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War Memorial
Australia

PETER CHARLES TUSTIN ARMYTAGE    AM

RACING ADMINISTRATOR

18-2-1923 - 8-6-2010

Peter Armytage, a former chairman of the Victoria Racing Club, World War II Lancaster wireless operator and air gunner, pioneer firefighter and farmer, has died at Penshurst Hospital in the Western District. He was 87.

A passionate supporter of country racing, he served as chairman of the South Western District Racing Association and as president of the Hamilton Racing Club before joining the VRC committee in 1978. He became chairman in 1986, a post he held until 1991.

Through strong leadership, Armytage pulled the racing industry together and led reforms, including the privatisation of the TAB and a new era for racing funding in Victoria.

He was instrumental in initiatives such as the creation of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival committee in 1988, the acquisition of radio station 3UZ (Sport 927), and the commissioning of the statue of Phar Lap at Flemington Racecourse.

As chairman of the VRC he once lent his guest, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, $20 (queens do not carry money) to bet on a horse he tipped. The horse did not win and when the queen later tried to return his money, Armytage politely declined, saying: ''Your Majesty, I would love for the rest of my life to be able to say that the Queen of the Netherlands owes me $20!'' She laughed, and agreed.

The third of four children of Charles and Pamela Armytage of ''The Wilderness'', Coleraine, he was born into one of Victoria's pioneering pastoral families.

After completing his leaving certificate at Geelong Grammar, Armytage joined the RAAF in 1941 - his father and uncles having served in the 4th Light Horse Regiment at Gallipoli. By the age of 19, he was a commissioned officer and travelled to Britain via the United States, before joining RAF Bomber Command.

Armytage's 625 Squadron crew took part in 10 bombing raids over Germany, but on the night of March 24, 1944, the last of the "1000 bomber raids", his Lancaster was shot down over Nazi Germany. The crew parachuted safely and Armytage ran 29 kilometres, swam a freezing river and evaded searchlights before hiding in a haystack across the Dutch border.

He was rescued by the Dutch Resistance and passed along the underground network but was betrayed to the Gestapo in Antwerp and sent to Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp. On arrival, Armytage called out, "Is there any other bastard here from Melbourne?"

To his amazement, Rupert Steele (later knighted) responded. They had met as competing schoolboy rowers, became lifelong friends and both went on to be chairman of the VRC.

In 1945, as Russian forces closed in, the Germans forced their prisoners to march 128 kilometres through thick snow to the Buchenwald concentration camp. There the prisoners were forced into gas chambers at gunpoint, only to be treated with a fumigant for lice and bedbugs. Allied forces liberated the camp and Armytage eventually was repatriated to Australia at the end of the war.

He had carried a photograph of his long-term girlfriend, Diana Officer, with him throughout his war service, and they were married in June 1946 just a week after her brother, Terry, was killed in a car accident. A skilled fighter pilot, Officer was to be the best man and had met up with Armytage during the long march though the snow in Germany.

In 1948, Armytage and his cousin, Bob, were both given land at ''Mt Sturgeon'', Dunkeld, by their great-aunts as a reward for going to war; he aptly named his allocation "Caviar", where he and Diana ran a Merino flock and Hereford cattle while raising four children.

In 1969, Armytage bought the Mt Sturgeon homestead block, where he and Diana lived until 1996. He also oversaw the management of "Afton Downs" in western Queensland for the wider Armytage family until the property was sold in 1979.

In 1990, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of his service to horse racing and as an owner. One of his noted horses was the steeplechaser Kriegie, which he co-owned with fellow POWs Steele and Bob Andre. The horse's name was an abbreviation of the word ''kriegesgefangenen'', prisoner of war in German.

His wife, Diana, died in 2007, and he is survived by his children Simon, Tim, Chas and Anita, nine grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and his brother Saville.

This tribute was prepared by friends of Peter Armytage.    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/a-thoroughbred-in-every-sense-20100618-ymxo.html