As a sportsman, Barblett competed in the men's field hockey tournament at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
[1] Barblett graduated from the University of Western Australia with a law degree and arts degree majoring in philosophy and psychology.
He joined the council of Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT, now Curtin University) in 1970.
Barblett Oval on the Bentley campus of the university is named in his honour.
This biographical article relating to an Australian field hockey figure is a stub.