AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY

VOLUME 19: 1991–1995 A–Z

GENERAL EDITOR Melanie Nolan

MANAGING EDITOR Malcolm Allbrook Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] Available to download for free at press.anu.edu.au ISBN (print): 9781760464127 ISBN (online): 9781760464134 WorldCat (print): 1232019838 WorldCat (online): 1232019992 DOI: 10.22459/ADB19 This title is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

The full licence terms are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode

Cover design and layout by ANU Press Cover artwork: Dora Chapman, Australia, 1911–1995, Self portrait, c.1940, Adelaide, oil on canvas, 74.0 x 62.5 cm (sight), Bequest of the artist 1995, Art Gallery of , Adelaide, © Art Gallery of South Australia, 957P71 This edition © 2021 ANU Press Showers A. D. B. private rooms, Noble House was somewhere Sydney’s Bridge Street. Shen’s charm, strength politicians could meet for private discussions of character, and generosity were qualities while dining. For her it was hard work: up which saw her rise to fame during a time when early every second day to source produce from racial prejudice against the Chinese was still the Sydney Fish Market, most days working fairly strong. until midnight. Ballantyne, Tom. ‘Chinese Food Afloat.’ By 1987 Shen had taken on another Sydney Morning Herald, 10 November 1987, 10; venture, contracting the building of a Hong Beaumont, Michelle. Personal communication; Kong-style floating restaurant, the Tai Pan. Johnson, Sue. ‘Deals Done Over Classy Chinese.’ Designed to seat 500 diners, the 35-metre Sydney Morning Herald, 5 August 1986, Good vessel was to run four cruises daily, for Living 1, 3; Pao-Lo, Lin. ‘Restaurateur With an morning and afternoon coffee, lunch, and Appetite for Challenge.’ Australian, 16 June 1994, dinner. Opening in 1988 it was initially 11; Steele, Peter. Personal communication; Urban Design Forum. ‘Sink the Taipanic.’ No. 14 (March a success. However, there were those who 1991): 1; Wattel, Rosalie. Personal communication. waged a campaign against the Tai Pan, on Michelle Cavanagh aesthetic grounds; among them was the critic Leo Schofield. ‘Sink the Taipanic’ became a catch cry, letters to the editor appeared in the SHOWERS, HENRY ARTHUR Sydney broadsheets, and it became a subject (HARRY) (1899–1991), naval officer, was on talkback radio. Those close to Shen felt that born on 24 May 1899 at Carlton, Melbourne, many of the objections were political, as the youngest of four surviving children of Tai Pan took business from other restaurants. Victorian-born Charles Showers, hotelier, and Eventually the restaurant was sold at a loss. his English-born wife Alice Mary, née Villar. By December 1990 it was being towed out In 1913 Harry entered the Royal Australian of Sydney Harbour. Naval College (RANC), Geelong, Victoria, While Noble House was providing with the first intake of cadet midshipmen. a good income, the landlord was not willing The college moved to Jervis Bay, Federal to commit to a long-term lease, so Shen Capital Territory, in 1915. Awarded colours began looking for other ventures. One such for rowing, rugby, and cricket, in 1916 he enterprise was acquiring a factory in Xi’an, graduated with prizes for theoretical, practical, China, to produce phosphate for sale in and workshop engineering. Australia as fertiliser. Having finalised a joint- Midshipman Showers served in the venture agreement for her Sydney-based British battle cruiser HMS Glorious in company, China Sea International Trading 1917, seeing action at the second battle of Group, she was to join a delegation seeking Heligoland Bight. Next year he joined the stronger trade relations between New South submarine HMS K22 but it was damaged Wales and China, led by the State’s premier, in a collision and he returned to Glorious. John Fahey. He completed professional courses and in On 6 June 1994 Shen boarded a flight to 1919 sailed to Australia as a sub-lieutenant Guangzhou, where she was to meet the other in the submarine HMAS J3. In 1920 he delegates. The plane crashed shortly after take- undertook further training in Britain and, off from Xi’an, resulting in the deaths of all on while there, was promoted to lieutenant and board. When her body was brought back to selected for the All-England rugby union Sydney two weeks later, and with parliament team; injury prevented him from playing. suspended for the day as a mark of respect, Back with the Australian submarine flotilla in a requiem Mass was held at St Mary’s Church, 1921, he served in surface warships after it was North Sydney; she was buried in Frenchs disbanded in 1922. Forest cemetery. Her daughter and her de Following navigation training (1923) facto partner Barry Forrester survived her. and minesweeper service with the Royal Although best known for the Peking Palace, Navy (1923–25), Showers joined HMAS Noble House, and Tai Pan, Shen had owned Moresby as assistant surveyor on the ship’s about six restaurants, including the Summer hydrographic survey of the Great Barrier . Palace at Bondi and Maharajas Palace— On 19 November 1927 at the Presbyterian sourcing spices and staff from India—on church of St Stephen’s, Phillip Street, Sydney,

764 1991–1995 Simmonds he married Jean Alison Cunningham, sister remained a substantive captain. Showers was of an RANC classmate, Ernest Cunningham, described as ‘A thick-set man with an even who had been killed in a submarine accident voice but a manner of briskness combined in 1918. The couple sailed to England where with warmth’ (Sydney Morning Herald 1954, he studied tactics and served in HMS Douglas 30). The sailors considered him a gentleman as a lieutenant commander. Back home, in and served happily under his command. On the early 1930s he refereed for the New South 8 February 1955 he ceased full-time service. Wales Rugby Union between sea postings. President of the United Service Institution In 1933 he was promoted to commander. After of New South Wales (1951–54), Showers was further courses in Britain in 1934, he served later federal president of the Navy League in the Mediterranean as navigator and staff (1957–68) and secretary of the Nuclear officer operations in the light cruiser HMS Research Foundation, University of Sydney Arethusa. Two years later he was appointed (1955–68). He had a love of gardening and the Australian Squadron’s navigation officer, was a member of the Royal Sydney Golf embarked in HMAS Canberra. He was an Club. Predeceased by his wife, and survived honorary aide-de-camp (1937–45) to the by his daughter, he died on 31 July 1991 in governor-general, Baron Gowrie [q.v.9]. Sydney and was cremated. He had been the Having commanded the sloop HMAS last surviving member of the first class of Swan from January 1939, Showers took over RANC cadets. the light cruiser HMAS Adelaide in September. Eldridge, Frank Burgess. A History of the Royal He was promoted to captain on 31 December. Australian Naval College. Melbourne: Georgian Adelaide supported a Free French coup in House, 1949; Gill, G. Hermon. Royal Australian New Caledonia in September 1940; Showers Navy 1939–1942. Canberra: Australian War ‘rendered excellent service in a situation Memorial, 1957; National Archives of Australia. requiring considerable discretion and sound A6769, SHOWERS, HENRY ARTHUR; A2676, judgment’ (NAA A2676), mediating between 574 Attachment 1; . ‘Rear de Gaullists and Pétainists. From June 1942 he Admiral HENRY ARTHUR SHOWERS.’ Accessed 29 April 2015. www.navy.gov.au/biography/rear- commanded the light cruiser HMAS Hobart admiral-henry-arthur-showers. Copy held on ADB in operations in the Pacific, including the file; Sydney Morning Herald. ‘Man in the Public Eye. Allied offensive in the Solomon Islands, until A Naval Occasion.’ 17 October 1954, 30. the ship was torpedoed and seriously damaged John Moremon in July 1943. His next command, from May to September 1944, was of the heavy cruiser HMAS Shropshire, which supported SIMMONDS, JOHN HOWARD amphibious landings in New Guinea and the (JACK) (1901–1992), plant pathologist, was Netherlands East Indies. As a commodore, born on 13 June 1901 at Taringa, Brisbane, 2nd class, he became second naval member of elder of two children of Victorian-born the Naval Board (1944–46). He was appointed John Howard Simmonds, stone-mason, and CBE in 1945. his English-born wife Rose, née Culpin. One of Australia’s most experienced His father was an enthusiastic field naturalist and respected cruiser captains in World and shell-collector and his mother became War II, Showers took Shropshire to London a notable photographer later in life. Educated in 1946 for the victory celebrations. His at Boys’ College, Clayfield (Brisbane Boys’ subsequent appointments were as commodore College), Jack graduated from the University superintendent of training at HMAS of Queensland (BSc, 1923; MSc, 1926) with Cerberus, Westernport, Victoria (1946), first class honours and was appointed to the second naval member of the Naval Board staff of the entomology branch of the State (1948–50); and, having been granted the Department of Agriculture and Stock. acting rank of rear admiral, flag officer-in- Simmonds became the first full-time plant charge, New South Wales (1950). Admiral pathologist in the department. He combined Sir Guy Royal had recommended him for an interest in research and extension in all promotion but Vice Admiral Sir John Collins plant diseases, and produced a steady stream [q.v.17] judged him too diffident and lacking of publications from 1927. From March 1931 in intellectual capacity for flag rank; he until April 1932 he took leave without pay to study developments in plant pathological

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Showers, Henry Arthur (Harry)

Moremon, J

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