Howard McKern Howard McKern Howard Hamlet Gordon McKern (23 March 1917 - 8 June 2009) was an Australian analytical and organic chemist, museum administrator who was Deputy Director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences and President of the Royal Society of New South Wales. McKern was the son of James Gordon McKern (1888–1975) a mining engineer, geologist and petrologist who became a technical executive with the petroleum company Mobil and Edith Mary Hamlet (1890–1967), daughter of William Mogford Hamlet. McKern was born in Mosman, New South Wales and educated at Newington College (1931–1935). In the Leaving Certificate Examination he was
King and Country the outbreak of the war and was the sole survivor of his company, but then decided to "go for a walk"; he had contemplated walking to his home in London but after more than 24 hours on the road, he is picked up by the Military Police and sent back to his unit to face court-martial for desertion. Hargreaves is initially impatient with the simple-minded Hamp, but comes to identify with his plight. Following testimony from an unsympathetic doctor (Leo McKern) (whose solution to all ailments is to prescribe laxatives), Hargreaves is unable to persuade the court to consider the