Duxes

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1936: George Campbell Lyon,  

ONE OF THE ORIGINALS RETURNS (From the 2001 School Magazine)
On Tuesday 5 June King’s was favoured by a visit from its first dux. Those who are familiar with the brass plaque in the foyer will see the name G.C. Lyon 1936 at the top. He still proudly displayed his medal in the original box.
As a first day student at King’s George Lyon was a student similar to many other typical King’s boys of the last 65 years. Although dux in 1936 it was necessary for him to leave school during 1937 and go to work at the National Bank.
This was immediate aftermath of the Great Depression when it was difficult for families to manage.
The outbreak of World War 2 saw George as an 18 year-old enlist for service. He was accepted into the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal which meant he became a pilot flying off aircraft carriers.
He spent 2 ½ hears in this hazardous occupation as Commanding Officer of a four aircraft unit flying from the smallest aircraft carrier “McKendrick”.
Mr. Lyon recounted with amusement the occasion of his 98’’ carrier landing. This was three short of the number required for the presentation of a large disc for 100 landings without incident or accident.
At 4 am on a dark morning on a heaving small carrier Mr. Lyon’s plane landed and broke in two. His half aircraft carried on to the runway end, the navigator’s half remained at the other end of the flight deck. The navigator when asked if he was injured replied indignantly that he expected to travel the whole distance with the pilot in future!(04.1942) – (10.1942) no appointment listed
20.12.1942 – (10.)1943 pilot, 796 Squadron FAA [HMS Kilele (RN Air Station, Tanga, Tanganyika)]
09.11.1943 – (04.)1945 pilot, 836 Squadron FAA [HMS Shrike (RN Air Station, Maydown, Northern Ireland)]
(07.1945) – (04.1946) HMNZS Cook (depot & training establishment, Wellington) *
After 6 ½ years of service in warfare Mr. Lyon holds the view that it is not glamorous but is a waste of human life and resources. On his return to New Zealand Gorge Lyon began a mining course at Otago University finishing with a degree in metallurgical engineering and the prestigious Duffus-Lubeki Research Scholarship.
After 30 years employment in the Australian mining industry he returned to farming near Tauranga, specialising in Piedmontese cattle and Texel sheep. Nowadays he is retired near Tauranga and visited his old school on his journey south accompanied by his wife and daughter.

Ian Alexander Murdoch (Attended King’s High School from 1936 to 1937)

Ian was Head Prefect in 1936 and 1937. He was the Regimental Sergeant Major in the school’s Cadet Corps in 1936 and 1937. In 1936 Ian was awarded a General Excellence Prize in Form 5 and he was Dux of the school in 1937.

Ian was Captain of the First XV. He placed second in the Senior Athletics Cup

On leaving school Ian studied Education and Psychology at the University of Otago.

Ian’s studies were interrupted by World War 2 in 1941 when he undertook an Air Force pilots training course in New Zealand before being posted overseas. In 1943 he had been promoted to Flight Sergeant in in an RNZAF fighter squadron.  He was injured landing after returning from fighting Japanese in the Solomon Islands. He visited Kings while on furlough. In 1944 while resting from active service Ian became a lecturer for the Air Training Corps.

After returning from the war Ian returned to his university studies – he graduated with a B.A. degree from the University of Otago in 1947.

In 1939 at the inaugural meeting of the King’s High School Old Boys Association Ian was elected Secretary. Ian was President of the Association in 1967.

Ian was the Principal of The Taieri High School for several years in about the nineteen seventies. He has a wing in the school named after him.

James Archibald Valentine (Attended King’s High School from 1936 to 1938)

1938 Prefect, First Rugby XV, First Cricket XI,

Vice President of the inaugural King’s High School Old Boys Committee in 1939.

First Prize winner for Commerce at the Otago University (Mercantile Law, Commerce and French

James was an Alumni of the Department of Accountancy & Business Law (BCom, Accounting 1947), a member of staff in the Department (1948-1969), and Chancellor of the University of Otago (1982-1992). He played a prominent role in the New Zealand business community, in education (both as a teacher and administrator), and in the development of his own profession. “He brought dignity and the wisdom of experience to the role of chancellor of the university. With typical modesty he once said, ‘You don’t do it all by yourself. The knack is to let others get the credit’.” James was made an Honorary Doctor (LLD Otago) and was a member of the Financial Conduct Authority.
James was a director of a number of major New Zealand Companies including PGG Wrightson, Reid Farmers, Queenstown Tourism, Victory Trawling …

He died on December 30th, 2009.

David Noel Ferguson Dunbar, came to King’s High from St. Clair School. He was dux of his primary school, and since enrolling at King’s High School he has been top of his form each year. Although a brilliant scholar, he has not confined himself entirely to the academic side of his school career, and his sporting activities have included cricket and fives. He has also been quartermaster-sergeant of the School Cadet Corps, and senior librarian, in addition to which he has taken a keen interest in the School Radio Club.

David Noel Ferguson Dunbar, always known as Noel, was born on December 25, 1922, in New Zealand. After leaving school with a scholarship to the then-federated University of New Zealand, he graduated with a bachelor of science in 1944 and then a master’s degree in science with first-class honours in physics in 1946, while also working as an assistant lecturer at the University of Otago.
In 1947, he was recruited to the University of Melbourne, where the professor of physics, Sir Leslie Martin, was building a school of men of high promise in the field of nuclear physics. Noel combined this with a background in electronics.

Noel was at Melbourne as lecturer and senior lecturer from 1947 to 1958. He was a memorable teacher and former students from Melbourne and the ANU speak of him with respect. He gained his PhD at Melbourne in 1951 and in 1952 was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to take up a research fellowship at the California Institute of Technology.

In 1958, the small Canberra University College, which was overseen by the University of Melbourne, decided to establish a faculty of science.

It offered Noel the chair of physics, which he accepted and took up in 1959.

The college was amalgamated with the ANU in 1960. From 1963 to 1967, Noel was dean of science and, from 1968 to 1977, deputy vice-chancellor.

In 1977, Noel was recruited as chairman of the Universities Council of the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission, where he served until 1986. He became responsible for the co-ordinated development of the whole Australian university scene.

On retirement, Noel served as chairman of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and was a visiting fellow in the physics department of the ANU science faculty from 1991 to 2003. In recognition of his public service, the university conferred on him the honorary degree of doctor of laws in 1987.

All of that is the public record of an outstanding servant of the academy. It does not indicate what colleagues and friends remember: the jovial bon vivant, the connoisseur who toured the major wine regions of the world, the pillar of Rotary, of the Commonwealth Club, the Royal Canberra Golf Club and Benchmark Wine Bar, the congenial host, the entertaining and lively guest, the good companion, the dutiful son Noel cared for his mother until her death and never married. Noel died on the 9^th May 2011.