Farewell to our friend Scott Mellish

Recently, one of our work colleagues, Scott Mellish, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly and the Museum lost one of its real characters. Read on to find out more about this fascinating man and feel free to leave your memories and thoughts in the Comments section.

Scott Mellish

Scott Mellish
© Australian Museum

To many, the Australian Museum is a building filled with amazing collections, specimens and exhibitions. To those of us lucky enough to work here, it is also a place filled with interesting, passionate (and occasionally downright ‘odd’) colleagues. Each contributes in their own way to what makes this Museum so special. Scott was certainly one of these.

Scott worked in security for 24 years. He was also an avid cricket fan who loved the pure form of the game (I’m still not sure about this Twenty20 malarkey) and an enthusiastic amateur astronomer.

Although Scott’s love of the night sky was known to many of us, just how much respect he commanded within astronomy circles came as a surprise. Not one to blow his own trumpet, Scott was a distinguished and award-winning member of the Astronomical Society of NSW.

He was also a renowned artist whose inventive and skilful use of brushes, charcoal and black paper to capture images of deep space became known as the "Mellish Technique". See more of Scott's work on the Astronomy Sketch of the Day website and also reproduced on our website here.

Vale Scott, 23/09/1962 - 14/04/2011.


Fran Dorey , Exhibition Project Coordinator
Last Updated:

12 comments

Martyn Robinson - 1.07 PM, 12 July 2011

I, too, was inspired to look more at the night sky as a result of Scott's interest and enthusiasm. He would often tell me if there was anything worth while looking at in the coming days or weeks. I also remember several discussions about whether they were likely to eventually find traces of life on Mars or not - and if not there - whether there was anywhere else in our solar system which might qualify. I can't think of a better farewell token for Scott than to have a star named after him, but I also can't think of anyone else who seemed less likely to suddenly die. I sadly join the large crowd of those who will miss him.

Martyn Robinson 

Denniss - 12.07 PM, 12 July 2011
Scotty (Lord Scum) was a friend for more years than I care to remember. He will be missed by all of us but always remembered as a great and true friend and work colleague. Scotty was the guy that you could always rely on when things needed to get done or when things went wrong. Nothing ever fased him, he took everthing in his stride. When I look at the night sky, I will thing of him looking down on us, having a chuckle.
richards - 3.07 PM, 07 July 2011
Vale Scott Mellish. You left us too soon. We all had so much more fun to share! I worked with Scott, in the ‘good’ old days before computers and the internet. He was a cleaner and I had just started in security, I still remember him whistling as he polished the floors. Scott was always content in his job whatever it was and always ready to have a laugh. We certainly had some characters to laugh about at the Museum... Showbags, Windows, Square head, The Good Fairy and Scott used to call himself Scum, the fun name of the astronomical society he belonged to gave themselves. As I said to him many times Scum always rises to the top, and he did, with many articles and PowerPoint presentations on Astronomy. Scott was pivotal in the Control room, always there or on the Front Desk, anyone could talk to him about anything – politics, car racing, classical music, most sports and Astronomy . He was a staunch Labor voter, had a large collection of expensive model cars, (he enjoyed the precision in their construction). The classical music he played in the Control room, annoyed some people. He loved putting up the Christmas tree in the Control room each year!! Astronomy was his life, we would talk about String Theory, wormholes, Space Shuttles, Russian versus American rocketry and the mind boggling vastness of space. Everyone that has contacted me cannot believe he is gone. His memory is in our hearts and a star named after him will be in space with him forever. Until we meet again. Richard Sampson
Lynda Kelly - 12.07 PM, 04 July 2011

Scott had a star named in his honour: star number 707280. Pretty cool!

If you want more information about how to see the star and exact dimensions see Richard in Stores.

Tim Moulton - 8.06 AM, 28 June 2011

 

Scott and I spoke endlessly about quantum physics – well, he spoke and I discreetly Googled madly just to keep up. The Large Hadron Collider, Dark Matter and String Theory were personal faves. The science(?) of Star Wars was more my speed, though, and he could teach me a thing or two about that, too!
 
Fishing... Bob and Dolly Dyer, Hemingway, Zane Grey, Lee Marvin. The sheer magnificence of the sport, the technicalities of the tackle and the bravery of those who competed with the seas. He missed his fishing trips with his dad to Box Head. It was touching to hear him talk so intimately of his memories, a boy and his dad – dad gone; the boy gone, too. A man’s memories of what made him who he is. He was currently enjoying the beach fishing of Hawks Nest... When the algae sweeps in though, it’s all buggered. He was planning a private game charter with his sister in Cairns. Proper fishing, no riff-raff...
 
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore - "I tell you, the other day, some bloke came up to me, I dunno who it was, an' he said...”
 
Motorsport - Le Mans was run a week or so ago. Not my cuppa tea, but Scott loved Le Mans. I could listen to him forever. Didn’t really understand much, but sometimes it is how the story is told, not what’s in it... The Bathurst race isn't going to be the same without him... Nor will the Melbourne Cup and Scott’s famously sold-out MEGA SWEEP...
 
Bradman's batting average of 99.94 showed he was imperfect; human, even. No-one will ever be as good at the game again. Tendulkar’s a marvel to watch, though.
 
Beethoven, Shostakovich, Brahms and Oldfield's Tubular Bells. Stuart Challender, André Previn, Neville Marriner, St Martins in the Field and Jean-Michel Jarré.
 
He had the greatest regard for those who fought for our country and saw nothing but futility in war.
Boy, could he draw. He’s not drawn landscapes for a long while and I was afraid he’d lost his desire. I’d never ask him, though.
 
Space flight. The machines. The politics. The competition. The patriotism. The people. The endeavour. Design. Discovery. Disaster. Jubilation.
 
A proper watch... He loved his gold Tag. Admired the precision. Breitling, Patek Phillipe, Rolex. Omega had even been to the Moon! Didn’t go much for Longines, though.
 
Scott was curious, passionate, thoughtful, artistic, intelligent, gentle, kind, professional, patient, caring, funny and wise. His humour ranged from the truly innocent to the truly debauched. He would throw his head back and bray with laughter. His joy was contagious. How could it not be, such was the passion and conviction in his happiness. He could light up the room and mesmerise it just easily. His stories were never boring and his plans for the future intriguing.
A fine man, only gone in person...
 
Someone said to me "he is with the stars."
I wish I had said that...
Lynda Kelly - 4.06 PM, 23 June 2011

Thanks for posting this. Here’s a comment one of our colleagues asked me to post on his behalf:

Dear colleagues,

I was shocked and deeply saddened to read of the passing of Scott Mellish. Scott was one of the guys at Control with whom I chatted regularly. He was an enthusiastic amateur astronomer who was always willing to discuss goings-on in the skys. In astronomy, amateurs often see significant events well before the professionals, so Scott was one of those rare individuals who could contribute to science as well as look after our security. Thanks to Scott, I was able to view the transit of Venus in 2004 - he brought one of his scopes into work and set it up on the roof. I came up at the appointed time and we watched the tiny dot cross the face of the sun. It was exciting to see this event that was historically significant.

Scott - you will be missed,

Buz Wilson

Report misuse