People
at work page 1
Here a collection of photos of people at work.
Most of
these photos were taken by Hamish Lindsay.
They are in no
particular order, and may also appear in the relevant sections of the website.
See also People at Work: Page 2 and People at Work: Page 3.
Paul Mullen at the servo console. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. 5x4 inch negative from the Tidbinbilla archives. 2024 scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Dean Gilkes (left) and Terry Hearn exercise their brains in the Test Equipment Section. Photo & text: Hamish Lindsay. 2024 updated scan: Colin Mackellar. |
John McLeod in the Telemetry section in an undated photo. Scan: John McLeod. |
At left, Brian Bell sits at the Servo console. Is that Peter Cohn standing at right? Undated Polaroid by Hamish Lindsay. 2023 scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Ed von Renouard (standing at right) chats with Jerry Bissicks. Someone is sitting at the Servo console at left. In the background, the chart recorder on the System Monitor has been using quite a lot of paper! Undated Polaroid by Hamish Lindsay. 2023 scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Don Loughhead and Frank Hain in the computer section at Honeysuckle. Undated Polaroid by Hamish Lindsay. Scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Operations Supervisor Ken Lee is farewelled by Station Director Don Gray and his opposite number, John Saxon, in July 1970. Ken has apparently been presented with a pen, card and engraved mug. Photo almost certainly by Hamish Lindsay. Preserved by John Saxon. Scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Bill Perrin works on a problem in the Telemetry section. Photo from Tom Reid’s collection. Scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Bill Waugh makes some adjustments to Honeysuckle’s RCA Scan Converter, 11 July 1969. Photo from Tom Reid’s collection. Scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Ron Hicks at one of the Univac 642B computers. Early photo, likely by the Australian News and Information Service. Scan by Glen Nagle. |
Wally Smallwood in the Test Equipment Section. Probably late 1966. Good detail visible in the larhge format negative. (Colour photo taken at the same time in the How it Works section.) Photo: Hamish Lindsay. 2020 negative scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Bryan Sullivan (seated) and Gordon Bendall (at the left hand Univac 642B computer) in the computer section in an early configuration of the Computer section. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. 2018 negative scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Bryan Sullivan reading a printout, and Gordon Bendall (at the other 642B). Photo: Hamish Lindsay. 2018 negative scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Ian Anderson is seen at the Servo console in this early photo. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Negative scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Ian Anderson is seen at the Servo console in this early photo. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Negative scan: Colin Mackellar. |
The USB area during one of the Apollo missions. |
John Saxon and Mike Dinn at the Ops console in early April 1970, during pre-mission simulations for Apollo 13. In answer to a question about the use of closed circuit TV at Honeysuckle, John writes,
Photo scanned by John Saxon, image cleanup by Colin Mackellar. |
Bill Perrin at the telemetry monitoring console during Apollo 15. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Notes: Hamish Lindsay
and Bill Perrin. |
Paul Mullen, servo technician (left), reaches for another styrofoam cup for coffee, while Mike Linney, telemetry operator fills his for another fix of caffeine during the Apollo 15 mission. As you can see, we were expected to drink lots of tea and coffee to keep awake and alert during the night shifts. Photo and notes: Hamish Lindsay. |
Alan Foster and Lisa Jensen at work on the receivers in the USB Photo: Hamish Lindsay. |
Hamish Lindsay writes, The Technical Support Section (TSS) had many varied jobs. As I had a theodolite, one job was limited surveying such as the station boundary and the antenna horizon profile. Photo: Hamish Lindsay, 2018 scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Stirling Finlay in the Wire Room c. 1973. Scan: Stirling Finlay. |
John Noonan in the early Apollo days chasing through a fault in the station communication system relays. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. |
Jenny Hame was one of the early Technical Support Section (TSS) secretaries. Behind her are the station files, mainly copies of all the messages (called TWXs) sorted into the station sections or subjects. The desk calendar reads Thursday 5 June 1969. On Hamish Lindsay’s desk (closest to the camera), Newsweek magazine, dated June 2 1969, carries a composite image of the Apollo 9 Lunar Module (AS09-21-3182) and an Apollo 8 view of Langrenus (AS08-16-2616) to illustrate the just-completed Apollo 10 mission. The banner reads “9.4 Miles to the Moon”. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Scan: Colin Mackellar |
Detail from the above photo. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Scan: Colin Mackellar |
Bill Kempees (left), Chief Engineer, with Station Director Don Gray at the Operations Console. Bill Kempees is the only person to work at all the Australian MSFN tracking Stations; Red Lake (Woomera), Muchea (Perth), Carnarvon, and Honeysuckle Creek. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. (If youre keen, you might notice the Polaroid composition shot that Hamish used just in view in the bottom left of frame.) |
Between missions staff were kept busy upgrading the equipment for the next mission. Here (from left) Martin Geasley, John Mitchell, Les Hughes, Graham Fraser, and Kevin Gallegos are installing new cables sent from Goddard. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. |
Jerry Bissicks, Kevin Gallegos and Graham Fraser are Photo: Hamish Lindsay. |
Original Deputy Director W.A.L. Bert
Forsythe holding up a printout of Miss Honeysuckle, our
very own pin-up that lived in the 642B computer. Photo and text: Hamish Lindsay. In 2005, Ron Hicks brought his original print-out to a gathering in Sydney. |
Wally Smallwood, the original Test Equipment Supervisor, with a beautifully built and painted model of the Saturn V and the Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT). This amazing effort was built in his spare time in a caravan. I used my sons Matchbox Ford and a couple of toy astronauts to emphasise the scale (they were to the same scale), Wally holding one of the astronauts on his finger. The model was bought by the Department of Supply, but as it was made of balsa wood, eventually disintegrated from the stress of transportation. Photo and text: Hamish Lindsay. |
Here’s a closeup of the model. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Scan: Colin Mackellar. |
Bernie Scrivener, the Department of Supply Admin Officer, with Wally Smallwood and his model of the Saturn V launch vehicle. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. |
Nevil Eyre took over from Wally Smallwood as the Test Equipment Supervisor. Here he is servicing one of our faithful Tektronix oscilloscopes. Photo and text: Hamish Lindsay. |
Heres to the Swan Brewery! After the Apollo 16 mission there was time to relax. From the smiles on the faces the free beer from Western Australia tasted good. From left: Jerry Bissicks (USB), Don Gray (Station Director) replenishing Saxons glass, Geoff Seymour (Computer/Telemetry Engineer), John Saxon (Ops Supervisor), Ian Grant (Deputy Station Director), and Milton Turner (Departmental Admin Officer). Photo and text: Hamish Lindsay. |
Working on the Y skid servo motors, hidden under the tarpaulins. The antenna is vertical on the X axis but tilted over to the west on the Y axis, shown by the angle of the Transmitter Room wall at the top. The ladder and gangway to the Transmitter Room can be seen in the foreground. Ted Burt from the Facilities Section on the right with an unidentified helper. Photo Hamish Lindsay. |
Peter Gavin tweaking a gold plated module in the receivers during the Deep Space era. After he left Honeysuckle Peter went on to become a commercial pilot. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. 2017 Rescan by Colin Mackellar. |
Alex Sommariva tuning the Exciter during the Deep Space era. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Scan by Colin Mackellar. |
1975 was the International Womens Year and I had the enjoyable task of going around all the offices in Canberra involved with space tracking and photographing all the girls. Here are the girls of Honeysuckle Creek DSS44 on 13 May 1975, from left Gai Rossell (Station Directors Secretary), Rhelma Burns (Receptionist), Barbara Vanderputt (Company Secretary), Margaret Morgan (Clerk), and Pearl Gregory (Canteen staff). Photo and text: Hamish Lindsay. Updated scan on this page. |
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Gordon Bendall at the Univac 1218. Probably 1967. Photo supplied by Ron Hicks. |
Computer Complex Gordon Bendall, Ron Hicks and Bryan Sullivan. Photo supplied by Ron Hicks. |
The Telemetry section. Bruce Withey is on the far right. Andrew McKean is in the foreground. Photo supplied by Ron Hicks. |
A Big Pig Dig! Photo and caption Hamish Lindsay. |
The Station Administration Officer (SAO) Milton Turner found a working model of the Saturn V in Canberra and we tried it out in the bare bit of ground by the entrance gate. The picture shows the model just after clearing the launch pad. It came safely down under parachute, and another Saturn V launch was added to its string of successes. Photo and caption Hamish Lindsay. |
See also