Vale Maurie Findlay
Australian radio
& Electronics
loses ‘‘Royalty’’
The passing of Maurice (Maurie)
Findlay on January 21st this year at
the grand old age of 88 brought to a
close a major part of the ‘‘golden era’’
of Australian Radio and Electronics,
by a man who helped shape it – and
the lives of many of the people who
are still involved today.
L
ike many of his era, Maurie attended night school to
study electrical engineering then in 1948 started with
‘‘Radio and Hobbies’’ magazine, reporting to another
legend, the great John Moyle.
It was during this period he wrote the ‘‘definitive’’ article
on crystal sets, inspiring an eight-year-old boy to build his
first – that young boy years later worked for Maurie Findlay and then even later started a small car radio business,
which he called Dick Smith Car Radio.
After Radio and Hobbies, Maurie worked for Hawker
de Havilland, stationed at the Woomera (SA) rocket range
and in England, where he worked on the flight tape recording system for Black Knight and Blue Streak nuclear strike
medium range ballistic missiles.
He later started Findlay Communications at Artarmon,
where he designed and built several ‘‘leading edge’’ products:
• VHF two-way radios (fitted to the majority of Sydney’s
taxi fleet)
• Stingray 120 & 140 SSB radios that were used by interstate truck drivers, sailors, the School of the Air, the
Royal Flying Doctor Service and anywhere else emergency two-way communication was required
• Single-channel SSB Receivers (R28) for the Australian
Dept of Aviation communication bases (Dick Smith
confirming several years ago that they are still in operation – after 30 years!).
• 1kW SSB Transmitters for the Dept of Aviation. Unfortunately, these were not a success and the Dept of
Aviation’s penalty clauses kicked in and destroyed
the company.
Maurie wrote a number of articles for SILICON CHIP in the
period from April 2005 to June 2012.
His only son John told SILICON CHIP that his Dad never
really recovered after this setback and while he had a number of jobs, ill health plagued him, culminating in his losing both legs to diabetes. He said:
‘‘My Dad was a tough bastard, 88 years old, type 1 diasiliconchip.com.au
A much younger (and dare we say dapper!) Maurie Findlay
graced the cover of Radio and Hobbies in June, 1949.
betic, both legs amputated, living on his own and he was
still working in his late 80s. I’m just grateful that he never
ended up in a nursing home (thank you Dick Smith without
your help he would have) and he retained his independence. I will miss him so very much, he was an inspiration to
me and I hope his grandchildren will not only be proud of
him and his achievements but will know that he truly loved
and cared for them even though they hardly knew him.
He was ‘Royalty’ in the Australian electronics industry,
a status that he would never have aspired to.’’
He is survived by his partner Sue, stepson Mark, stepdaughter Donna, son John, four grandchildren and two
great-grandchildren.
SC
Despite losing both legs and living on his own in Sydney’s
west, Maurie Findlay was active to the end, seen here working on the “Palmavox” which he wrote up in SILICON CHIP.
March 2017 17
