Frank Bartley Walker,  born May 21st, 1919, son of the Reverend Frank William Walker, from Kent, England and Ethel Walker, nee Bartley, of Newcastle.

 

Frank was educated at Newington College and Sydney University, where he was in residence at Wesley College and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in European history and English literature.

 

In 1942 he married Army nursing sister Joyce Walters, who had served in the Middle East with the 2/lst Australian General Hospital.

 

As result of his passion for cricket, he chose as his retirement date the start of the centenary Test match at Lords, then returned to Australia and settled in the Central Coast in his picturesque home beside Lake Munmorah at Budgewoi, NSW, Australia.

 

In his own words, Frank considers that throughout his life he had extraordinary good fortune, far more than he ever deserved.

 

He is thankful to parents who brought him up in a harmonious and loving atmosphere of scholarship and music, and he has been grateful for this all his life. The debt he owes to them is more than he could ever express in words.

 

He said, too, that he had been blessed with the best partners any man could ever wish for. He had 57 years of blissful marriage with his first wife, Joyce, who died in 1999 and life with his second wife, Erika, has been nothing short of enchanting.

 

He had a host of loyal friends’ whose companionship and support he cherished and who helped  him in ways they were not even aware of.

 

The Federal government conferred on him the Centenary Medal, which was struck to honour Australians who had made significant contributions to their country in war and peace during the twentieth century.

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When and where?

1933 - 1939 - Newington College, Wesley College, University of Sydney

1940 - 1945 - Royal Australian Navy (HMAS Latrobe, New Guineas, Netherland East India, Borneo)

1945             - Sydney Morning Herald

1946 - 1949 - New York & Washington (Reuters - on loan from SMH)

1940 - 1951 - London (Reuters)

1952 - 1955 - Melbourne (Melbourne Herald)

1956             - Canberra (Immigration Publicity)

1957 - 1960 - London, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo (Immigration)

1961             - Canberra

1961 - 1964 - Bonn (Australian Embassy)

1965 - 1967 - Canberra

1968 - 1972 - Bonn (Australian Embassy)

1973 - 1980 - Bonn, Bern, Vienna (Australian Embassies)

1981               Retired at Budgewoi

 

Frank’s Memorial:  NSW Garden of Remembrance, which is situated adjacent to the Sydney War Cemetery at Rookwood, Centenary Drive Entrance. Wall 44, Panel G

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