FROM THE CURATOR
Michael Collins Persse
From the Curator Peter Bassett-Smith (P’27) celebrated his 100th birthday on 25 January 2011 – so far as we know, only the second Old Boy of GGS to achieve centenarian status, the first having been Arthur Havard OBE (Cu’19), who died four days after his 100th birthday in 2001. Peter, whom we salute, and his wife, Diana, had many visitors on the day including Thorry Gunnersen AM (FB’58; Council 1973-83) and Peter Williams (FB’61). Elizabeth Marshall née Agar (Cl’32), who died in September 2010, aged 96, was the subject of an obituary in The Age on 18 November by her daughter Hanna Sky. National vice-president of the Australian Red Cross Society from 198188, she played a leading role in producing Grassroots, a book used by emergency organizations in the training of volunteers. With Dorothy Eaton she established Sefton Lodge, a residential cottage for elderly women with Alzheimer’s disease, and wrote Forgetting but not Forgotten. She was a member of the board that established Wintringham Hostels for Homeless People, and for 20 years was a welfare member of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal. A child of Professor Wilfred Agar, she studied at Munich University in the 1930s and observed at close quarters the growth of Nazism, recorded in her book (compiled from letters and diaries), An Accidental Brush with History (Griffin Press, 2006). After further study at Oxford, she served during World War Two in the Women’s Royal Naval Service as a radio operator intercepting messages between German minelayers and torpedo boats as they prepared to attack Allied convoys along the English coast. She married Leslie (Freddie) Marshall, a lieutenant in charge of coastal listening stations, and after the war, with a growing family (eventually of four), they settled at Panton Hill where she ran a children’s holiday home while he, now deputy director of naval intelligence, commuted to Melbourne. From 1960, for 14 years, she was a social worker with the Repatriation Department. After 60 years of Red Cross service she was made an honorary life member “as a person who contributed passionately to the power of humanity, to the care of vulnerable people, and to the development of the Red Cross”. 36
John McMillan (Cu’33), who died in October 2010, served – mostly as a manager – with the Bank of New South Wales (later Westpac) for 44 years. In six years of war service with the RAAF and the RAF, he rose to the rank of SquadronLeader. A grandson of Alexander McMillan JP (Old School 1880), who was a bank manager, Geelong West councillor, and original commissioner of the Geelong Harbour Trust, and son of Stanley McMillan (OS’08), a grazier and merino breeder at Englewood Park near Inverleigh, he was a countryman at heart and in his successive postings – at Geelong, Bairnsdale, Altona, Carnegie, Warrnambool, Shepparton, and Ballarat – a pillar of support to his regional customers. Early in 1941, before leaving for advanced training in Canada under the Empire Air Training Scheme, he married Joy Bell (He’36), from a prominent Geelong family, who survived him (nearly 70 years later) with their children, Angela and Michael (Ge’67), and four grandchildren. His Air Force service included two years in the Burma campaign with 60 Squadron of the RAF, which had lost all its Blenheims during the retreat from Burma, and which went on to help turn the tide towards victory, sometimes with as many as three sorties in a single day. John flew 50 missions against the Japanese, on one occasion flying back to base in East Bengal (now Bangladesh) on one engine, and on another belly-landing with the hydraulics of his Blenheim shot away. Later he led 2 Squadron of the RAAF, mainly on reconnaissance and low-level strikes on islands in the Timor Sea, and was in charge of an advance party of 150 men establishing a forward base for Mitchell bombers at Balikpapan in Borneo. Legacy remained a great interest, as did golf. Michael has summed up his father as “a contributor to the community who volunteered his services without hesitation, happier to give than to receive” – and a dedicated family man. Dr Frank Champion de Crespigny (P’35), who died in September 2010, was a revered General Practitioner for 41 years at Ararat, where his father was one for 44. The older brother of Jim (P/ FB’38), Humphrey (P/FB’38; Chairman of Clyde School Council 1969-71), and Peter (FB’43), he went on from four years at GGS to the University of Melbourne, graduating in Medicine in 1941. On completing a residency at the Alfred Hospital in 1943, he married one of its nurses, Jean Buckwell, with whom he had two daughters, Diana (Hone) and Wendy (Crombie), and three sons, David (Cu’64), Andrew (Cu’68), and Richard (Cu’70). Early in 1945 Frank went with his unit to Bougainville where for seven months, until the war ended, he treated sick and wounded servicemen. Having contracted tuberculosis, he spent
the next year in the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, after which, despite offers of specialist training, he returned to Ararat to set up practice. Knowing his patients thoroughly and practising true “medical friendship”, he became a skilled surgeon, anaesthetist, and obstetrician, trusted for his kindness and clinical acumen – and with extraordinary commitment keeping up with rapid developments in medicine. He served for 14 years on the city council – from 195557 as mayor – and achieved a better water supply for the district from Lake Fyans. Other civic service included the presidency of the local branch of the RSL and of the Ararat Hospital board, and membership of the committee of the Ararat Art Gallery committee and of the vestry of the Anglican Church. Rotary Australia honoured him with a Paul Harris fellowship for his contribution to the community. Jean died soon after their 50th wedding anniversary. Frank was warm, friendly, hospitable, and a wide reader. He is survived by sixteen grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, his brother Peter, and his sister, Rosemary Baylis. Peter Kemp (FB’41), who died in March 2011, was a son of Reginald Kemp and his wife, Ann (known as Nancy), née Peck (Clyde ‘17). At GGS – where he was followed by his brother, Ian (FB’43) – he excelled at boxing, swimming, and tennis, and became a School Sub-Prefect. Having enlisted in the RAAF immediately on leaving school, he was posted in 1944 to 93 (Beaufighter) Squadron on fighter attack work in the Pacific as a Flight Lieutenant (for a time Acting Squadron Leader at only 21), followed by 22 Repair and Salvage Unit as a Test Pilot and then 77 (Kittyhawk) Squadron, latterly in the Occupation Force in Japan. Discharged with the rank of Squadron Leader in 1947, he flew freighters with Tradair and both freighters and passenger planes with Ansett until 1956. In 1948 he married Jean Dalrymple (Cl’31), and they had four children: Wanda (Cl’67), Andrew (P’68), Simon (Cu’70), and Caroline (Cl’74), who married Greg Thomson (GGS Staff 1982). Having farmed for a time near Gisborne, they moved to Albury in 1963 and Peter worked for Pivot Superphosphate. After their marriage and a later one had ended, Peter lived mostly in North Queensland. He started flying again – mustering cattle from 1980 to 1985 – and then settled at El Arish until he bought land at Mission Beach where Wanda assisted him in building his final home. From 1984 he was the companion of Janet Langley (Matron, FB, 1980-87), mother of Jock Langley (P’82). Peter had a great love of history, a keen intellect, and a fine capacity for friendship. As well as his sons and Janet, several of his nine grandchildren paid tribute to him at his funeral at Mission Beach, including Rupert Kemp (M’10) and Joe Kemp (Yr10 M), sons of Simon and Cathie.