Outback geologist switched careers to become librarian
Tgeologist/librarian b November 6, 1941 d December 20, 2018
rapped upside-down in a helicopter in the remote southwest of Tasmania, geologist Myles McIntyre and two colleagues could hear the drip-drip of petrol as they struggled to escape.
For the Outback explorer, this was more grist to the mill. ‘‘Mac’’ was used to long spells living rough in the bush or scrub, and had been swimming in crocodile-infested billabongs in the Northern Territory’s Arnhem Land.
The English-born McIntyre, who retrained as a librarian in the late 1970s after deciding he wanted to spend more time with his family, died on December 20 as a result of complications from legionnaires’ disease contracted from potting mix. He was 77.
"Never judge a book by its cover’’ could have been written for the quiet, phlegmatic McIntyre, whose love of books, words and academic thinking masked an adventurous spirit illustrated by long years of mineral exploration in some of the wildest parts of Australia.
For a period of 10 to 15 years before, during and after the worst of the Canterbury earthquakes, he was a much-loved librarian for The Press. With his grizzled beard and laconic remarks, he was sometimes known as ‘‘Father Christmas’’.
Born in Sunderland, northeast England, he and his family came to New Zealand when he was 5, settling in Raetihi and then Greymouth, before his father was appointed medical superintendent at Burwood Hospital, in Christchurch.
He went to Christchurch Boys’ High School and then studied and majored in geology at the University of Canterbury. He joined the ski club and spent a lot of time at Temple Basin, where he developed a love for the Southern Alps and met future wife Sue.
In 1964, he applied to mining company BHP for holiday work in Australia but was instead given a permanent job as an exploration geologist in Arnhem Land.
Sue said the team he was part of were looking for ‘‘whatever they could find’’, including bauxite and manganese.
In 1965, he was transferred to Tasmania, doing much the same work in the southwestern quarter of the island. In April 1966, he and Sue married in Kaiapoi, then returned to live in Hobart.
He would work in the remote southwest for six months and come back to spend several months in the office. Helicopters played a major role in getting geologists into wilderness areas.
Sue recalled one such flight about 1967. ‘‘They were being picked up by helicopter and the skids got caught under the buttongrass and it flipped over. Mac said the worst bit was hearing the petrol dripping down inside. But they all managed to get out.’’
McIntyre was also flown out for his wedding, daughter Sally said. ‘‘The chopper went, following the road to Queenstown [Tasmania]. The helicopter landed in the main street and was on the front page of the local paper.’’
Sue said Myles was forced to escape from another upside-down helicopter while he was working as a research librarian for Esso in Sale, Victoria, in the 1980s.
‘‘If there was a strike offshore, they’d send the office staff out there, so he was always sent out as a radio operator, because he’d been doing that in the southwest of Tasmania. But he had to have helicopter underwater escape training to do this.
‘‘He said it wasn’t very nice. They flipped the helicopter over in a big pool. The divers went down with you, but he said it’s amazing, when they flipped the helicopter over underwater, you don’t know if you’re going up or down to try and get out.’’
McIntyre joined the Associates Rugby Club while in Hobart in the 1960s. He played as fullback and made a name for himself as a ferocious tackler. He represented Tasmania on numerous occasions after 1966, and in 1972 played against the touring French team.
The McIntyres moved to London in the late 1960s, where Myles completed his master of philosophy degree in the Royal School of Mines at Imperial College of Science and Technology. This involved five months’ field work in Sierra Leone.
He and Sue went back to Tasmania at the end of 1970, and Myles worked for mACI, exploring for base metals near Balfour, an old uninhabited mining town.
‘‘Mac accepted a job in South Africa,’’ Sue said, ‘‘but then decided to change careers. He was always away – we didn’t see a lot of him. By then we had three children.’’
He retrained as a librarian, working for Hobart Polytechnic and then Esso at Sale.
The McIntyres moved back to Christchurch in 1991. They enjoyed the chance to return to the Southern Alps, and he and Sue completed all the major South Island tramps.
Myles was employed in the library of Switchtec before moving to the medical library at Christchurch Hospital and then to The Press in the early 2000s, where he worked in various librarian roles until September 2013.
He was out of the old Press building in Cathedral Square smoking a cigarette when the February 22, 2011, earthquake struck.
Former Press library colleague Philip Creed said: ‘‘[He was] standing in front of the cathedral beside the police kiosk having a smoke, and watching the cathedral spire crumble in front of him. He told me he had to brace himself to remain standing upright, so powerful was the shaking.
‘‘Myles to me was a man of few words, but a great deal of wisdom. He projected a sage temperament and was always able to offer a considered opinion on most things.
‘‘He had a wry sense of humour, but did not show it often.’’
James Branthwaite, another exPress library colleague, said the beard and the omnipresent blue jersey were ‘‘quintessential Myles’’. ‘‘He possessed a nearencyclopaedic knowledge of a number of things, including cricket. He was very quiet but would come out with a comment once in a while with a wry smile from within that incredible beard of his.
‘‘Of course beards are fashionable again now, but he would never have had any truck with that sort of fashion. He always wore that blue jumper. In the middle of summer, 30-degrees plus, he was still in that jumper.’’
In retirement, he focused on photography, woodwork and gardening, and enjoyed catching up with old university pals at the Brewers Arms in Merivale. He had given up smoking after a heart attack in 2011.
He and Sue enjoyed several overseas trips. Wherever they went, he would return with rock and fossil samples, which fill many corners of their Christchurch home.
Purely for interest, he had been studying undergraduate geology again at the University of Canterbury in recent years and had reached stage three level.
The last paper he took was GEOL 336 – Magmatic Systems and Volcanology. Associate professor Ben Kennedy said McIntyre’s keen brain was ‘‘great to see’’.
‘‘Myles was a great addition to my classes, often with some interesting questions or observations or stories after class.’’
For his birthday, six weeks before he died, Myles asked for roast pork and his favourite, creme brulee, Sue said. ‘‘He was worried because he thought it would be too much work and I’d need to clean the oven afterwards. But I cooked it for him.’’
About that time, he accidentally breathed in spores from the potting mix he was working with in the garden.
He is survived by Sue, their three children – Sally, James and Angus – and grandchildren Finn, Ilaria and Eli. – By Paul Gorman Do you know someone who deserves a Life Story? Email obituaries@stuff.co.nz