A TRIBUTE TO NOEL F. LEARMONTH 



flie death of Noel R I carmonth, 

 w h&h OCCUtWjl at Portland on 9 

 Member, 1970 at the age 0] 90, 

 bS lefl a very h.g gap in the ranks 

 , (l i ; e |<) Naturalists, Conservationists 

 , n j Historians. 



In those 90 years Noel established 

 [ L . Ll ons ol friends and admirers, and 

 he ^massed a knowledge of lhc his- 



; , . ,„j natural history of the south- 



uc „ pj Victoria, whieh is um>ur- 



p.tsscd. 



\ lK l Pulford I earmonth was hoin 

 .,l Lttriek. near Portland, in [he far 

 south-west of Victoria. His fumily 

 Ktrjvcd shortly after the Hentys. and 

 his grandfather was the first Mayor 

 (,i Portland. Noel attended Ceelonu 

 Grammar School from 1 to I IB8. 

 .ml maintained his connection with 

 Lin ntd school right to the last. 



On leaving school his I'rsi work 

 was wilh a Government survey team 

 teat 90) io survey the last connect- 

 ing rail link with Milduru. Noel was 

 the last suivivtng member of this 

 ream. Their experiences in this use- 

 less and almost desert country, as it 

 was considered then, ate well told 

 in his latest hook Four Itmm uttd 

 a Survey. 



Next he was piivatc secretary to 

 t'-c Minister for Lands. M K. Mc- 

 KenziC. find about 1905 selected land 



1 1 qaeftrtffliiwL Atier ^ huhDhh Pi 

 wjrs lie left this property. btcajMKJ 

 Of the pliekly pear meiuite. and 

 ictumcd to Tyrundarr* where he und 

 Ms wife made their home at "Cami 

 tOt" In 1951 ihcy retired to live in 

 Portland. 



Noel I earmonth wrole extensively 

 February. 1971 



I ill BiaOl veals he was a conn ihiilni 

 to "The Bulletin ', writing under the 

 name ol "Leo". He contrihuied 

 nature notes to the "Portland Ciuaid- 

 ian" and several natural historv jour- 

 nals. In the last two or three years 

 he wrote many articles <tnd letters 

 on the Little Desert and Kxntbruck 

 controversy. His dry humour and 

 ihilux to assemble words enabled him 

 to strike at the very core ol problems 

 in a most telling manner. 



In 1934 he wrote The Portland 

 Buy Settlement mow out pi print), 

 in I960 Tiie Story of a Port (also 

 out of print); and in 1967 J he Hirds 

 0i Portland (almost sold out I. He 

 dOJWtcd this book to the Portland 

 Field NaturahsLs Club. His last hook 

 / our Tonru Wld u Survey has |usl 

 been released Lnfonun atcly Noel 

 did not sec H. 



Noel was interested in mosi spoil, 

 with cricket » his favourite. As a 

 member of the Melbourne Cricket 

 ( "luh he always attended Test matches 

 on that ground. 



Outside his home and grazing 

 interests his greatest love was the 

 bush. Prom curliest days he seemed 

 to have a strong leaning towards 

 birds He has made many valuable 

 contributions to the ornithology ol 

 Ihis far south west of the Slate. His 

 recordings of sea birds, particularly 

 heach washed specimens, sometimes 

 in collaboration with Cliff Beaugle- 

 bole. deserve particular mention. A 

 number ol rate linds have been re- 

 eo-ded the last one being the Bioad- 

 hillcd Won (P KtM«& recorded in 

 Hud Observer Noies m August 1970 



39 



