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In researching the original Note, I came to a profound admiration for Ian Morrison. His newspaper reporting was erudite and he demonstrated a perceptive understanding of the issues involved. His two books; Malayan Postscript (1942) and This War Against Japan (1943) were equally perceptive. By all accounts the picture that Han Suyin painted of him in A Many Splendoured Thing; as being a gentle, kind and understanding man, is borne out by the facts. Alastair describes him as ...a cultivated and gentle man and no swashbuckler but (he) had an insatiable curiosity about events in Asia.' Accordingly, I offer this tribute to his memory. R.I.P.
REFERENCES
Morrison, Alastair (1993), The Road to Peking, Canberra: The Highland Press (for private distribution).
Pearl, Cyril (1967). Morrison of Peking, Sydney: Angus & Robertson Ltd.
NOTES
http://www.fechk.org/archives/achives historyconduit.htm
2 See JHKBRAS Vol. 40: The Battle of Hong Kong: A Note on the Literature and
3
the Effectiveness of the Defence, Lawrence Lai Wai Chung, pp. 115-136.
Source: Alastair Morrison, personal communication and The Road to Peking, p. 151
All images, unless otherwise stated, courtesy of The Times of London.
Ian and Maria met in Shanghai and were married, in Hong Kong, in 1941. Maria was Steffi's sister (Colin's subsequent wife) Their first home was at the Cathay Building, in Singapore. After the War, they returned to Singapore and lived in Gallop Road. According to Alastair, the marriage was not a happy one (The Road to Peking, p. 151). After her husband's death, Mrs. Morrison and the children (who were seven and five at the time of his death) appear to have stayed on in Singapore, at any rate for a while, and then moved to Australia. According to Alastair Morrison, Maria 'died long ago.' The son, Nicholas (?), lives in the U.K. and visited Alastair in Canberra on his eighty seventh birthday