- page -
http://www.cdu.edu.au/cdupress
Go Back >> List of Entries
by a pilot and engineer at the base. Flight Officer Keith Goedheer became the first TAA pilot posted to the ‘Alice’
and Ted Priest was posted from Adelaide as Station Engineer.
Harry and Eleanor did not settle in Sydney long however. Soon after, Harry secured a job as pilot for Jack Masling
at Cootamundra in southern New South Wales where the couple settled down. This position lasted until 1963 when
Harry accepted an offer to fly for an old friend, Laurie Crowley in New Guinea, operating an air service from
Lae. Harry flew a DH Dove for Crowley, operating as Megapode Airways and flying a service from the Solomon
Islands capital, Honiara to Auki twice daily on Tuesdays and Fridays. Megapode widened its activities to include
the entire Solomons, Santa Cruz Islands, Guadalcanal and Bougainville.
In 1965, Harry purchased a half share in a motor vessel Coral Queen that was lying in disrepair at Tulagi.
After considerable work, the vessel was made seaworthy and Harry, Eleanor and a small crew sailed her south to
Cairns. From there the couple travelled by road to the Gosford area where they settled down ‘to the extent that
I had several Christmas dinners in the same place other than the cockpit of an aeroplane,’ Harry recalled.
Harry’s retirement was complete. Over some 35 years of flying, he had amassed 11 249 hours, 15 minutes in
the air. He calculated that, at 160 kilometres per hour, he had travelled some 1 799 880 kilometres. Harry Moss
MBE died on 16 November 1990, aged 83 years.
A Affleck, The Wandering Years, 1964; G Aplin, S G Foster, M McKernan (eds), Australians. A Historical Dictionary, 1987; A Curthoys,
A W Martin & T Rowse (eds), Australia From 1939, 1987; D Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force, 1939–1942, 1964; W Henry, ‘Northern
Territory Aerial Medical Service’, Journal of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia, vol 26 No 3; H Moss, Ten Thousand Hours, 1988;
N Parnell & T Boughton, Flypast, 1988; Personal files; A Powell, Far Country, 1982.
BOB ALFORD, Vol 3.
MOUNTFORD, CHARLES PEARCY (1890–1976), anthropologist, the son of Charles Mountford, was born
at Hallet in South Australia on 8 May 1890. At the age of 11, he left school to become a farm labourer. Mountford
subsequently was employed in a variety of jobs such as a travelling salesman, blacksmith’s assistant, conductor of
horse drawn trams in Adelaide and telephone mechanic before seeking a further education.
In 1925, his keen interest in Aboriginal Australia prompted him to take a degree at the University of Adelaide
and later at Cambridge University where he studied Aboriginal folklore and history. Mountford’s primary concern
was to gain a better understanding of Aboriginal art.
Between 1937 and 1960 Mountford led 12 scientific expeditions to Central Australia, Arnhem Land and Melville
Island. This resulted in the publication of more than 20 books and numerous articles. He was a keen observer of
human behaviour and achieved the praise of his colleagues for his ability to interpret the material culture of
the Aborigines. It was partly due to his dissemination of informed data that the study of Aboriginal culture has
developed in Australia. He also won fame for his use of innovative techniques in filming and photographing
Aboriginal art and ritual, and proved to be a leader in this field. Mountford produced six documentary films that
have been acclaimed as art in their own right. Geographical societies in both Australia and the United States of
America bestowed him with honours.
During the years of his expeditions, he served as Honorary Ethnologist to the South Australian Museum and
Honorary Adviser on Aboriginal Art to the South Australian Art Gallery. As a foundation member of the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal Studies in Canberra, he was able to influence public policy.
In 1973, the Council of the University of Melbourne admitted Mountford to the Doctor of Letters Honoris
Causa for a lifetime of contribution to the study of Aboriginal art and mythology. He married twice, first in 1914 to
Florence Julge Purnell, with whom he had two children and who died in 1925. He married again in 1933 to Bessie
Ilma Johnston. Once described as ‘a self educated academic’, Mountford belonged to a generation who were
conditioned to divide their energies between earning a living and pursuing academic achievement. Dr Mountford
died in Adelaide on 16 December 1976.
M Lamshed, Monty, the Biography of C P Mountford, 1972; Adelaide Advertiser, 17 December 1976; AIAS Newsletter, January 1977; Adelaide
Observer, 29 October 1927.
ROBYN MAYNARD, Vol 1.
MOY, FRANCIS HERBERT (FRANK) (1913–1982), teacher, patrol officer, soldier and public servant, was born
in Broken Hill, New South Wales, on 8 May 1913, the son of a mining engineer. He was educated at Bundaleer
Forest School and Jamestown High School, South Australia, and he was dux of the school and Head Prefect and
excelled at sport. His father having died in a mining accident, his mother remarried and it seems that a female
relation, possibly an aunt, played an important part in his upbringing.
At the age of 19 Moy applied for a position as a Cadet Patrol Officer in New Guinea along with 2 000 others but
it was not until May 1935 that he was invited to take up duty there. Meanwhile he had spent two years as a teacher
with the South Australian Education Department. After two probationary years in New Guinea, Moy was sent to
the University of Sydney like other cadets at the time to complete Professor Elkin’s short course in anthropology,
before being promoted to Patrol Officer and posted to the Sepik district.
When the war reached New Guinea, Moy joined the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU)
as a Lieutenant in March 1942. During the Japanese invasion, Moy for a time manned a key observation post
above Salamaua and in September led a small party of soldiers in a successful withdrawal on foot and by canoe,
eventually reaching Port Moresby after five weeks of arduous and dangerous travel. A year later Moy accompanied
the American landing on Bougainville and for some months led patrols through and behind enemy lines ‘with
infinite resource, courage and efficiency.’ For this work and his part in the evacuation of the people of Green Island