Early life in Sydney; interest in astronomy (Halley’s Comet, 1910); American astronomers; war years and science in New Zealand Navy; employment in Cook Islands, 1945-1959; manager of a trading concern; contract with Brad Wood, University of Pennsylvania; lecture tour to Canada and the United States (Harlow Shapley, Charles D. Shane), 1957; state of astronomy in New Zealand in the 1920s and now; establishment of Black Birch Observatory in New Zealand; interest in cooperative ventures with the United States; the Mt. John years, funding efforts; 1965 total solar eclipse in Cook Islands; comments on retirement, publications, UFO?s and extraterrestrial life; role in Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand.