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On Sunday 14 April 2019 John Lilley met Mick’s daughter who told him that Mick died last year after a series of strokes.

When John started as a boy technician at Rockbank in 1960, he had the good fortune to be partnered with Mick for a few weeks. Mick taught John the ropes before he began shifts there on his own.

Mick was not only knowledgeable about short-wave radio; he also had a strong interest in the arts, as his wife was a concert pianist. Mick brought an audio amp and turntable to work on night shifts and those on shift with him passed the hours listening to quality classical music.

Mick spent a year on Willis Island (probably 1957 or 1958) as the radio operator, with two other people, one of whom was a meteorologist. Willis is about 450km ENE of Cairns, and was a hurricane warning outpost. Mick had the amateur callsign VK4IC and was a highly sought-after contact on CW, as because of its distance from land , Willis Island was classified as a separate country for radio amateur purposes.

Mick left OTC in 1961 or so, for Collins Radio, who were opening an office in the outer Melbourne suburb of Croydon.

John last saw Mick in 1978 when he was the Supervising Technician in charge of radio installation, maintenance and repair for the Victorian Country Fire Authority.