Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

IN MEMORIAM: DR KARL MAXWELL RICHARDSON

We are sad to announce the passing on 7 January 2024 of Karl Richardson, a resident of Denmark, Western Australia, for the past decade. He was 86. A gifted mathematician and medical doctor, Karl was a beloved community figure known for his generosity and exuberance.

Born in 1937 in Sydney, Karl was raised in a big family of 9 siblings, living cheek-by-jowl in a tiny two-bedroom terrace in Dawson St, Surry Hills. His “bedroom” was a shared bunk-bed on the terrace’s balcony. The streets were his “backyard”, where Karl would often play sports, with a flair for tennis and rugby.
Karl had an exceptional mind, enrolled in a gifted learning program at primary school, and afterwards to the selective entry Sydney Boys High. At the University of New England (Armidale, NSW), Karl studied to be a school teacher, and here he met his wife and soul mate, Margaret Alexia Jackes. They married in 1959, and the following year embarked on an adventure to Fiji, teaching at the illustrious QVS school. His time in Fiji was sadly marked by great tragedy when their first-born son, Mark, died at age 2. His death motivated Karl to pursue a career in medicine, and after his studies at the University of Sydney he worked as a doctor (specialising in anaesthesiology) for the Australian Army for 4 years, a period that included a stint to Vietnam in late 1971 during the war.

Living in Sydney for many years, Karl and Margaret had 3 more sons, Seth, Benjamin and Tobias, who pursued careers in human rights, environmental law and the visual arts respectively. They lived abroad in England and the Netherlands in 1977, one of their lifetime highlights, and an experience that inspired many more global travels for Karl and Margaret including to work in Prague, Czechia, in 1992-93.

In more recent times Karl’s peripatetic career roamed over many parts of Australia including Alice Springs, Tallangatta, Canberra, and, most recently, in Denmark. Karl first visited Denmark Shire in the early 1990s, whilst holidaying with Margaret, and he returned to live here in 2014 with his second wife after Margaret died in 2010 on their 51st wedding anniversary, followed shortly afterwards by Seth’s death.

Karl had boundless energy and many hobbies from mathematics to writing poetry, and more recently the visual arts with his second wife, Christina. They opened a shop in Denmark selling their artworks. He also participated in many community groups, forever seeking to help society’s underdogs.

Karl’s passing leaves a void that can never be filled for those who knew him. Karl leaves behind his sons Benjamin and Tobias, his granddaughters Aneirin, Myfanwy, Ruby, Asha and Ramona, his siblings Warren and Darby, and wife Christina.