TAYLOR, THOMAS GRIFFITH (1880-1963),

geographer, was born on 1 December 1880 at Walthamstow, Essex, England, son of James
Taylor, metallurgical chemist, and his wife Lily Agnes, née Griffiths. He attended a modest
private school until 1893 when the family migrated to New South Wales where James secured a
position as government metallurgist. Educated at Sydney Grammar School, briefly, and The
King's School, Parramatta, in 1898 Griffith was employed as a clerk in the Treasury. Resigning
next year, he enrolled in arts (later transferring to science) at the University of Sydney (B.Sc.,
1904; B.E. [mining and metallurgy], 1905).

He excelled in science and mining engineering under Professor (Sir) Edgeworth David who
nurtured his interest in palaeontology. Taylor contributed to David's demanding field
programme, worked as a demonstrator in geology, lectured in commercial geography,
collaborated in the production of an elementary geographical text on New South Wales and
began corresponding with internationally-known geographers. Awarded an 1851 Exhibition
scholarship in 1907 to Emmanuel College, Cambridge (B.A. [Research], 1909), Taylor was
elected a fellow of the Geological Society, London, in 1909 and in 1910 completed Australia in
its Physiographic and Economic Aspects (Oxford, 1911). He established strong friendships with
(Sir) Raymond Priestley, Canada's Charles Wright, the Australian Frank Debenham and others
who shared his passion for Antarctic exploration. David arranged for Taylor to join the new
Commonwealth Weather Service as physiographer on his return from England.

When Robert Falcon Scott contracted to take the Cambridge group on the Terra Nova expedition
(1910-13), it was agreed that Taylor would act as the Weather Service's official representative
since Antarctica was known to exercise a powerful influence on Australia's climates. Taylor's
youthful energy and irrepressible humour made an indelible mark on the historic, ill-fated
expedition. During the long winter confinement, he was a popular participant in the lecture series
and made lively contributions to the South Polar Times. As leader of the successful western
geological party, he supervised the first significant topographical and glaciological
interpretations of extensive areas, and his own physiographical and geomorphological research
was rewarded in 1916 with a doctorate from the University of Sydney. The 'race' for the pole
between Scott and Amundsen, and the deaths of Scott and his companions, attracted wide
interest throughout the British Empire and accentuated the powerful aura surrounding every
Antarctic adventurer. In 1913 Taylor was awarded the King's Polar medal and elected a fellow of
the Royal Geographical Society of London. His With Scott: The Silver Lining (London, 1916)
was well received, and he lectured on the subject in several countries. The mystique of the Terra
Nova episode assisted his early professional career and, quite as importantly, the arduous field
experiences on the frozen continent left a deep and lasting impression on him.

At Queen's College, University of Melbourne, Taylor married Priestley's sister, Doris Marjorie,
on 8 July 1914 with Methodist forms; the bride was given away by the wife of his revered
mentor, David. Between 1912 and 1920, confident and ambitious, Taylor rapidly consolidated
and extended his reputation in physical geography and related fields. In his senior research
position with the Weather Service he busily produced some of his most famous work on
Australian meteorological conditions and 'climatic controls' in agriculture and settlement
expansion.