Alec Broughton Doyle

Drought stalled Alec Broughton Doyle’s entry to The King’s School until he was almost 17. He arrived in the middle of the football season and had an uneventful first season in the 3rds. Over the next eighteen months by sheer determination and tenacity, Alec left school with Colours for rugby, an Honour coat for cricket and represented the School in Athletics and Shooting. In his final year Alec was appointed School Captain.

Despite never having studied Physics and Chemistry at school, a bursary to St Paul’s College allowed Alec to graduate in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. He began to row at an elite level and represented NSW in the VIII’s in 1910-1911. He was asked to row for Australia in the 1912 Olympics, an honour he turned down in favour of joining the Navy.

Alec worked his passage to England where he applied for and received an appointment as Engineer Sub Lieutenant in the fledging Australian Navy trialling the HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Australia. In 1914 he was appointed as Engineer Officer of HMAS Parramatta for just over two years and then spent the remainder of the war on the HMAS Encounter. He patrolled around Rabaul, New Guinea, Singapore and Borneo.