David Alexander Brown

Who is David Alexander Brown?

David Alexander Brown was a geologist who played an important role in developing the study of Geology in Australia. He was born on 8 February 1916 in Scotland. His father fought and died at Gallipoli in World War I. His mother took him to New Zealand when he was four years old.

He studied at the University of New Zealand and graduated in 1937 with a Master of Science degree. In 1936 he started work in a field geologist job at the New Zealand Geological Survey. In 1938 he changed jobs, working for the New Zealand Petroleum Exploration Group.

When World War II broke out he first joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and then later the Royal Navy. He took up flying aircraft from aircraft carriers, in the Fleet Air Arm. He was posted to the Barents Sea and North Sea. His highlight was to bomb the German battleship Tirpitz in April 1944 in Altenfjord a Norwegian fjord while flying a Fairey Barracuda torpedo bomber in Operation Tungsten.

He found his wife Patrica in the Women's Royal Naval Service. After the war they lived in London.

Brown was given a post graduate scholarship to study Bryozoa from the Tertiary period in New Zealand.