| Notes |
- Vere Gordon Childe, called Gordon by his family, was the son of the
Reverend Stephen Henry Childe and Harriet Eliza Gordon the second of his three wives, having been born on 14 April 1892 in North Sydney. His main connection with the Blue Mountains is that his parents often took the family to their vacation house at 46, Wilson Street,
Wentworth Falls when it was called Chalet Fontenelle now it is Whispering Pines.
But the connection goes further for his parents, Stephen (died 23 May 1928) and
Harriet (died 26 July 1910 at Chalet Fontenelle are buried in the Church of England section of Wentworth Falls Cemetery, in WCE4 Plot 5, which is adjacent to the Great Western Highway opposite the eastern boundary of Mountain High Pies.
Gordon Childe attended Sydney Grammar School and in 1911 he entered Sydney University to study Latin, Greek and Philosophy; he graduated in 1914 with a University Medal (Mulvaney 1994, p.56). A classmate was H.V. Evatt, who was to become Leader of the Labor Party and President of the United Nations General Assembly; he “.. had been a close friend.”. Childe’s education continued when he went to Oxford University for 1914-1917 to learn about Archaeology but he also became involved in politics. As a pacifist, he was not well received when he returned to Australia in August 1917, nevertheless late that year he was appointed Senior Resident Tutor at St. Andrew’s College, University of Sydney. He made no secret of his political views, which proved so distasteful to the college authorities that,
anticipating dismissal, he resigned in June 1918. His frequently expressed beliefs brought him a lot of trouble in the repressive period between the World Wars, with job applications being blocked and his mail being censored. But he succeeded in getting an appointment to teach classics at Maryborough Grammar School, Queensland, where unruly students made his life so uncomfortable that he only stayed for a short time. At the end of 1919 he returned to Sydney and became personal secretary to the Leader of the Opposition Labor Party. After the Labor Party won the election in 1920 he was transferred to the NSW Agent-General’s office in London but he did not depart until September 1921. He held that position for almost a year until he was given a month’s notice on 20 April 1922 by the incoming Liberal Party,
although formal dismissal was delayed until 4 June 1922. As a result of his experiences he wrote a seminal volume ‘How Labor Governs’ which was published in 1923. hat dismissal was a turning point in his career for he next became an archaeologist and in succeeding
years he developed an internationally renowned reputation, being regarded as probably the leading authority of his era on prehistoric European archaeology. He was multi-lingual and travelled extensively to visit various archaeological digs, but he was also regarded as a great synthesiser of archaeological publications although his views were somewhat controversial. For several years he appears to have had only part-time employment until in 1925 he gained a job in the library of the Royal Anthropological Institute. His subsequent
appointments were Abercromby Professor of Archaeology, University of Edinburgh (1927-1946) and Director & Professor of Prehistoric European Archaeology, University of London (1946-1956).
In retirement, and at the age of 65, he arrived in Australia on his birthday 14 April 1957 to give lecturesand attend conferences and
“He also spent much time hiking and studying rock formations in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, an area associated with happy memories of his youth.” He last went to Katoomba on 11 October 1957 and “On the three occasions he visited Katoomba in these last months he stayed at the Carrington, a hotel he thought greatly superior to most in Australia.” Early on Saturday 19 October 1957, he took a taxi to Govetts Leap Lookout, Blackheath, but did not
return from a walk south-eastwards along the cliff edge. On the day after Childe’s disappearance, his body was discovered by a 15-year-old Blackheath schoolboy, Malcolm Longton , supposedly “ ... two-thirds of the way down a 1,500ft. cliff called Govett’s Leap and with some difficulty it was recovered on that Sunday.
TRhe above taken from the Blue Mountains Historical Journal, Issue 3 Oct 2012
Biography written up in Australian Archaeology
http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=678278401355017;res=IELHSS
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1892 - 1957 (65 years)
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