As a young man, he lived by the sea near Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula just south of Melbourne. Ted started snorkelling as soon as mask, fins and snorkell were avail bale, and wished that he could make or obtain some sort of free-swimming breathing set, until World War II intervened. After World War II in the late 1940s, he designed a sport diving oxygen rebreather.
The French-designed open circuit Scuba, called the Aqua Lung, was protected by US patent and international patents, so Eldred set about designing the Porpoise CA (a prototype) - the world's first single hose regulator. Ted Eldred was recognised later in life, by the Historical Divers Society (South-East Asia Pacific), as the inventor of the first successful commercially produced single hose scuba. The single hose scuba is the type in use around the world today.
Ted Eldred passed away in August of 2005 and is survived by his son and daughter. We recognize his accomplishments as a true pioneer of Scuba diving.