Christopher Philip Mackenzie Ashton (1941–2021)
On 5 May 2021 Tudor House farewelled one of its great Old Boys with the passing of Christopher Philip Mackenzie Ashton in Buenos Aires just shy of his 80th birthday.
A celebrated journalist, foreign correspondent and travel writer, Christopher’s life was a tapestry woven from insatiable curiosity, intellectual depth and a commitment to storytelling that reached across continents and decades.
Christopher attended Tudor House from 1949 to 1953. While his path would eventually lead him to the corridors of Oxford, the political heart of Papua New Guinea and the polo fields of Argentina and India, it was his early years in rural New South Wales on “Coreena” the family’s 4,000-acre sheep property near Bethungra that anchored his values and love of language.
Born on 2 June 1941 to Philip and Morna Ashton (née Mackenzie) Christopher inherited a legacy steeped in pioneering grit and quiet grace. His father was one of the four Ashton brothers who famously shipped 25 polo ponies to England in 1930 and captured the imagination of British audiences by winning nearly every match.
His mother Morna, a Scottish-born lady in-waiting to Lady Wakehurst brought with her a love of literature that would deeply influence her son. Christopher later reflected. In memoriam that it was her gift for words that first sparked his own.
At Tudor House his enduring ability to forge deep friendships first emerged alongside a curiosity that could not be contained. From high school to the rugby fields and later to the University of Sydney, Christopher quietly but steadily expanded his horizons.
After a formative gap year jackarooing he completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and then set off for Papua New Guinea in 1961. That visit would become a turning point in his life. Immersed in local cultures and enchanted by the colour, complexity and humanity of the highlands, Christopher described Papua New Guinea as his enchanted garden. This experience steered him toward social anthropology, which he pursued at Oxford’s Trinity College.
There he played polo for the university and famously marked a young Prince Charles in the annual varsity match, scoring the winning goal and receiving the trophy from Her Majesty the Queen. Though poised for an academic career, he soon realised that formal research stifled his true voice. “I could only write in words that sing to the heart,” he once said.
OLD TUDORIANS’ 43 That conviction would define the next fifty years. In the early 1970s Christopher returned to Port Moresby as a freelance journalist during Papua New Guinea’s push for independence. His reporting stood out in The Economist the Pacific Islands Monthly, ABC Radio and beyond. His radio program Kivung (meaning together) became widely followed and in 1975 he co-produced Nation Emerging, an award winning documentary that captured a critical moment in Pacific history.
From Papua New Guinea Christopher moved to Zimbabwe reporting on the country’s volatile transition to independence. His dispatches reflected not just political sharpness but a deep human empathy. He never sensationalised. He illuminated.
By the 1980s Christopher had returned to Australia writing for The Bulletin and Australian Business, often on travel. His adventures brought him to the great polo centres of India Xinjiang and Argentina culminating in his book Geebung – The Story of Australian Polo with a foreword by Prince Charles. It was a fitting tribute to both his heritage and his enduring global curiosity.
Among his lasting contributions to Tudor House is “Tudor House – The First Hundred Years” a commissioned history of the School published in 1997. Written with characteristic eloquence and detail, the book remains a treasured part of the School’s legacy.
In 1995 love and serendipity intersected when he met Ana Pisano, an Argentine diplomat posted to Sydney. Their connection was immediate. They married in Buenos Aires a decade later, sharing life and service across Argentina, Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean. Together they were a cosmopolitan and kind-hearted couple and Christopher’s letters to friends from their various postings were full of wit, warmth and reflection.
Despite declining health in his final years, including a bout of COVID-19, Christopher remained spirited, thoughtful and deeply connected to those he loved. He passed away peacefully in Buenos Aires survived by Ana his brother John and sisters Katherine Alison and Susie along with a wide circle of friends and readers around the world.
Christopher Ashton lived a life of expansive grace rooted in his formative years at Tudor House, carried by his love of words and driven by an unquenchable curiosity about the world and its people. His legacy lives on not only in print but in the memories of those who were fortunate enough to know him and in the timeless pages of the histories he helped shape.
Obituary was written by his old friend Tom Breen.
