Basil Catterns
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Basil Catterns, MC (1917 - 30 March 2007) was an Australian businessman, soldier and amateur yachtsman. Born as Basil Wilfred Thomas Catterns in Balmain, Sydney, the son of an English merchant seaman, Wilfred Catterns, and Emily (nee Greenwell). An uncle, Basil G. Catterns, for whom he was named, later became the Chief Cashier of the Bank of England.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early Years
Educated at Fort Street Boys' High School, Catterns joined the staff of the (now defunct) Sydney afternoon daily newspaper, The Sun. On the outbreak of World War II in 1939 he volunteered for military service and served with the Australian Imperial Force in the Middle East and North Africa including Tobruk. When the AIF was brought back to Australia in 1942, he met Nina McKnight and married her in 1943.
In September 1942, Catterns, by now a captain, was sent to New Guinea with his infantry unit where he saw action on the Kokoda Track winning a Military Cross and being mentioned in dispatches for acts of gallantry which his battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Cullen, was moved to declare the bravest thing I'd ever seen a man do.[citation needed] Catterns served in New Guinea for the rest of the war, eventually attaining the rank of major.
After the war Catterns pursued a career in advertising. He produced a film of the Melbourne Olympic Games; sailed the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race on six occasions; founded Offshore Yachting, the magazine of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia; and was one of the longest-serving members of the Sydney Maritime Museum[citation needed].
Catterns and his wife lived in suburban Sydney where they raised three children: David, a barrister/QC; Diana, an artist; and Angela, a well-known radio broadcaster.
[edit] Final Years
Basil Catterns died at age 89 of undisclosed causes.
[edit] Marriages
[edit] Offspring
- David Catterns
- Diana Catterns
- Angela Catterns
