Person

Moyes, Morton Henry (1887 - 1981)

OBE

Born
29 June 1887
Koolunga, South Australia, Australia
Died
20 September 1981
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Antarctic explorer, Antarctic researcher and Meteorologist

Summary

Morton Moyes joined the Austraaslian Antarctic Expedition under the leadership of Douglas Mawson in 1911, being meteorologist at the Western Base (Queen Mary Land). He participated in several sledging parties during the 1912 - 1913 season, leaving Antarctica with most Expedition members in February 1913. His second Antarctic voyage was as navigating officer on the Aurora expedition under on John King Davis to rescue Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Moyes was a member of the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition during its first season 1929 - 1930. His role was making depth-soundings, drawing charts and assisting with tow-nets. For over 20 years from 1916 Moyes was an instructor (at various ranks) at the Royal Australian Naval College, ultimately becoming Director of educational and vocational training at the Navy College, Melbourne.

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Details

Chronology

1910
Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Adelaide
1911 - February 1913
Career position - Meteorologist, Western Base, Australasian Antarctic Expedition
1913 - February 1914
Career position - Headmaster, University Coaching College, Sydney
February 1914 - January 1916
Career position - Instructor, Royal Australian Naval College
1915
Award - Polar Medal (Silver)
December 1916
Career position - Navigating Officer, Aurora expedition to rescue Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
1919 - 1920
Career position - Instructor Lieutenant, Royal Australian Naval College
1920 - 1924
Career position - Instructor Lieutenant Instructor, Royal Australian Naval College
1924 - June 1941
Career position - Instructor Commander, Royal Australian Naval College
September 1929 - 1930
Career position - Member, British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition
1933 - 1935
Career position - President, Geographical Society of New South Wales
1935
Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
June 1941 - November 1943
Career position - Acting Instructor Captain, Royal Australian Naval College
November 1943 - 1946
Career position - Director of educational and vocational training, Navy College, Melbourne
1946 - 1951
Career position - Chief Rehabilitation Officer, Commonwealth of Australia

Related Corporate Bodies

  • Royal Australian Navy (1911 - )

    Acting Instructor Captain, Royal Australian Naval College 1941 - 1943; Director of educational and vocational training, Navy College, Melbourne 1943 - 1946

Related Events

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • Morton Henry Moyes - Records, 1911 - 1917, ML MSS 388; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Archives of Australia, Melbourne Office

  • Morton Henry Moyes - Records, 1929 - 1950, MP 124/6, 150-1 and others; National Archives of Australia, Melbourne Office. Details

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

  • Morton Henry Moyes - Records, 1900 - 1960, TRC 334; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

Private hands (Moyes, A.G.)

  • Morton Henry Moyes - Records, 1886 - 1981; Private hands (Moyes, A.G.). Details

South Australian Museum Archives

  • Morton Henry Moyes - Records, 1929 - 1930; South Australian Museum Archives. Details

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

  • Morton Henry Moyes - Records, 1911 - 1931; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Moyes, M. H., The aura of the Antarctic: Antarctic recollections of Captain Morton Moyes (Kent Town, S.A.: John Thrift Design and Publishing, 1994), 124 pp. Details
  • Moyes, Morton Henry: as told to his nephew John Layton Moyes, Antarctica: ice, aloneness, ice (West Gosford, N.S.W.: J. Moyes, 1994), 12 pp. Details
  • Moyes, Morton; Gray, Percival; Mawson, Douglas, Records of the Queen Mary Land station; [together with] Meteorological log of the S.Y. Aurora; Sledge journey weather records; appendix: Macquarie Island weather notes for 1909-1910-1911 (Sydney: Government Printer, 1939), 279 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Fairfax, Denis, 'Moyes, Morton Henry (1886-1981), Antarctic explorer and naval officer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 602-604. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100589b.htm. Details

Newspaper Articles

Resources

See also

  • Jensen, David, Mawson's remarkable men: the personal stories of the epic 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expediton (Sydeny: Allen and Unwin, 2015), 183 pp. Details
  • Laseron, C. F., South with Mawson. Reminiscences of the Australasian Expedition 1911-1914 (Sydney: Australasian Publishing Company, 1947), 223 pp. Details

Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023

EOAS ID: biogs/P000662b.htm

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