Hitting His Centenary and Celebrating a Life Well Lived

A born and bred West Australian and a true stalwart of Perth’s western suburbs will celebrate his 100^th birthday on Tuesday 13 June 2023, surrounded by family and friends who agree that their father, grandfather and great-grandfather has had a truly full and rich life.

Dr Basil Balme, a previous Scotch Collegian in Perth and head boy who enlisted in the Navy in 1942, puts his innings of ‘100 not out’ to maintaining an intellectual curiosity in all aspects of life.

Basil graduated from Scotch College, to which he had been awarded a Coombe Scholarship, in 1940 and then spent a year at the University of Western Australia where he began a science degree.  However, his studies were interrupted by World War II, and he joined the Navy, initially being inducted on the ship, the HMAS Leeuwin.

“As I had a background in high school physics, I was transferred to Melbourne for a course in radar technology,” Dr Balme recalls, who, at the time, was following in his father’s footsteps, who fought in the trenches in France during the First World War.

“At that time, ships were being equipped with radar for the first time and most of the officers were not aware of its applications. At the end of the course, which I remember as comprehensive and testing, I joined the corvette HMAS Cowra as its radio mechanic and it soon became clear to the captain and other officers that they had a new weapon which enabled them to establish their position rapidly and maintain their contact with convoys. So I held a strong hand on the ship and was treated kindly throughout my seagoing career.

“I was largely involved in convoy duties, escorting other ships throughout the Mediterranean and England,” adds Dr Balme, who lost three of his closest school friends when they were killed during training for the Air Force.

“For several months I was on board with Philip Mountbatten, who would later become Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and I remember having several conversations with him. One of the most vivid memories I have was our involvement in the sinking of a Japanese submarine after we dropped bombs. We just had to accept what we were instructed to do.”

After the war, Dr Balme returned to the University of Western Australia, after gaining a three-year scholarship to St George’s College, where he finished his degree in oil geology, and from there won a Fulbright scholarship to New York University. His ensuing career saw him travel widely and work on every continent except Antarctica.

In London during 1949, he married his sweetheart Helen Cook, a country girl from Dumbleyung in WA, who was working in London at the Natural History Museum. On their return from the UK, the couple purchased a house in Agett Rd, Claremont, then built a home in Queen St, Claremont where they lived until 2008.

During their marriage, the couple went on to have three children - Stephen, Jane and Mary - and now Basil has five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Sadly, Helen passed away in 2008.

Mercy Place Mont Clare Service Manager, Dorothy Wijangco-Garcia, said everyone at the Claremont-based aged care home was keen to congratulate Basil on reaching his ‘century not out’.

“It’s not every day that we honour 100th birthdays at Mont Clare, so 13 June is going to be an important day for all of us as we help to celebrate Basil’s milestone day,” she said.

Click here to find out more about Mercy Health