Early Career
Alister Murdoch was born on 9 December 1912 in Elsternwick, Victoria, the son of engineer Thomas Murdoch and his wife Kathleen. A lieutenant in the Commonwealth Military Forces at the time of Alister's birth, the elder Murdoch later served in both World Wars and rose to the rank of brigadier. Educated at Caulfield Grammar School, Alister entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1929, following his elder brother Ian (later a major general). Alister was one of four cadets sponsored that year by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which did not at that stage have its own officer training college. Budgetary constraints imposed during the Great Depression necessitated the transfer of these cadets out of Duntroon midway through their four-year course. Although offered positions in the Australian Public Service or nominations for short-term commissions with the Royal Air Force, all were determined to serve with the RAAF and were more than pleased with the prospect of entering their chosen service early.
Enlisting in the Air Force on 10 December 1930, Murdoch completed his pilot training the following year. He was commissioned in 1932 and later qualified as a flying instructor and seaplane pilot, undertaking navy cooperation and maritime patrol operations. In December 1935, Flying Officer Murdoch was selected to join an RAAF rescue mission for explorer Lincoln Ellsworth and his pilot, Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, who were presumed lost while journeying across the Antarctic. Flying a de Havilland Gipsy Moth, Murdoch located Hollick-Kenyon near the Bay of Whales. Hollick-Kenyon led the search party to Ellsworth, who protested that he was not lost and did not need rescuing. Murdoch was posted to England in 1936–37 to undertake a course in long navigation at RAF Manston and serve on attachment with No. 114 Squadron. Returning to Australia, he married Florence Miller on 27 December 1937; the couple had a daughter. Murdoch spent the next two years on the staff of the Directorate of Operations and Intelligence at Air Force Headquarters, Melbourne. In June 1938, he helped inaugurate RAAF instruction in long navigation, with a nine-month course in the discipline.
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