Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Morton Henry Moyes’ story is well told in the biographies (see document), however if the reader wished to know more about his Polar exploration then the following books tell Morton’s experiences in his own words, ‘The aura of the Antarctica : Antarctic recollections of Captain Morton Moyes ‘
(Bib ID 6607742) and ‘Pioneers of the Antarctic”. Author – Moyes & Geographical Society of New South Wales, Libraries Australia ID 8824867.

Schooling

Morton attended St Peter’s College and from 1903 he was involved in Inter-collegiate Football, Inter-collegiate Gymnastics, Inter-Collegiate Sports and St Peter’s Sports.

University

Morton studied at Adelaide University from 1905 to 1910, gaining his B.Sc. in December 1910.

University Sport

Football
Morton represented Adelaide University in a match against Melbourne Scotch in July 1906. He played for the University in the Adelaide and Suburban Association in 1906 and 1907. He was a reserve for the 1906 Intervarsity match against Melbourne University and played in the 1907 Intervarsity match.

Tennis
Morton was a capable tennis player and he competed in the University Tennis Club’s Annual Tournament 1906.

Athletics
While at University Morton began competing in the Amateur Athletics Association’s meetings. At the inaugural meeting in April 1906 he competed and won the high jump. At the September 1906 meeting he won the high jump, came second in the broad jump and also competed in the steeplechase.

Morton competed in the Adelaide University Sports (1906-8) and represented the University at the Intervarsity Athletics competition in (1906-8). In 1906 Morton tied for first in the high jump with JT Lawton of Melbourne, both jumping 5’8 1/2“, a record they held for many years. Morton won the High Jump again in 1907, jumping 5’ 6”, beating Lawton who only cleared 5’ 5” on this occasion. In the 1908 Intervarsity Morton won both the High Jump and the Broad Jump. He was awarded a Blue for Athletics in 1908.

WWI

Morton was recruited as a naval instructor at the newly established Royal Australian Naval College in February 1914. As stated in the published biography (see document).

Moyes found it galling to be 'chained to an office' at the naval college while others went to war. The naval board twice refused him leave to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force and rebuffed his plea for 'active service in the Navy' as his duties were considered of national importance. Finally, in October 1918 his resignation was approved for 31 January 1919, too late to achieve its purpose.

Marriage

On returning from the Antarctic in 1919 Morton married Miriam King, the daughter of Mr F.A. King.

Death

Morton passed away in 1981

Author EE (Beth) Filmer

For the complete profile including photographs, newspaper articles, documents and sources prepared for the AUFC/AUCC WWI Memorial Project (in the period 2015-2019) please see the document attached.