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'Basil Wilfred Thomas Catterns' MC (1917 - 30 March 2007) was an Australian businessman, soldier and amateur yachtsman.
Catterns was born in Balmain, an inner-city harbour-side suburb of Sydney. He was the son of an English merchant seaman, Wilfred Catterns, and Emily (nee Greenwell). He was named for an uncle, Basil G. Catterns, later the Chief Cashier of the Bank of England.
Educated at the selective publicly funded 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 were described by his battalion commander as ''the bravest thing I'd ever seen a man do''. 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.
In his private life Catterns and his wife lived in suburban Sydney where they raised three children: David, a barrister and QC; Diana, an artist; and Angela, a well-known radio broadcaster.
★ Oral History Catterns describes action on the Kokoda Track
★ Australian War Memorial entry
★ Obituary - Sydney Morning Herald
Catterns was born in Balmain, an inner-city harbour-side suburb of Sydney. He was the son of an English merchant seaman, Wilfred Catterns, and Emily (nee Greenwell). He was named for an uncle, Basil G. Catterns, later the Chief Cashier of the Bank of England.
Educated at the selective publicly funded 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 were described by his battalion commander as ''the bravest thing I'd ever seen a man do''. 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.
In his private life Catterns and his wife lived in suburban Sydney where they raised three children: David, a barrister and QC; Diana, an artist; and Angela, a well-known radio broadcaster.
| Contents |
| External links |
External links
★ Oral History Catterns describes action on the Kokoda Track
★ Australian War Memorial entry
★ Obituary - Sydney Morning Herald
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