Person

Murphy, Herbert Dyce (1879 - 1971)

Born
18 October 1879
South Yarra, Victoria, Australia
Died
20 July 1971
Mornington, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Antarctic explorer
Alternative Names
  • Dyce-Murphy, Herbert

Summary

Herbert Dyce Murphy was an Antarctic explorer on the Mawson Expedition of 1911 to 1914. During the expedition he was one of the team's dog handlers, in charge of stores and was in command of the southern supporting party during 1912 and of winter quarters during Mawson's absence. But this was not all Murphy did. He studied in England, sailed the Arctic on a Norwegian whaling vessel, spent a year with army intelligence during World War I posing as a woman, worked as an orchardist and sheep farmer, and spent for three months of each year from 1920 to1965 working as an ice-master to a Norwegian whaling fleet in Antarctica where he was responsible for handling the mother-ship in the ice. The book Lady Spy, Gentleman Explorer: The Life of Herbert Dyce Murphy gives a good insight into this man's extraordinary achievements and life. Murphy Bay, George V Land, Antarctica, was named in his honour.

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Details

Chronology

1900
Education - Matriculated from Brasenose College, Oxford
1911 - 1913
Career position - In charge of Expedition stores, Cape Denison, Australasian Antarctic Expedition
1915
Award - Polar Medal (Silver)
1920 - 1965
Career position - Ice-Master to the Norwegian whaling fleet in Antarctica
1926 - 1936
Career position - Mornington Shire councillor (Victoria)
1932 - 1933
Career position - President of the Mornington Shire Council

Related Events

Published resources

Books

  • Rossiter, Heather, Lady Spy, Gentleman Explorer: the Life of Herbert Dyce Murphy (Melbourne: Random House Australia, 2001), 415 pp. Details

Book Sections

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

Rosanne Walker

Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 22 March 2022

EOAS ID: biogs/P002458b.htm

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260