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Herbert Dyce Murphy (18 October, 1879 - 20 July, 1971) sometimes known as Dyce-Murphy was an Australian gentleman adventurer and raconteur. He was born into a privileged family in Como, South Yarra, Melbourne. He was the son of Alexander Dyce Murphy and Ada Maud Florence (daughter of John Rout Hopkins). His grandfather was Sir Francis Murphy.[1]

Contents

• Early life

• Career

• Personal life

• See also

• References

• Further reading

• External links

Early life

Educated at Cumloden school and Melbourne Church of England Grammar School (1889-90) then Tonbridge School, Kent (1894-95). Whilst still a teenager he declined to follow his fathers' profession as a sheep farmer to pursue a career at sea. He worked as a sailor going into the Arctic before returning to England to study at Brasenose College, Oxford where he matriculated in May 1900. He visited Russia with his mother and went on 3 arctic voyages on the yacht Gladiator with his uncle Sir William Waller, Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk.

Career

After seeing him perform the lead female role in Euripides play "Alecstis" at Oxford the director of British Military Intelligence Sir John Ardagh recruited him to be a spy and gather information about railways in Belgium and France. His interest in trains, knowledge of photography and the ability to pass himself off convincingly as a woman made him an ideal spy.

He had a reputation as a teller of tall stories of his adventures as a whaler and mixing with the upper echelons of Russian royalty, although there was supposed to be a grain of truth even in his most unbelievable tales. In 1908 he attempted to join Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition but was rejected for being too effeminate, a charge he always denied. Three years later he became one of only 28 men to be accepted by Douglas Mawson for hisAustralasian Antarctic Expedition. He was put in charge of stores and the winter quarters. Although he abstained from consuming alcohol or tobacco he was addicted to chocolate.

During World War I he served for a short time in British Army Intelligence but was discharged owing to defective vison.

Christmas celebration card of Australasian Antarctic Expedition with signatures

Personal life

After the war he settled in Australia on the Morning Peninsula where he used his large rambling house as a holiday centre for underprivileged boys and girls. He moved to Mount Martha where he became a member of St. Peter’s church and a Shire Councillor from 1926 to 1936. He was the Mornington Shire President during 1932 and 1933. In 1934 he married Muriel Webster but the marriage was childless. After his retirement for about 3 or 4 months each year he would board a Norwegian Whaling ship at San Remo and act as its' navigator. He was a member of the Shiplovers' Society of Victoria. He devoted much of his later life to giving talks at various clubs and societies, for which he accepted no payment.

A few weeks before his death aged 91 he told a friend that he had come to a conclusion that "You can live too long." [2]

He claimed to be the lady in the white dress in the painting entitled The Arbour by E. Phillips Fox .

Patrick White was inspired by the story of his spying dressed as a woman to write his novel The Twyborn Affair.

The Arbour by E. Phillips Fox painted in 1910

See also

• Australasian Antarctic Expedition

References

1. Murray-Smith, S. "Herbert Dyce Murphy (1879–1971)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 28 July 2017.

2. The Spy Who Loved Children

Further reading

• White, Patrick (1979). The Twyborn affair. Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin. ISBN 0140060278.

• Watson, Moira (1997). The spy who loved children : the enigma of Herbert Dyce Murphy, 1879-1971. Carlton South, Vic.: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0522847676. OCLC 37321009.

• Rossiter, Heather (2005). Lady spy, gentleman explorer: the double life of Herbert Dyce Murphy. Paddington, NSW: Jane Curry Publishing. ISBN 1920727108.

• Austlit. "The Secret Life of Spies and Novelists : Herbert Dyce Murphy and Patrick White | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 2017-11-10..

External links

• "Herbert Dyce-Murphy - Adventurer, Lady Spy, Sailor, Raconteur". Mornington & District Historical Society. Retrieved 25 August 2017.

• "Herbert Dyce Murphy: In their own words". Home of the Blizzard : The Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Retrieved 25 August 2017.

• "Herbert Dyce Murphy (1879 – 1971) spy, explorer, whaler, sheep rancher". A Gender Variance Who's Who. Retrieved 25 August 2017.

• "Scalawags: Herbert Dyce Murphy: the story-telling, world-travelling, cross-dressing spy". NUVO magazine. Retrieved 25 August 2017.

• "Herbert Dyce Murphy (1879 - 1971)". Encyclopedia of Australian Science. Retrieved 25 August 2017.

Category:1879 births Category:1971 deaths Category:Australasian Antarctic Expedition Category:Australian explorers Category:Explorers of Antarctica Category:Spies

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