Who We Are
Patron
His Excellency Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce AC CSC RANR Governor of South Australia
Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce was sworn in as Governor of South Australia on 8th August 2007.
From 2000 until 2003, as Head Maritime Systems in the Defence Materiel Organisation, His Excellency was responsible for the acquisition of all Australian Defence Force ships and submarines and the support of these vessels and their equipment through life.
Following retirement, His Excellency formed and led the South Australian Government team charged with expanding the State's defence business opportunities. One of the team's first initiatives, to build Air Warfare Destroyers in Adelaide, was successfully achieved in May 2005 when the Federal Government awarded the contract to the locally based ASC. The State's $250 m package of infrastructure, skills development and attraction was integral to the success of the ASC bid.
In 2006, His Excellency became an advisor to the corporation formed to deliver the State's shipbuilding infrastructure and skills commitments, and was a member of the Port Adelaide Maritime Corporation Board.
Chairperson
Creagh O'Connor
Creagh has had more than 35 years experience as a chief executive and as a director of a number of public and private companies. He is presently on the Board of the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) which he joined in 1991. He was appointed a Director of Cricket Australia in 1998 and was Chairman from 2005-2008 when he retired from the board. He was a Director of the International Cricket Council from 2005-2008.
Creagh was also a director of the Kerry Packer Cricket Foundation and a Governor of the Bradman memorial fund. He is a past chairman of the Lords Taveners and is a trustee of the Les Favell Foundation.
In 2004, Creagh retired as Chairman of ACHA Health Ltd. He is the Chairman of the Maurice de Rohan International Scholarship Fund, is currently a director of O’Connors, and has been Chairman of Rundle Capital Ltd since 2005.
Directors
Tom Chapman
Tom is the founder and former CEO of The Marina Hindmarsh Island.
The Marina Hindmarsh Island has a unique location on the Fleurieu Peninsula nestled between the cultural & historical attractions of Goolwa and nature's gateway, the Coorong National Park.
The Marina Hindmarsh Island is a well established and successful business entity within both the Fleurieu Peninsula and metropolitan Adelaide. With the implementation of environmental policies and the dedication to their ISO14001 accreditation, The Marina has received world wide recognition for its “best business practice” style of management. The Marina Hindmarsh Island offers an extensive range of boating facilities and services, bareboat and skippered charters, waterfront holiday accommodation and land sales in one convenient location.
Tom joined the project because of his passion for all things nautical and was delighted to find out subsequently that he was a descendant of one of the Passengers on the City of Adelaide.
Peter Christopher
Peter has a senior managerial and industrial relations experience, together with long established volunteer interest in maritime heritage and archaeology.
Peter has long term interests in ships, diving and shipwrecks is the author of several books on maritime and related subjects:
- Australian Riverboats was published by Axiom in December 2006
- Paddlesteamers and Riverboats of the River Murray published by Axiom contains historical information and photos of all significant boats on the River Murray today.
- Let's go for a Dive is the 50 year history of Peter's dive club, the Underwater Explorers Club of SA, prepared together with Nick Cundell in 2004.
- Shores of Tragedy was Peter's first book, published in 1987, detailing the ten most commonly dived wrecks in South Australia.
- Divers Guide to South Australia went into 3 editions.
- to save the lives of strangers, (Famous Shipwrecks of South Australia) details the history of SA's most famous wrecks.
- South Australian Shipwrecks. A Data Base 1802--1989 is a listing of all wrecks during that period, and represents many years of research.
Peter is one of the inaugural members of the City of Adelaide group and attended the 2001 Glasgow "City of Adelaide" Conference convened by HRH, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Mark Gilbert
Mark Gilbert is a Consulting Engineer with a special interest in naval shipbuilding and heavy engineering projects.
Mark is joint Managing Director of Adelaide engineering consultant Wallbridge & Gilbert, and its subsidiary Aztec Analysis which specialises in heavy lifting and marine transportation. Mark has been involved in many ship transportation projects:
- The detailed study for moving the 800 tonne World War II Corvette HMAS Whyalla overland at Whyalla, South Australia.
- Shipping sections of the Royal Austraian Navy's Frigate Modules (900 tonnes max) from fabrication yards in NSW and SA by sea to Victoria.
- Lifting the Nelcebee to its present position on land at Port Adelaide.
- Feasibility of moving the Falie (both lifting and slipping).
- The detailed study for jacking and skidding an Oberon Class Submarine (1,100 tonnes) to a new location on land at Fremantle for the Western Australian Maritime Museum.
- Retrieving the Royal Australian Navy's new Armidale Class Patrol Boats (350 tonnes) using wheeled bogies on the shiplift at the Darwin Naval Base.
Mark has a strong interest in Australian history, particularly the voyages of exploration to the region of the 18th and 19th centuries. He is vice-president of the Friends of the State Library and runs their Australiana publishing program which includes many titles on the settlement and development of South Australia.
Peter Roberts
Peter has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Naval Architecture, a Masters Degrees in Engineering Science and an MBA. He is a Naval Architect at ASC - the company that built the Australian Collins Class Submarines and was recently selected as the shipbuilder to build the new $8 billion Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyers for the Royal Australian Navy.
Peter was the ASC Project Director for the Spanish Design Option that was ultimately selected as the ship design for the Air Warfare Destroyers. Previously Peter was ASC's Surface Vessels Manager working on international shipbuilding contracts.
Peter is the 'father' of the South Australian Government's new $243m Techport Australia, having developed the original philosophy and design for a shipbuilding precinct based around a new shiplift capable of lifting Panamax width vessels.
Peter is an inaugural member of the City of Adelaide group and descendant of three Passengers on the 1873 voyage. He has visited the City of Adelaide in Irvine in 2003, 2008, 2010 and 2011.
Richard Smith
Richard has a Bachelor of Technology Degree in Building Technology from University of Adelaide. Richard had nearly 20 years experience in construction before taking a senior role in Adelaide’s $250m ASER “air-rights” Development in 1983. Less than 3 years later he jointly founded project management and construction consultancy Savant Pty Ltd. Richard retired in 2007 and continues to undertake selected consulting roles in the Industry.
Richard’s project management responsibilities have included Federal, State and Local Government, as well as Defence and private clients. The development of procurement, construction and staging strategies, and programming has been a common part of many of these projects.
Richard first became involved with the City of Adelaide group in 2002 borne by his 50 year association with inshore and offshore sailing. Richard is owner of the yacht Jubilation and is a past Commodore of the Royal SA Yacht Squadron.
Over the years Richard has developed concept designs and techniques for a number of small marine civil projects all of which have which have been successfully and economically constructed. Richard has recently completed a role assisting with the modifications, refurbishment and load testing of the last of three cradles for the Navy’s Armidale Class Patrol Boats based in Darwin.
Committee
Adrian Brown
Adrian has a background in Environmental Management, with a post-graduate certificate in Maritime Archaeology. He works with the Department for Environment and Heritage on Marine Planning within the Gulf St Vincent.
Adrian has been involved in the City of Adelaide movement since its inception in 2000, and has had an interest in the ship itself since discovering its existence in the 1980's. Adrian deserves the credit for bringing the plight of the City of Adelaide to the attention of others and hence inspired the formation of the Save the Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide' Action Group which later became the Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide' Preservation Trust.
Adrian visited the City of Adelaide when still afloat in Glasgow.
Adrian has a strong involvement and personal interest in South Australia's maritime history, including research into many aspects of the history of the ship City of Adelaide. He believes very strongly that the vessel should be preserved intact, here in South Australia, as a fitting memorial to the shipping links that our early colony was founded on.
Kathy Brown
Kathy has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and works at ASC performing Finite Element Analysis for upgrade projects for the Collins Class submarines.
Kathy is one of the original members of the City of Adelaide group having been a member since its inception in 2000. One of Kathy 's major interests is Marine Archeology and she has been a long-term member of the Society of Underwater Historical Research (SUHR) in South Australia.
Kathy is a descendant of passengers that migrated on the City of Adelaide in the 1870s.
Martin Hogan
Martin has an Engineering Degree and in the past was a sea-going Marine Engineer with BHP.
Martin now works with ASC on the Air Warfare Destroyer Project.
Martin has a diverse set of interests from the analog maritime world to the binary world of computer programming.
Martin has extensive experience in heavy engineering and heavy lifts, as well as being adept at programming and designing website databases.
Martin designed all of the databases that power this website, including the databases for the petitions and the ancestry registry.
Hon Tom Kenyon MP
Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills
Minister for Science and Information Economy
Minister for Recreation and Sport
Tom Kenyon has proudly represented the electorate of Newland in the South Australian House of Assembly since 2006.
He studied Asian Studies, completing a Bachelor of Arts at Flinders University. Tom subsequently completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Management at the University of South Australia.
Tom is married with three children and has a degree in Environmental Management.
(Note: Tom's support for the clipper is non-party-political.)
Harbinda Khosa
Harbinda has a degree in Marketing from the University of Adelaide where she graduated dux of her year in 2001. Being dux brought her membership of the exclusive Golden Key National Honour Society.
Harbinda has worked as a Market Researcher for Adelaide University, as well as Marketing Co-ordinator for Pertaringa Wines and d'Arenberg Wines in Adelaide's McLaren Vale wine region.
Harbinda is supporting the City of Adelaide group and at the same time studying for a degree in Communications.
Dr. Duncan McFetridge MP
In March 2002, Duncan was elected as the Member for Morphett and re-elected in March 2006. In April 2007 he was appointed as Shadow Minister for Industry & Trade; Transport; and Science & Information Economy as well as retaining responsibilities as Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs & Reconciliation and Shadow Minister for The Arts.
Duncan previously held the portfolios of Education & Children's Services; Tourism; Local Government; Small Business; Recreation & Sport; Consumer Affairs; and Volunteers.
Duncan has been interested in the City of Adelaide for many years and visited the clipper in 2006 during a Parliamentary Study Tour when investigating issues and opportunities associated with his shadow portfolios of education, arts and tourism. Having seen the clipper first hand he appreciates that preservation is a more practical solution for the clipper than the more expensive goal of restoration.
Duncan reported to Parliament in 2006 that unless the Australian and South Australian governments, along with business and other philanthropic sources of funding come to the rescue, the most likely outcome will be an archaeological deconstruction of the vessel.
(Note: Duncan's support for the clipper is non-party-political.)
Rosemary McKay
Rosemary a daughter of Glasgow, Scotland, now resident in Adelaide, South Australia, has been passionate about the City of Adelaide ever since she first laid eyes on her in an article in the Adelaide Advertiser in 2000. Rosemary is an inaugural member of the City of Adelaide group and has visited the City in Irvine.
Rosemary is:
- Executive Member of the United Nations Association of Australia, SA
- Vice President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, SA
- Past Chair of the Australia-East Timor Friendship Association
- Social Director of The Robert Burns Society of South Australia
- Executive Member of the Scottish Associations of South Australia representing TRBSOSA
- Member of the The Port Adelaide Caledonian Society Inc.
Rosemary who has had over 40 years experience in management and marketing at the University of South Australia and its antecedent South Australian Institute of Technology, accepted the former Secretary of State for Scotland’s invitation to join the Friends of Scotland network. (Friends of Scotland is an ongoing, government supported program that was developed by the Rt Hon Helen Liddell MP, formerly Secretary of State for Scotland to enhance and update the image of Scotland.)
Dr. Rob Morrison OAM
Rob is a freelance Science Communicator and broadcaster, and holds the position of Professorial Fellow at Flinders University.
Rob has written 34 books on science and natural history, and is co-author of 13 more, as well as dozens of articles. A science and environment broadcaster for forty years on television and radio, he co-hosted the long-running national television program Curiosity Show, which screened in 14 countries. He appears with Deane Hutton in “Ask Deane and Rob” on The New Inventors.
Rob was for ten years the environment and science correspondent for Channel Ten TV News and produced the science segments on NEXUS, the television program of the Australia Network, Australia’s Asia Pacific Service, which screens in 43 countries.
He has won many national and international awards, including the Michael Daley Award for Science Journalism, two Eureka Prizes, including the Australian Government Eureka Prize for the Promotion of Science, and the inaugural SA South Australian Government award for Excellence in Science Communication. In 2004, he was awarded the Order of Australia for Science Communication and Conservation.
For six years Rob was president and Chair of the Royal Zoological Society of SA, responsible for Adelaide and Monarto Zoos. He is currently Patron of National Science Week SA, Chair of SciWorld, South Australia's interactive science and environment centre, National Vice-President of the Australian Science Communicators, a member of the Board of the Australian Science Media Centre, and Chair or a member of many Boards and Councils of environment and conservation organisations.
He was the South Australian Senior Australian of the Year for 2008.
Ron Roberts
Ron graduated in Chemical Technology (Applied Science) a long time ago. The degree was conferred jointly by the Adelaide University and the SA Institute of Technology.
After 50 years as an industrial chemist in the pharmaceutical industry, and a volunteer soccer administrator, he has now retired from both. Ron has much more time to devote to researching family history, his hobby of more than two decades.
He writes unpublished articles (to leave for his children and grand-children) based on his family genealogy and the social and local history that has affected each generation.
The story of his forebears arriving on the City of Adelaide is a classic example of the passion for personal history he shares with an ever-increasing number of people. He has seen a growth of interest in genealogy that has been extra-ordinary.
Ron has made four visits to the City of Adelaide in Glasgow and at Irvine since 1986.
Ron has researched and written the majority of the biographical stories on this website.
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