During his entire career, Patrick’s work has always been multidisciplinary in nature with a common aim: to obtain information of relevance for the reconstruction of past marine and continental environments of importance for the understanding of global and regional climatic variability. He did a PhD in the Zoology Department at the University of Adelaide on salt lakes, their biota and Quaternary lacustrine deposits, a field he continued afterwards during 7 years of postdoctoral positions. He obtained a DSc from the same university, this time from the Department of Geology and Geophysics, for long-term accomplishment in the fields of limnology, palaeolimnology, palaeoceanography and micropalaeontology. In 1998, Patrick joined the Australian National University and has held a full time teaching position combined with research ever since. He led the informal Australian Marine Quaternary Program that brought together many people working on many aspects of marine science and deep-sea cores.