AUSTRALIA ~ The Antipodes

AUSTRALIA ~ The Antipodes
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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Gordon Stanley Hockley


Gordon Stanley Hockley is buried at Crib Point Cemetery on the Mornington Peninsula.

The Parliament of Victoria website tells us that Gordon Hockley was born 24 July 1926 (Albury, New South Wales)  and died 11 May 2002.
 His parents were Stanley Bertram, a motor mechanic, and Frances Mclntosh, a nurse.
  On 17 Oct 1947 he married Joyce Eileen Carne.
His occupation was catering manager and his religion was Catholic.
He was educated at Back Creek* and Warburton East* State Schools.
  He had a colourful career as a tally clerk with Victorian Railways, Melbourne, 1942-1945, Royal Australian Navy 1945-1972, Commonwealth Occupation Forces Japan, cook attached to Admiral's staff, lieutenant in charge of catering training; lieutenant Royal Australian Navy Emergency Reserve, catering manager Royal Southern Memorial Hospital, Caulfield*, 1972-1979, JP New South Wales 1957, Victoria 1960; scoutmaster, secretary various school committees and councils.
 He joined the Australian Labor Party in1949.
MLA for Bentleigh from 5 May 1979 to 30 September 1988
When he was at Flinders Naval Depot, he was appointed a JP
- recorded in the Victorian Government Gazette - August 31, 1960.

In his inaugural speech to the Victorian parliament - 31st May, 1979 - Gordon Hockley claimed that he was the oldest new member to be elected to the 48th Victorian parliament.
He replaced Bob Suggett who had served the Bentleigh electorate for 20 years.
Gordon said that Bob was possibly one of the longest serving members of parliament.
Included in a series of predictable platitudes on needs in Bentleigh was this comment:
I was privileged to be invited to join what was locally referred to as the telephone box committee, which was formed by Mr Clyde Killingsworth to save Moorabbin's oldest building, known as "The Grange", from the council's bulldozer. That building is about 130 years old and in excellent condition for its age.
(Adore the term telephone box committee.)
But a more detailed source suggests that the building was in far less prime condition.
After 10 years of controversy, the building was demolished in 1983.
Details of the building's rollercoaster ride are HERE.



At first, it seems rather strange that Gordon Hockley should be buried at Crib Point Cemetery, far south of his Melbourne electorate of Bentleigh.
But then, perhaps his naval connections may have been closer to his soul than his parliamentary ones.
Crib Point is near the HMAS Cerberus naval base and just north of Flinders.

NOTES
*Back Creek History
June 1855: There were about 10,000 diggers at Back Creek and Daisy Hill in Victoria when the famous riots started at the bottom of Adelaide Lead in June 1855.
- ref HERE
Back Creek waterway, between the 19th century gold hub of Bendigo and the Sheepwash, flows into Bendigo Creek about where Lake Weerona now is.
Back Creek is one of the tributaries of Gardiners Creek; one of the major tributaries of the the Yarra River. In 1861 Back Creek was considered an unflattering name for a town of 15,000 diggers and 49 hotels, so its name was changed to Talbot.
It is about 170km north west of Melbourne.

*Warburton East is a small community in the Yarra Ranges, 67km east of Melbourne.
It has a history of being a high fire risk area.

*Royal Southern Memorial Hospital, Caulfield - In Nov. 1987 the Alfred Hospital (Melbourne, Vic.) merged with the Caulfield Hospital and the Royal Southern Memorial Hospital (Caulfield, Vic.) to become the Amalgamated Alfred, Caulfield and Royal Southern Memorial Hospital, renamed in 1990 the Alfred Group of Hospitals. Within the amalgamated hospital, the Caulfield and Royal Southern Memorial hospitals were further merged, to operate as the Caulfield General Medical Centre.
Ref: National Library of Australia

*Andrew Hockley, Gordon's son, has strong Labour connections too.
Education:
Murrumbeena High School (1976-1981)
[Murrumbeena is an inner suburb of Melbourne.
In the 1990's, Murrumbeena High School was one of 350 schools closed by Jeff Kennett's Liberal government.]
 Monash University Politics, Econometrics, Statistics (1982-1984)
 University of Melbourne Economics, Industrial Relations (1985-1986)
Ref: Radaris
 In 2001 he was appointed to head the Strategic Communications and Government Information branch of the Premier's Department.
In 2007, he left this role and became general manager of marketing and sales at News Ltd. - Herald and Weekly Times.
Andrew is generally recognised as head of sales and marketing of the Herald Sun.
He is also on the Australia Day Committee - Victoria.

Hockley politics
From working class beginnings
To media voice

Linking to:
Taphophile Tragics

2 comments:

SeaThreePeeO said...

Interesting post and beautiful pictures. I love the reflection of the headstone in the polished stone on the grave.

Beneath Thy Feet

Julie said...

Argh!!!! His son joined the H&WT ... I should think Gordon would be roiling in his grave!!

Two things here: Andrew benefited from the toil and hard scrabble life that his father led. It is akin to that of the Gillard family, and indeed many families. Each generation toils to ensure that subsequent generations obtain the opportunities just out of their own reach.

Secondly, the order of the letters after Gordon's name. First the RAN, then JP, and only then MP. Were they in date order, I wonder? I know that, officially, the most important designation is placed first, eg PhD, MSc, BSc etc. I wonder if the order here is the importance it had to Gordon himself. The idea of someone who was a JP being 'important' no longer exists. I know it was important to my own father, as he had no other letters to his name and he lived during that immediate post WW2 period. Cannot imagine that many people would put JP in lights nowadays.

Finally, I prefer 'Back Creek' to the toffy-nose sound of 'Talbot'.

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