Geoffrey Orbell

Geoffrey Buckland Orbell (7 October 1908 – 14 August 2007) was a New Zealand doctor and keen hunter and tramper (bush walker) who was responsible for the rediscovery of the takahē in 1948.

Biography Orbell grew up on a farm at Pukeuri, near Oamaru, in New Zealand's South Island. His father, Lionel Orbell, was a farmer and his mother, Rachel Buckland, was a watercolour artist.

The takahē had been last sighted in 1898 and was widely thought to be extinct but Orbell suspected it might have survived. He had been interested in the bird since childhood and had read widely about it. He was convinced that if it still existed, it might be found in the Murchison Mountains west of Lake Te Anau.

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 elected to the Invercargill City Council in 1941 and was appointed to the inaugural Invercargill Licensing Trust board in 1944. In the 1953 Coronation Honours, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for scientific work. He retired from medical practice at the age of 70, after 46 years in practice, and in later years lived in Mosgiel, near Dunedin. Orbell died on 14 August 2007. He is buried at Invercargill's St John's Cemetery.

Personal life In 1935 Orbell married Sheila Houston. The couple had four children together.