs Gale by the Oronsay.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17385753

 

The Sun (Sydney), Sunday 10 October 1937, Page 1

Yvonne’s Weekly Diary

Petite and charming Mrs D'Arcy Gale, formerly Ena Cantor, of Sydney, arrived by the Oronsay from her home in England, and will be the guest of her parents, Mr and Mrs J Cantor, of Mona Road, Darling Point. Since her marriage early this year Mrs Gale has made her home in England, but while her husband, Lieut Gale, RAN, is with his ship, HMS Fitzroy, she spends her time visiting various parts of Ireland and Scotland, and only recently returned from a stay at Shetland Island, off the north of Scotland, where she and Kitty Crowley — who incidentally were school friends together at Monte Sant Angelo College, North Sydney took a house.

Being keen racing fans, Mrs Gale and Kitty attended many meetings in England, including Ascot and the Derby, and during the latter meeting they were the guests of Sir Edwin and Lady Speed at Henley‑on-Thames. After a month in Sydney Mrs Gale will motor to Melbourne with her mother, and there she will join the Orion on her homeward journey.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229443944

 

Truth, Sunday 27 November 1938, Page 33

For the past two years Mrs T D Gale [sic] (Ena Cantor) has 'followed the fleet' as her husband Lieut T D'Arcy Gale, has been on exchange. She writes from the Orkney Isles that, after spending the early part of 1939 in London, they'll head for Australia again.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169101541

 

The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 4 May 1939, Page 21

Mrs D'Arcy Gale, who is returning to Sydney after spending two years in England with her husband Lieutenant Gale who has been on exchange with the Royal Navy. Before her marriage Mrs Gale was Miss Ena Cantor, daughter of Mr and Mrs John Cantor, of Darling Point, and she will arrive in the Awatea on May 11 with her husband, who has been appointed to Garden Island. Lieutenant and Mrs Gale will stay with the latter's parents until they find a new home.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17589192

 

The Sun (Sydney), Thursday 11 May 1939, Page 31

Spotlight on Society

Lieutenant and Mrs D’Arcy Gale, who had made their home in England since their marriage in Sydney two years ago, arrived by the Awatea to-day to take up residence here. Lieutenant Gale, RAN, who has been on exchange duty with the Royal Navy, and his wife will be the guests of the latter's parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Cantor, of Darling Point, until they find a suitable flat.

When she arrived today, Mrs Gale was wearing an attractive wine and brown check tweed suit and a small brown fur-topped hat, and on her wrist she wore a charm bracelet, comprising tiny gold symbols of the navy - a sailor, an anchor and a lifebuoy. Among the crowd who were down to welcome the travellers were Mr Leslie Stuart, who came from his home, Goolgumbla, Riverina.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/230887750

 

Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 16 November 1939, Page 18

Receiving Congratulations

Lieutenant D'Arcy Gale RAN and Mrs Gale are receiving congratulations on the birth of a daughter at St Luke’s Hospital on November 9. Mrs Gale was formerly Miss Ena Cantor of Darling Point. She and her husband returned to Sydney last May from England where Lieutenant Gale had been on exchange duty for two years. They have taken a flat at Warrington Edgecliff.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17632002

 

Other Press Clippings

 

The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 22 February 1916, page 6

Deaths

GALE-February 20, 1916 at Sydney, after a long illness, Thomas William, beloved husband of Amy Gale. At rest.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15659230

 

The Age (Melbourne), Friday 16 March 1945, Page 3

Charting of Strange Waters

Completing in many instances the hydrographic surveys which Matthew Flinders began in the last years of the eighteenth century, members of the Royal Australian Navy charted the waters of New Guinea and made surveys from Milne Bay to the Philippines. Officers and ratings engaged in this work since 1942 have been recognised in the following awards: -

OBE (Military Division)

For outstanding survey work; under arduous; conditions in the Far East: - Commander Karl Eric Oom, RAN (London).

For distinguished service in successful survey work under dangerous conditions in the Far East:-

Distinguished Service Cross

Acting Commander Colin G Little (NSW) Lt.-Cdr. George D Tancred (NSW), Lt.-Cdr. Sydney F Bolton (NSW), Lt.-Cdr. d'Arcy T Gale (NSW), Lt.-Cdr. Charles R K Roe RN, Lt. Cyril H McGee RANR (SA), Lt. Cecil L Crook RANVR (Prahran), Lt. Harold M Knight RANVR (Brighton).

Distinguished Service Medal

Petty Officer Leslie Stewart, (Essendon).

Mentioned in Despatches

Lt.-Cdr. James A Taplin RD RANR (Essendon), Lt. John J Cody (Beaumaris), Lt Ian W Barns RANVR (Balwyn), Lt. Bruce A Reeves RANVR (NZ), Petty Officer Albert J Kildey (NSW), Petty Officer Norman R Laxton (NSW), A.B. Raymond Marshall C Achilles (Qld), A.B. Boris Ripley Smith (South Yarra).

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206860772

 

 

 


 

Appendix 2

 

Address by Rear Admiral David Martin

to National Mapping Council

Technical Advisory Committee meeting

at HMAS Penguin, Sydney on 1 July 1985

 

Rear Admiral David Martin, AO RAN, Flag Officer Naval Support Command formally welcomed attendees. Highlights from Admiral Martin's opening address are given below:

 

I would like to welcome you to the Navy's company here today and to HMAS Penguin. With some sense of history I am pleased that Penguin is involved. Some of you will be aware that the early surveys of HMS Penguin between 1890 and 1906 covered a large part of the Australian coastline. HMS Penguin obtained the deepest sounding of 5 155 fathoms (9 430 metres) in the Kermadec Deep.

 

Penguin is also appropriate as far as I'm concerned because our Hydrographic School is here. It's a very important institution, not just for our own Naval people, but for hydrographers that we train for other Navies.

 

There is no doubt that we will continue to have a need for adequate charts and maps for land and sea. For defence, this interests me vitally but also for commerce, for rescue, for trade, and for tourism. Australia will not have any security, any survival, or any future unless we get accurate maps and charts to guide us. I'm not sure this is realised throughout Australia but obviously Governments do or you people would not be here.

 

You would expect me to mention the Navy's interest in surveying. There is no need, I hope, to say that we are very strong in our connections with Captain Cook, his Endeavour, his endeavours and his publishing of the first chart - The East Coast of New Holland in 1770.

 

This was followed by a gradual improvement in the knowledge of this part of the world by the Navies of the French, the Dutch, the Americans and foremost amongst them, of course, the British Admiralty.

 

1860 saw the start of the colonial surveys administered and financed by the individual Colonies but these foundered quite early because the Colonies with the longest and most difficult coastlines - Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania - were not the richest. They ran short of money and never really came close to the task they had undertaken and the obligation they had accepted. So the Admiralty, recognising these difficulties, took a very large share of the responsibility for surveys between 1880 and 1926.

 

During this period our coasts and our trade routes were recognised as being among the most inadequately examined, surveyed and charted. Something had to be done. The Australian Government decided to set up the Royal Australian Naval Surveying Service in 1920. HMAS Geranium, a sloop, was commissioned as our first surveying ship with a Royal Naval officer - Captain John Robbins - as the first Hydrographer.

 

During the depression things went wrong again. This affected me. My father was a surveying officer and, about the time I was due to be born he was sent across to the South African Navy because the Royal Australian Navy packed up its Hydrographic Service. A few weeks before I was due to be born the South Africans made the same decision and closed down their Hydrographic Service, and so he came back again. Thus I was born in Sydney and not Cape Town. When he came back he was employed in the Hobson's Bay Survey.

 

It was lucky the RAN did get such jobs. The surveys of Hobson's Bay, the River Yarra, Port Macquarie and the Huon River allowed us to keep the skills alive while we were waiting to get the Surveying Service reactivated and running again properly.

 

World War II saw a fledgling Surveying Service quite inadequate for the tasks that were suddenly thrust upon it. At this time my father was the Hydrographer here in Sydney and it fell on his shoulder to start this sudden, sustained and massive expansion which reminded people who may have thought of the Surveying Service as a peacetime service that they had better think again. Before every landing, before the troops went into any of the islands in the Pacific or before any convoy moved into unknown areas, surveying ships had to be there first. The surveying ships are in the forefront of the peace-keepers but in any sort of a war, they could be the first ships to go into fighting areas.

 

There was a massive expansion so that by 1945 we had 25 surveying ships in the Australian Navy. This was a considerable increase from the one - HMAS Moresby - which we had in the beginning of the war.

 

In 1946 we had to get to grips with settling the finances and shaping‑up to the future. The intention was to settle down with a fleet of three surveying ships. An agreement was signed in 1946 with the Admiralty recognising the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board and making the Hydrographic Office in Sydney the charting authority for Australian waters and for certain islands within the limits of Australia's sphere of influence. That's where we stand today.

 

In 1945, the National Mapping Council was formed following a conference in Canberra between the Commonwealth Survey Committee and the State Surveyors-General. During the period 1945‑1984 the Council has adopted many resolutions; all in the pursuit of co-ordinating and reviewing Commonwealth and State mapping activities. The resolution was adopted in 1960 which appointed the Hydrographer, Royal Australian Navy, as a member.

 

Throughout the history of the National Mapping Council, assistance in its operations has been rendered by the Technical Sub‑Committee. It was replaced by the present Technical Advisory Committee which held its inaugural meeting in South Australia last year. The original purpose remains - to prepare advice and make recommendations to Council on technical, administrative, policy, planning and management matters.

 

So, since 1770 there has been a need for adequate charts and maps of Australia. This need has been recognised and pursued in the spirit of those who went before us in the profession of surveying and mapping. I claim to have had no part in this except to accompany my father briefly and now I am really pleased to have this very short, symbolic, but to me important opportunity just to start you off with this year's session - this Committee meeting…

 

Source: Extract from Welcome, pages 19-21 in National Mapping Council, Technical Advisory Committee Second Meeting Report, Held at Sydney 1-5 July 1985, ISSN 0815-2608

 

 

 

 

Appendix 3

 

Officers-in-Charge RAN Hydrographic Branch

1932-1958

 

Officer-in-Charge Hydrographic Branch

·      Lieutenant Commander Ross Valdar Wheatley RAN: From 23 March 1930 to 9 December 1932.

Officer-in-Charge Hydrographic Depot

·      Lieutenant Commander John Francis Rayment RAN: From 10 December 1932 to 26 April 1933.  Commander JF Rayment DSC died of wounds on 21 October 1944 following a Japanese kamikaze aircraft attack on HMAS Australia when supporting invasion landings in the Philippines; Australia’s Captain and 28 other officers and sailors were killed or mortally wounded in this attack.

·      Lieutenant Commander Colin Goyder Little RAN: from 27 April 1933 to 22 April 1934.

·      Lieutenant Commander Robert Bagster Atlee Hunt RAN: From 23 April 1934 to 10 April 1935.

·      Lieutenant Commander Colin Goyder Little RAN: From 11 April 1935 to 4 April 1937.

·      Lieutenant Commander Ross Valdar Wheatley RAN: From 5 April 1937 to 28 July 1940.

·      Lieutenant Commander Robert Bagster Atlee Hunt RAN: From 29 July 1940 to 27 April 1941.

·     Commander William Harold Martin RAN: From 28 April 1941 to 4 Jan 1942.  Commander WH Martin was killed in action on 1 March 1942 when the cruiser HMAS Perth was sunk during the battle of Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the then Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia.  His only child the later Rear Admiral Sir David James Martin KCMG AO RAN (1933-1990) became a popular Governor of New South Wales in January 1989 and held that post until three days before his death from mesothelioma on 10 August 1990 at age 57 years.

 

Officer-in-Charge Hydrographic Branch

·    Acting Commander Colin Goyder Little RAN: From 19 January 1942 to 16 August 1943.

·    Commander Karl Erik Oom OBE RAN: From 24 August 1943 to 17 January 1945.

·    Acting Commander Robert Bagster Atlee Hunt OBE RAN: From 24 January 1945 to 14 May 1945.

·    Commander Karl Erik Oom OBE RAN: From 15 May 1945 to 14 May 1946.

·      Commander George Dalton Tancred DSC RAN: From 15 May 1946 to 27 April 1948.

·      Commander Karl Erik Oom OBE RAN: From 28 April 1948 to 13 August 1950.

 

Senior Officer, Hydrographic Service

·    Commander Karl Erik Oom OBE RAN: From 14 August 1950 to 16 December 1951.

·    Commander George Dalton Tancred DSC RAN: From 17 December 1951 to 8 November 1956.  From 30 June 1952, GD Tancred held the rank of Captain.

·    Commander Anthony Hawtrey Cooper RAN: From 9 November 1956 to 30 June 1958.

 

 

 


 

Appendix 4

HMAS Warreen and Operation Hurricane

HMAS Warreen was a 82-foot diesel-powered vessel that displaced 110 tons and carried a complement of 10 crew.  She was launched in 1938 by the Melbourne Harbour Trust at Williamstown Dockyard, as MV Warreen for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (later CSIRO) as a fisheries research vessel.

Warreen was requisitioned by the RAN in October 1942 and after fitting out at Garden Island was commissioned as HMAS Stella.  She took part in the survey of the sea route from Milne Bay to Oro Bay between the D'Entrecasteaux Islands and the New Guinea mainland for the proposed attack on Buna.  Stella was paid off on 19 December 1945.  She was recommissioned on 16 April 1952 as HMAS Warreen.

Initially used as a tender to the Naval Station HMAS Leeuwin at Fremantle and was employed conducting survey duties around the Australian coast until 11 March 1957.

HMAS Warreen.

Royal Australian Navy photograph.

 

Operation Hurricane

In October 1952 Warreen had been involved in Operation Hurricane, the British nuclear bomb test in the Montebello Islands off Western Australia.  Warreen was paid off in March 1966, sold and later converted to a prawn fishing vessel.

For Operation Hurricane, a plutonium implosion device the equivalent of 25 kilotonnes of TNT was placed in the hull of HMS Plym (K271) a River class frigate that was anchored in 12 metres of water some 350 metres off Trimouille Island in the Montebellos.  The device was detonated from a command centre established on Hermite Island.  Detonation occurred at 07:59 (WST) on 3 October 1952.  The technology used was then six years old and the United States had already moved to hydrogen bomb technology.

To support Operation Hurricane, the Royal Australian Navy used some 12 vessels.  Other support vessels were supplied by the Royal Navy and some small ships were provided by the Australian Army. RAN vessels included the aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney and her four escorts: the destroyer HMAS Tobruk and frigates HMAS Shoalhaven, HMAS Macquarie and HMAS Murchison.  Other RAN vessels included: the frigates HMAS Hawkesbury and HMAS Culgoa; HMAS Karangi (a Bar class boom defence vessel used as a survey ship), logistical support vessels HMAS Warreen, HMAS Limicola and HMAS Mildura and the tug HMAS Reserve.

In 1956, the United Kingdom conducted two further nuclear tests in the Montebello Islands under Operation Mosaic.  G1 a 15-kilotonne device was detonated on Alpha Island on 16 May 1956.  G2 a 60‑kilotonne device was detonated on Trimouille Island on 19 June 1956.  At the 1984-85 Royal Commission into British nuclear tests in Australia under Justice James Robert McClelland it was claimed that G2 gave an unexpectedly higher yield of 98 kilotonnes.

 

 

Appendix 5

 

National Mapping Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditioners during the period Commander Gale was in charge of the Antarctic Mapping Branch

 

1959: Chris Armstrong* wintered at Mawson

1960: summer survey party: Dave Cook (two Trans Australia Airlines Hiller 12C helicopters) from MV Magga Dan (departed Melbourne 5 January 1960 returned 11 March 1960)

1960: Syd Kirkby wintered at Mawson

1961: summer survey party: Tom Gale and David Carstens* hydrographic work on MV Thala Dan

1961: summer surveyor: Dave Cook (two Helicopters Utilities Bell 47G-2 helicopters - from MV Magga Dan departed Fremantle 24 January 1961 arrived Melbourne 19 March 1961)

1961-62: summer surveyor: Syd Kirkby from MV Thala Dan V2

1961-62: Tom Gale ANARE hydrographer on MV Thala Dan (Voyage 2-departed Melbourne 22 December 1961 returned Melbourne 8 March 1962)

1962: (January-February) Bob Goldsworthy at Mawson

1962: David Carstens* wintered at Mawson

1962-63: summer surveyor: Syd Kirkby

1964: John Farley* wintered at Mawson and Keith Budnick* wintered at Wilkes

1964-65: summer survey party: Syd Kirkby, John Farley*, Rod Maruff and Max Corry*

1965: Max Corry* wintered at Mawson

1966: John Quinert* wintered at Mawson

1965-66: (December-March) Ron Wilson undertook return voyage on MV Nella Dan to Wilkes, the proposed Casey station site, Amery Ice Shelf and Davis

1967: John Manning wintered at Mawson

1967-68: summer survey party: Max Rubeli, Max Corry*, John Manning

1968: Max Rubeli wintered at Mawson; the last time a Nat Map surveyor wintered at Mawson for mapping surveys

1968-69: summer survey party: John Manning, Max Rubeli and Jeff Fox

1969-70: summer survey party: Max Rubeli, Chris Hutchison* and Ed Burke

1970-71: summer survey party: John Manning, Norm Edwards and John Ely

 

*Temporary staff placement for Antarctic duty.


 

 

Appendix 6

 

Features in Antarctica Named for Members of

National Mapping Antarctic Mapping Branch Office Staff

 

Bryse Peaks 72° 43' 00.1" South 74° 51' 00.0" East

A small nunatak, with two peaks, about 19 kilometres NNW of Mount Harding in the Grove Mountains, Princess Elizabeth Land.  Plotted from ANARE air photographs.  Named after Richard Arthur Bryse topographic draughtsman with the Division of National Mapping.

 

Davey Nunataks 72° 58' 00.1" South 74° 52' 00.1" East

A group of seven small nunataks about 7 kilometres SSW of Mount Harding in the Grove Mountains, Princess Elizabeth Land.  Plotted from ANARE air photographs.  Named after SL Davey topographic draughtsman with the Division of National Mapping.

 

Mount Harding 72° 53' 33.0" South 75° 01' 23.6" East

The largest mountain in the Grove Mountains, Princess Elizabeth Land.  Plotted from ANARE air photographs.  Named after NE Harding senior topographic draughtsman with the Division of National Mapping.

 

Lamberts Peak 72° 43' 59.9" South 74° 51' 00.0" East

A small peak about 16 kilometres NNW of Mount Harding in the Grove Mountains, Princess Elizabeth Land.  Plotted from ANARE air photographs.  Named after Graham Lamberts topographic draughtsman with the Division of National Mapping.

 

Mason Peaks 72° 47' 00.0" South 74° 44' 00.0" East

A prominent serrated rock ridge about 12 kilometres NNW of Mount Harding in the Grove Mountains, Princess Elizabeth Land.  Plotted from ANARE air photographs.  Named after AC (Alan) Mason topographic draughtsman with the Division of National Mapping.

 

Wilson Ridge 72° 48' 00.0" South 75° 04' 59.9" East

A prominent razorback ridge about 11 kilometres north of Mount Harding in the Grove Mountains, Princess Elizabeth Land.  Plotted from ANARE air photographs.  Named after RR (Ron) Wilson topographic draughtsman with the Division of National Mapping.


 

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