After the eruption, Taylor returned to Canberra to study the seismographical data he had collected. He married Lindsay Grace Barrow (née Hudson) on 4 April 1956. They had two sons and a daughter. In 1957 he was awarded a Master of Science from the University of Sydney. In February 1961 Taylor was appointed Senior Resident Geologist in Port Moresby. Taylor died on the island of Manam in Papua New Guinea on 19 August 1972 at the age of 54. He was acting head of the Australian Geological Survey Division at the time of his death. His ashes were buried at St John the Baptist Church, Reid in Canberra. A plaque in his honour appears on the George Cross Memorial in George Cross Park in Canberra.
