Occupation Doctor | Name Geoffrey Orbell | |
Died August 15, 2007, Dunedin, New Zealand | ||
Geoffrey Buckland Orbell (7 October 1908 – 15 August 2007) was a New Zealand doctor and keen tramper/bush walker best known for the rediscovery of the takahē in 1948. The takahē was widely thought to be extinct but Orbell suspected it might survive. While taking time off from his Invercargill practice to search for the takahē, he discovered a set of unfamiliar footprints. After following the footprints with three companions he rediscovered the species on 20 November 1948 in a remote valley of the Murchison Mountains near Lake Te Anau. A lake in the valley was named Lake Orbell in his honour.
Orbell was one of the founders of the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association and was its first president, holding the position from 1938 to 1952. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for scientific work in the 1953 Coronation Honours. He retired from medicine at the age of 70 and in later years lived in Mosgiel, near Dunedin, New Zealand.