FIND YOUR FRONTIER

Vale     Sydney Lorrimar Kirkby AO MBE       1933 to 2024

            Surveyor, Explorer, Map-maker, Adventurer.

Sydney (Syd) Kirkby’s life has been celebrated around Australia by so many people in so many circles. Some knew him from his early years, while others knew him as the inspirational surveyor who helped establish the first permanent base in Australian Antarctica, Mawson Station. Some knew him from his leadership in later Antarctic Expeditions, others from his technical achievements in mapping Australia through aerial photography, and by digitising these complex drawings into topographic maps. Only a few knew the more private Syd, of his life with Jude Lang, his wife for more than forty years, of his ongoing work to preserve and promote Antarctica, and of his commitment to the environment, community and family. The ‘Celebration of Syd Kirkby’s Life’ at the Kureelpa/Dulong Hall brought all these fragments together and, perhaps for the first time, Syd Kirkby, the complete man, was finally revealed.

At an early age, Syd suffered from polio and, in a very positive way, this battle defined the man he was to become. When diagnosed that he would never walk again, with the help of his Dad, Syd challenged this sentence. Once rid of callipers, he learnt to walk again, then to run, then to play football (AFL), and to box. He also became in involved in acting and debating. His attitude in meeting these challenges became the mantra for the rest of his life: ‘Find Your Frontier.’ Read his whole story in FIND YOUR OWN FRONTIER.