Anthony Shepherd (OW 1948)

16 February 1930 – 8 April 2023

The Waynflete Office has been informed by his daughter Bronwen of the death of Tony Shepherd at the age of 93. We are most grateful for the legacy gift Tony left to MCS and we send our condolences to Bronwen and Tony’s other family and friends.

We produce his obituary below from the Braidwood Bugle, kindly shared to us by his daughter Bronwen.

Welcome everyone to celebrate Tony Shepherd – An Eccentric English Gentleman. This is not so much a eulogy but more a look back at his adventures and there were many.

Born in 1930 in Oxford, Dad presented as an English gentleman but in reality came from a much more modest background. He was the only child of Dorothy, a book keeper and Rodney, a scientist – it was a strict methodist upbringing. As a child he suffered from a terrible ear infection but that proved to be a ticket to a great education. He won a disability scholarship to a prestigious school Magdalen College – where he studied hard and earned entry to Oxford University. Before he could go, the army called. In the Royal Engineers he learnt surveying, and how to drive an army truck. It sparked his lifetime love of English cars, especially MGs from Morris Garages from Cowley.

Back to study at Oxford, he was a resident at St Edmunds Hall and earned a Masters in Geography. Then the world beckoned. Tony’s first teaching job was as geography lecturer was in South Africa at a college in Fort Hare. At the time it was the only college that accepted black students. It was where Nelson Mandela studied, and it was under surveillance by South African police because of the anti-apartheid movement. His next job took him to Mekerere University in Uganda. He joined a wildlife club and while looking for giant moths in a swamp, met a young Welsh lady called Gwyneth. He offered driving lessons, they did amateur dramatics together and later married. They left the wedding in his red MG – of course – but were stopped by police looking for bank robbers. Married life in Uganda also saw the arrival of their first child, Bronwen. The adventures continued with a move to Hong Kong, where they dealt with a typhoon and the arrival of a second child, David. Then another move to Perth, Western Australia and another child – Simon – and more adventures. Dad flew in seaplanes, hanging out the door to photograph remote islands in the hunt for the shipwreck of a Dutch trading ship from the 1600s.

Tony also went on a university sabbatical, a study trip, where he visited the Canadian Amish to learn how to live off the grid. Maybe that was a precursor to life in Braidwood. But first came a move to Sydney, where he continued lecturing, at the University of New South Wales. A presentation style he also used for family holiday photo sessions showing slide, after slide after slide. Anyone in Braidwood who had listened to one of his stories will know that style all too well. His love of MG cars continued, owning not one but two, including a black and white open tourer which he nicknamed the Magpie. Dad and Mum also become serious about saving the planet. Suburban Sydney in the 1980s and they decided to – shock horror–- compost everything… Every screw and nail found on the side of the road was saved for later and the family were lucky enough to have one of the first solar hot water heaters in the 80s – not so hot, more tepid. And so having almost successfully raised three children, it was time for a new career and a new adventure in Braidwood.

Tony moved to Braidwood in the mid-1990s but he had been planning to be a part of this community for a long time. After retiring in 1988, he and wife Gwyneth bought a block of land here where they proceeded to build a rammed earth house and barn under the guidance of Hugh Krijnen and helped by friends and family. Before the move Tony was a volunteer at the National Maritime Museum and a disability bus line driver in Sydney – a community spirit that he brought to the southern tablelands. He and Gwyneth rented a house in Elrington Street but shortly after he contracted Guillain-Barre Syndrome – it paralysed him from the neck down for approximately 6 months. Amazingly he overcame this and finally moved via Royds Lane to the house at Hawthorn Lane in 2005. Unfortunately, Gwyneth was diagnosed with dementia and passed away in 2012 after a long battle.

Community was very important to Tony. He was a member of several clubs including The Historical Society, Folk club, various car clubs, The Men’s Shed, The RSL, The Grumpy Old Men’s lunch group, The Ol’ Codgers Coffee Club, The County Class Trust in the UK (which is rebuilding a steam locomotive partly with Dad’s money), and St Andrew’s Church where he mowed the lawns. Friends and family were a big influence on his life and we would like to mention a few. Among his friends there was Lee, Olive, Judy, Barry, Gilly, Gwen, Robin, Mary, Richard, Alex, James, Billy Joe, Jane, Rach, Tina, Bruce (RSL). His departed friends: Burt, John, Phillip, Ron, Hugh and others. Also family no longer with us including his cousin Nesta, Auntie Jenny, cousin Sue, Tony’s parents Rodney and Dorothy, Gwyneth’s parents Eva and William, and of course Gwyneth his wife. Finally his grandchildren, Ben, Steph, Ollie, Harriett, Jules and Alfie, and extended family Rob, Bex, Bruce, Maria, Stephanie and Nick.

Tony was ahead of the rest of us. Conserving this planet was so important to him, that he never let anything go to waste, not even the wastewater. He had 5 rainwater tanks and too many buckets to count. And not long ago he said, “I beat them all. I predicted climate change 40 years ago!”

Tony was an intelligent, generous, caring man and we will miss him so much!