herakles
08-01-2008, 02:19
Michael Thwaites was a most gifted man and a fine Australian.
Like so many Australians, he was born to an English father and third generation Australian mother at Brisbane in 1915. He was brought up on a diet of English verse from his father,especially Kipling. He attended Geelong Grammar School on a scholarship then moved on to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar where he read Literature. He was the first Australian to be awarded the University's Newdigate prize. Further recognition came in 1940 when he was named as the first Australian to win the King's Medal for poetry. Following Auden.
He was actually on board ship when Masefield wrote, telling him of his award. He served out the war ending up a Lt. Commander of a corvette and served in the Battle of the Atlantic.
After graduating he took up a post at Melbourne University but after three years entered ASIO (the Australian equivalent of MI5) at the request of the then head, Brigadier Spry. Years later, disappointed at not being appointed head of ASIO, he retired from there and became the assistant parliamentary librarian in Canberra.
He is mainly remembered for two things: his remarkable poem "The Jervis Bay" in 1942, which won instant wide acclaim. He is also the author of many other poems and books. See my post on HMS Jervis Bay here if you don't know her story.
As well, he became the expert on "the Petrov affair" in his role as head of counter-espionage. The Petrovs were a husband and wife, members of a large Soviet spy ring in Australia, who defected in 1954. He spent 18 months with them in their hideaway at Palm Beach Sydney. As a result, he collected vast amounts of data on Soviet operations, especially to do with Burgess and Maclean. He eventually was able to reveal the identity of about 600 Soviet spies.
He was made Order of Australia in 2002 and died in 2005.
His patriotic poem "For Australia" was sung at the opening of Parliament by the Queen in 1988.
(I'll wager you can't find a pic of Thwaites Bob!! I can't.)
Like so many Australians, he was born to an English father and third generation Australian mother at Brisbane in 1915. He was brought up on a diet of English verse from his father,especially Kipling. He attended Geelong Grammar School on a scholarship then moved on to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar where he read Literature. He was the first Australian to be awarded the University's Newdigate prize. Further recognition came in 1940 when he was named as the first Australian to win the King's Medal for poetry. Following Auden.
He was actually on board ship when Masefield wrote, telling him of his award. He served out the war ending up a Lt. Commander of a corvette and served in the Battle of the Atlantic.
After graduating he took up a post at Melbourne University but after three years entered ASIO (the Australian equivalent of MI5) at the request of the then head, Brigadier Spry. Years later, disappointed at not being appointed head of ASIO, he retired from there and became the assistant parliamentary librarian in Canberra.
He is mainly remembered for two things: his remarkable poem "The Jervis Bay" in 1942, which won instant wide acclaim. He is also the author of many other poems and books. See my post on HMS Jervis Bay here if you don't know her story.
As well, he became the expert on "the Petrov affair" in his role as head of counter-espionage. The Petrovs were a husband and wife, members of a large Soviet spy ring in Australia, who defected in 1954. He spent 18 months with them in their hideaway at Palm Beach Sydney. As a result, he collected vast amounts of data on Soviet operations, especially to do with Burgess and Maclean. He eventually was able to reveal the identity of about 600 Soviet spies.
He was made Order of Australia in 2002 and died in 2005.
His patriotic poem "For Australia" was sung at the opening of Parliament by the Queen in 1988.
(I'll wager you can't find a pic of Thwaites Bob!! I can't.)