Nevil Shute Norway

In recognition of his literary work, in particular his novel On the Beach, which was made into a movie and filmed in Frankston, and also for his novel A Town Like Alice.

After studying Engineering at Oxford, Nevil established his own aircraft construction company in 1931, Airspeed Ltd, which became one of the major aircraft makers in Britain during the Second World War.

Nevil with his wife Frances and their two children, immigrated to Australia, flying in Nevil's plane, and in 1950 they settled on farmland in Langwarrin.

Writing under the name Nevil Shute, he sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his books worldwide with a number being made into films, the most famous of these being A Town Like Alice and On the Beach which were both written in Australia. On the Beach, staring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardener, was mostly filmed in Frankston, with scenes at Frankston train station and the beach at Daveys Bay.

Nevil Shute Norway passed away in January 1960.

Discover more about Nevil Shute Norway through a brief DVD.