We were saddened to learn that John Bunton passed away late last week. John joined the CSIRO Radiophysics Laboratory in 1989 after six years at the Fleurs Radio Observatory. Over the course of his career, he held a range of roles spanning signal processing and wireless systems before becoming involved in the SKA project in the late 1990s. One of John’s most significant achievements was his leadership in the design and development of instrumentation for ASKAP. As Project Engineer, he helped guide ASKAP from concept through to successful operation.

Following his significant contributions to ASKAP, John played a major role in the SKA program from the pre-construction phase through the transition into construction. He was one of the key architects and systems engineers within the Central Signal Processor (CSP) consortium and for the SKA LOW telescope, contributing extensively to the overall system architecture and engineering direction. Through his leadership as CSP LOW Systems Engineer, John was deeply involved in system requirements development, interface definition, and major system design and review activities across the project lifecycle.

John also played a critical role in CSIRO successfully securing the SKA LOW Correlator and Beamformer construction contract, drawing on both his technical expertise and long-standing involvement with the international SKA community. Beyond SKA, he contributed broadly across ATNF initiatives including the CryoPAF beamformer, ASKAP PAF upgrades, LAMBDA receiver development, and radio astronomy signal processing techniques including advanced RFI mitigation algorithms.

He had an endless stream of bold, unconventional ideas—many of which pushed boundaries and inspired new directions. He was endlessly engaging to talk to, with a remarkable gift for storytelling and a lifetime of fascinating experiences he was always eager to share. John will be remembered not only for his technical expertise, but also for his generosity with time, mentorship, and insight.