Ted Upton

OIC – Macquarie Island 1982

OIC – Mawson 1985, 1987

Ted was one of the boys. He was always approachable and good humoured. Our year (1985) was a watershed year for ANARE. We had a massive wintering party of 28 which included 5 women. What is normal now was a first for ANARE then.

His management style was one of Laissez faire, just stay in the background and let things work themselves out.

Early on in the winter he convinces a few to try Man hauling. Well, the reality of just how hard that is came to fruition after the first day and no one repeated that exercise again! Not when you had dogs to do the hard yards.

Ted lent all a hand where he could, gave few speeches and no lectures. Everyone was a professional in his eyes and knew what they were doing. They didn’t need any advice from an ex Queensland Copper!

When the conversation got intense Ted would utter his iconic one liner “You have the right!”… That would instantly lower the heat of the argument and we would all have a good laugh. He wrote in our yearbook that if you had a tough time down south, you should first look at yourself before blaming others for your unhappiness. How very true.

In the words of a fellow winterer “He was the conductor of our Orchestra”

Ted eventually retired and settled on Bribie Island where he became a wood carver and sculptor. Later on he moved again to his final home on Macleay Island.

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RIP Ted

Paulus