Geoffrey Orbell

Geoffrey Buckland Orbell

Orbell grew up on a farm at Pukeuri, near Oamaru, in New Zealand's South Island. His father, Lionel Orbell, was a farmer and his mother, Rachel Buckland, was a watercolour artist.^[1] Orbell attended Waitaki Boys High School, Oamaru and Christ's College, Christchurch, before graduating in medicine from the University of Otago, Dunedin. He completed further studies in Melbourne, Australia, and at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, and practised as an ear, eye, nose and throat specialist in Invercargill.^[2]

The takahē had been last sighted in 1898 and was widely thought to be extinct but Orbell suspected it might have survived. He had been interested in the bird since childhood and had read widely about it. He was convinced that if it still existed, it might be found in the Murchison Mountains west of Lake Te Anau.^[2] In April 1948, Orbell and friends Rex Watson and Neil McCrostie went into the area. Orbell heard bird calls he did not recognise, and found tracks that convinced him the takahē existed. The same group, plus Joan Telfer, returned to the area in November of the same year. While searching, Orbell again discovered a set of unfamiliar footprints and heard a strange bird call. After following the footprints, Orbell rediscovered three of the species on 20 November 1948 in a remote valley. A lake in the valley was named Lake Orbell in his honour.^[3]

Orbell was one of the founders of the New Zealand Deerstalkers' Association and was its first president, holding the position from 1938 to 1952. He was elected to the

External links

• New Zealand Herald: Takahe man dies at 98
• Rediscoverer of the takahe dies at 98 Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• The China Post: New Zealand doctor who rediscovered rare bird dies
• Obituary, The Independent, 20 August 2007^{[dead link]}
• Obituary, The Times, 29 September 2007