Dick Barwick - palaeontologist and explorer
Abstract
Richard Essex Barwick was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1929, took a master’s degree in vertebrate ecology and physiology at Victoria University of Wellington, and was appointed junior lecturer there. In the 1950s, he took part several times in New Zealand Trans-Antarctic expeditions, initiated by Edmond Hilary. Dick’s involvement in those expeditions included the discovery and early exploration of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica.
In 1960 he joined the Department of Zoology in the newly established School of General Studies at ANU, where he completed a PhD while teaching, and exploring, aspects of ecology and evolutionary biology. He was promoted Reader in Zoology, and began a highly productive collaboration with Ken Campbell, then Professor of Geology in SGS and expert in the palaeontology of Devonian fishes.
Dick retired in 1994, but he and Ken Campbell still continue their collaboration as Visiting Fellows at ANU. Dick now divides his time between anatomical work on fossils, and a more artistic application of his skills: as silver worker, wood turner, draughtsman, and photographer. He continues his Antarctic interests, recently acting as guide-scientist for a cruise ship during the southern summer.