Robert La Nauze declares a profound and personal interest in the Thwaites family: he is married to a descendant of George Thwaites. George’s grandson, William, is the subject of his biography Engineer to Marvellous Melbourne (2011) that was shortlisted for the Victorian Community History Award in 2012. Robert is an exhibiting artist, a member of the Victorian Artists Society and a past President of the Australian Guild of Realist Artists. Previously, he had a distinguished career in research and technology management for the Australian energy and extractive mining industries and held senior positions both in CSIRO and in industry.