Guide to the Papers and photographs of Pat Walsh, 1938-1939

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 9219
Extent:
0.68 metres and (5 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers and photographs of Pat Walsh, National Library of Australia, MS 9219, [series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Biographical Note:

Callaghan Baird Walsh (1898 – 1959)

'Pat' Walsh was born at Port Douglas, north Queensland, on 15 August 1898. He matriculated from St Stanislaus College, Bathurst, to Sydney University in 1916 and in 1917 passed first year science on his way to a medical degree. On 12 December 1917, aged 19, he enlisted in the 5th Light Horse Regiment, AIF, fought in Palestine, and came home on 11 April 1919. On 23 May he joined the Queensland Forest Service as a chainman and by August 1926 was in charge of Barakula State Forest, near Chinchilla. On 6 October he was appointed a chainman at Wau, but within a year was a medical assistant at Madang. In 1938-39 he was medical assistant on the Hagen-Sepik Patrol.

On 30 October 1941, aged 43, Walsh joined the R.A.A.F. as an air mechanic, served mainly in Queensland and, by 1945, was a Flying Officer in medical hygiene. On 10 June 1942 he married Ivy Eileen Ennor (1910-1992). He returned to Rabaul in December 1945 and early in 1950 was posted to the new Native Medical Training School at Nonga, Rabaul. He was promoted senior medical assistant on 21 February 1952 and retired from Nonga on 29 August 1953. He died in Longreach on 26 September 1959. He was a most reticent man, a fine photographer and a good bushman.

Provenance:

Pat Walsh's collection of papers and photographs was destroyed in a Brisbane basement during the 1974 flood, but the Walsh papers and photographs in this collection were fortuitously preserved among other records.

The papers were given to Jim Taylor in 1940, who took them to Sydney while writing his report on the Hagen-Sepik Patrol, then gave them to his nephew, Russell Robinson. At Taylor's request, in 1986 Robinson lent them to Bill Gammage for his book about the patrol, The sky travellers: journeys in New Guinea 1938-39 (MUP 1998), then donated them to the Library.

Walsh made several sets of these photographs but only John Black's copies have survived. Taylor's copies and the official sets were lost during World War II; Walsh's copies were lost in the Brisbane flood. John Black's set of the photographs was lent to Gammage in 1987, on condition that ultimately they should be given to the Library.

Arrangement:

In 1998-99 Dr Gammage arranged the records into two series and compiled this guide to the collection.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2980553).
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers and photographs of Pat Walsh, National Library of Australia, MS 9219, [series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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