The burial site of a significant figure in the Dandenong Ranges community has been found by a Gembrook resident, more than 70 years after his death.
Norm Smith discovered one of the founders of what is now the Upwey-Belgrave RSL, Thomas Francis (Frank) Lee, was buried at the Gembrook Cemetery after discovering the unfortunate death of Mount Burnett school head teacher Gerald Russell, who died after injuries sustained in a bicycle accident on 27 September 1941.
Frank Lee, who was Mount Burnett’s original head teacher at its opening in 1937, was transferred to Macclesfield State School in 1941 before Mr Russell would come out of retirement to fill the role for a brief time.
Gerald Russell was also head teacher at Gembrook State School, Mr Smith said.
“When he read about Gerald Russell.. I thought, ‘oh, I’ll go through the story, and I rung up the Monbulk [Primary] State School ,” Mr Smith said.
“They got onto the historical society…it snowballed from there and I got bits of information as you go along.”
Mr Lee was born in Monbulk on 8 September 1898 to Janet Stewart (Jessie) nee Cook and Thomas Lee.
On 11 September 1916, Mr Lee embarked to France on board the HMAT A14 Euripides to serve in the 5th battalion during the First World War, after being enlisted in 1915.
He was left in a serious condition after a gun shot to the chest on 20 September 1917, and returned to Australia on 21 April 1918.
As one of the founders of the Belgrave RSL branch, he also took on the role of president from around 1920 to 1921.
“Upwey didn’t start their RSL till after second world war in 1945, and they had Upwey and Belgrave…Belgrave’s Club rooms were just four doors down from the Cameo Theatre,” Mr Smith said.
“The story was that Upwey sold saw one more glass of beer a week than Belgrave, so they had an amalgamation,” he said.
After the second world war, Mr Lee retired in Gembrook, passing away on 10 June 1949 after prolonged ill health as a result of war injury in Ferntree Gully Hospital.
Mr Smith said Mr Russell would have been placed on the guard’s van at Puffing Billy before his death at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, by being offloaded at Upper Ferntree Gully and from there taken on the guard’s van to Melbourne.
“What transport did they have? They didn’t have any transport,” he said.
