Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
( Due to current Govt. restrictions on ‘Gatherings’ due to Corona19 Virus Pandemic, some families may wish to have a Memorial Service / Wake with friends and family at a later date )
Funeral Parlour: ?
Buried at: Maclean Lawn Cemetery, Brooms Head Rd, Townsend, NSW
Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
NSW Police Training Centre – Redfern – Class # 087A
New South Wales Police Force
Regd. # P/W 0049
Rank: Commenced Training at Redfern Police Academy on Monday 29 May 1961 ( aged 28 years, 6 months, 14 days )
Probationary Constable – appointed Monday 3 July 1961 ( aged 28 years, 7 months, 18 days )
Constable – appointed ? ? ?
Constable 1st Class – appointed ? ? ?
Detective – appointed ? ? 1973 ( YES )
Senior Constable – appointed ? ? ?
Leading Senior Constable – appointed ? ? ? ( N/A )
1st mentioned in the 1977 ‘Stud Book’ as women were not considered, at the time, to be included in the male ‘Stud Book’. They allegedly had their own ‘Seniority list’.
If placed in the male ‘Stud Book’, Ida would have fallen between Registered #s 10033 ( Trevor NEILL ) & 10034 ( R. JEWELL ).
Sergeant 3rd Class – appointed 1 June 1976 – Seniority date = 30 October 1977
Sergeant 2nd Class – appointed 31 July 1984 – Seniority date = 6 July 1984
Sergeant 1st Class – appointed ? ? ?
Inspector – appointed ? ? ?
Chief Inspector – appointed 27 August 1986 ( went from Sgt 2/c – C/Insp in 2 years )
Final Rank: = Chief Inspector
Stations: ?, Women Police Office, Detectives Training Course ( 1973 ( passed with Distinction ), Central Police Station ( 1 Division )( Detectives )( 1974 – 1981 ), Waverley ( 10 Division ), Kogarah ( 12 Division ), Rockdale ( 12 Division )( Det Sgt In Charge ), State Intelligence – Telephone Intercept Branch ( 1988 – 1992 )( Commander ), Retirement
Service ( From Training Date ) period: From 29 May 1961 to 10 July 1992= 31 years, 1 months, 11 days Service
Time employed ( Paid ) with NSW Police: From 29 May 961 to 10 July 1992 = 31 years, 1 months, 11 days Service
Time in Retirement from Police: 33 years, 0 months, 20 days
Age at Retirement / Leaving: = 59 years, 7 months, 25 days
Awards: National Medal – granted 11 December 1980 ( Det Sgt )
1st Clasp to National Medal – granted 8 June 1988 ( Det C/Insp )
Australian Police Medal – granted26 January 1989 ( C/Insp )
Mike Stephens Visual Storyteller · March 31, 2019 Posting two group photos taken 40 years apart of the same members. My Class 87A from 29 May, 1961 and our 1st reunion 40 years later 2001 at the Swansea RSL Club Lake Macquarie. Our class was the first to pass the 9999 registered Nos into the 10,000s.
When Ida joined the NSWP in 1961 she was older than her peers but brought with her the experience of working in the private sector. Ida’s early years of policing were in the traditional field of looking after the wellbeing of women and children. In 1973 she joined a number of women and undertook the Detective’s Training Course, which she completed with distinction. Ida’s work in criminal investigation at Central Police Station spanned 1974 – 1981 after which she moved to Waverley Police Station and then Kogarah where she was the detective sergeant in charge of Rockdale Police Station. In 1978 Ida was awarded the W.D. & H.O. Wills Trophy for the most outstanding female police officer. Ida’s background as an accountant served her well, as her later interest and roles involved working on the development of systems, including the Crime Information and Intelligence System and Licensing System. These skills fitted perfectly with Ida’s final role as Commander, Telephone Intercept Branch ( 1988 – 1992 ). Ida retired from the NSWP in 1992 at the rank of Chief Inspector after 31 years service. Ida was awarded the Australian Police Medal in 1989.
The reunion photo identified as follows ( 2001 ): Left to right – back row
Mike Stephens, Rod Fulham, Paul McGowan, John Imeson, Merv Braithwaite, Kevin Mongton, Barry Luckie, Brian Rowley, John Baker, Brian Borthwick, Barry Cooper, John Hayes, Tony Madigan, Bruce Spencer, Barry Lawson, Bernie Lee, Roy Fry (partly obscured by Ian Robb standing at end of middle row), Roy Leadbeater (Instructor).
Middle row –
Ross Goodwin, Brian McIlvenna, Leo Gately, Gordon Doyle, Harvey Juergens, Wally Lark, Helen Clark ( later Magnus ), Ida Luke, Fred Sewell, Ron Blake, Terry Lester, Tom Powick, Ian Robb (standing).
Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
2nd last Class to be Sworn In at the Penrith Police college, NSW
New South Wales Police Force
Regd. # 7642
Rank: Commenced Training at Penrith Police Academy on Monday 26 October 1953 ( aged 21 years, 5 months, 11 days )
Probationary Constable – appointed ? November 1953 ( aged 21 years, ? months, ? days )
Constable – appointed ? November 1954
Constable 1st Class – appointed ? October 1959
Detective – appointed ? October 1961
Senior Constable – appointed 26 October 1964
Leading Senior Constable – appointed ? ? ? ( N/A )
Sergeant 3rd Class – appointed 1 January 1969
Sergeant 2nd Class – appointed 31 January 1977
Sergeant 1st Class – appointed ? December 1979
Inspector – appointed 26 May 1983
Chief Inspector – appointed 6 November 1985
Final Rank: = Detective Chief Inspector
Stations: Daceyville ( 15 Division )( GDs )( ProCst ), Randwick ( 15 Division )( GDs ), Randwick ( 15 Division )( ‘A’ List ; precursor to becoming a Detective ), Vice Squad ( Training )( Sept 1956 – Oct. 1958 ), Redfern ( 7 Division )( Relieving and Testing Duties )( Oct. 1958 – Feb. 1959 ), Paddington ( 10 Division )( C.I. Duties )( Feb. 1959 – Jan. 1961 ), Liverpool ( 22 Division )( Dets )( Jan. 1961 – Jan. 1971 ),Merrylands ( 26 Division )( Dets )( Jan. 1971 – Mar. 1974 ), Fairfield ( 34 Division )( Dets )( Mar. 1974 – Dec. 1975 ), Central ( 1 Division )( Det )( Dec. 1975 – Jan. 1979 ), Hurstville ( 31 Division )( Dets – Divisional Det. Sgt )( Jan. 1979 – Jan. 1980 ), Bankstown ( 19 Division )( Det. Sgt 1/c )( Chief of Dets )( Jan. 1980 – Sept. 1981 ), ‘ G ‘ District – Assistant to the Det. Insp. ( Sept. 1981 – June 1983 ), ‘ H ‘ District – District Detective Inspector – ( June 1983 – ), Bureau of Crime Intelligence ( B.C.I. )( c1986 )( Det C/Insp ) – Retirement
Service ( From Training Date ) period: From 26 October 1953 to 5 April 1988 ( optional Retirement ) = 34 years, 5 months, 10days Service
Time employed ( Paid ) with NSW Police: From: 26 October 1953 to 5 April 1988 ( optional Retirement ) = 34 years, 5 months, 10days Service
Time in Retirement from Police: 37 years, 3 months, 14 days
Age at Retirement / Leaving: = 55 years, 10 months, 14 days
Awards: No Find on the Australian Honours system – however;
won the Sir Robert Askin Memorial Award
Commended for his part played in the search for Monica Schofield, missing from Heathcote Hostel from the 17th June, 1963, and in relation to inquiries which resulted in the arrest of her attacker, Barry Rodrick, and his subsequent conviction for murder.
Signed N. T. W. Allan. Commissioner of Police.
Born: Sunday 15 May 1932
Died on: Saturday 19 July 2025
Age: 93 years, 2 months, 4 days
Organ Donor: No – Age restrictive
Cause: Natural – Old Age
Event location: ?
Event / Diagnosis date: ?
Funeral date: Thursday 31 July 2025 @ 12.30pm
Funeral location: South Chapel, Forrest Lawn Memorial Park, Camden Valley Way, Leppington, NSW
Liverpool PAC will provide an Official Police Guard of Honour
LIVE STREAM can be found HERE link expired before I had the chance to record it.
Ray was the President of the Cabramatta Golf Club for 7 years.
He was a well known sportsman, footballer and Policeman.
On Saturday, 19 July 2025, retired Chief Inspector Raymond Douglas Millington 93 , past away after a short illness.
Ray was an outstanding man! A very good detective, outstanding Policeman and accomplished athlete, he played 1st grade rugby Union for Easts, 1st grade rugby league for Easts, he was an excellent basket ball player and was in the graded finals for selection for the 1956 Olympics!
Ray was a man of old fashion principles and integrity, he excelled as a policeman, teacher and a friend.
Ray worked at Central Dets in the 70’s and at Bankstown in the late 70’s where he was the boss.
He was a man of wisdom, intelligence and compassion.
He recently was awarded a special commendation where he and 3 other persons were recognised as being the only sportsman too play 1st grade in 3 disciplines, rugby Union, rugby and AFL, on the Sydney Cricket Ground. An amazing feat for an amazing man.
Australia has lost a great Aussie!
1953 October: Liverpool Police Officer – Probationary Constable Raymond. D. Millington a former Driver’s Assistant, Cabinet Maker, Tally Clerk and Labourer entered the Police College at Penrith and commenced his Initial Training.
This was the second last class to be attested at the Penrith College.
Then four weeks later, in 11/1953 he was attested as a Probationary Constable and stationed at No. 15 Division (Daceyville) on General Duties.
In 5/1954 he was transferred to Randwick Police Station (a sub-station of No. 15 Division) on General Duties, and after a short time he went onto the ‘A’ List, where in 10/1954 he was promoted to the rank of Constable.
In those days a prospective Detective was transferred either to the Vice Squad or No. 21 Division for Criminal Investigation Training.
In 9/1956 he was transferred to the Vice Squad. In 10/1958 he was transferred to No. 7 Division (Redfern) on Relieving and Testing Duties.
In 2/1959 he was transferred to No. 10 Division (Paddington) on Criminal Investigations, where in 10/1959 he was promoted to the rank of Constable 1/c.
Then in 1/1961 he was transferred to No. 22 Division (Liverpool) on Criminal Investigation Duties, where in 10/1961 he was designated a ‘Detective’. Around this
period Liverpool stretched from Guildford to Bargo, and the Police Station located within No. 22 Division were Liverpool (Head Station), Fairfield, Cabramatta, Guildford, Ingleburn, Campbelltown, Camden, The Oaks and Picton.
1961 January: Liverpool Police Officer – Detective Constable 1/c. Raymond D. Millington was transferred to No. 22 Division (Liverpool) on Criminal Investigation Duties, where in 10/1964 he was promoted to the rank of Detective Senior Constable.
In 7/1968 he was one of the Criminal Investigators involved in investigating the Wally Mellish Glenfield Siege.
In 1/1969 he was promoted to the rank of Detective Sergeant 3/c.
In 1/1971 he was transferred to No. 26 Division (Merrylands) on Criminal Investigation Duties.
In 3/1974 he was transferred to No. 34 Division (Fairfield) on Criminal Investigation Duties.
In 12/1975 he was transferred to No. 1 Division (Central) on Criminal Investigation Duties, where in 1/1977 he was promoted to the rank of Detective Sergeant 2/c.
In 1/1979 he was transferred to No. 31 Division (Hurstville) at the Divisional Detective Sergeant, where in 12/1979 he was promoted to the rank of Detective Sergeant 1/c.
In 1/1980 he was transferred to No. 19 Division (Bankstown) as the Divisional Detective Sergeant.
In 9/1981 he was transferred to ‘G’ District as the Assistant to the Detective Inspector, where in 5/1983 he was promoted to the rank of Detective Inspector.
In 6/1983 he was transferred to ‘H’ District as the District Detective Inspector.
Source: Liverpool Police History time line by Joe Stanioch.
Bankstown Detectives: C1979
Back Row ( L – R )
Det SenCon E. HAWRYSIUK, P.C.Cst 1/c I.B. KEENAN, P.C. SenCon Joe STANIOCH, Det SenCon M.A. DONOVAN, P.C. Cst 1/c Michael P. McGANN # 16758, Det SenCon Ulrich BRAMANN # 14184, Det SenCon G.C. PRENTICE, Cst 1/c R.N. RYAN.
Second Row ( L- R )
P.W Det SenCon M.A. WESTAWAY, Det SenCon Trevor Lyle BEAUMONT # 14058, P.C. Cst G.Md. ABEL, P.C. Cst 1/c J. KHALIFEH, P.C. Cst A.J. BICKHOFF, Det SenCon A.A. TOWNSEND, P.C. SenCst K.J. PLATT, P.C. Cst 1/c TUNNICLIFFE, P/W Cst 1/c G. M. LAPHAM.
Front Row ( L – R )
Det Sgt 3/c Allan R. LYTHALL # 9291, Det Sgt 3/c W. J. HADLEY, Det Sgt 3/c Ray F. WEBSTER # 10213, Det Sgt 2/c R.N. MURRAY, Det Sgt 1/c Ray D. MILLINGTON # 7642, Det Sgt 3/c R.E. LYNCH, Det Sgt 3/c J.D.G. BARTLETT, Det Sgt 3/c M. COUGHLIN.
The Glenfield Siege, 50 years ago….
In July 1968, small-time criminal Wally Mellish held his girlfriend Beryl Muddle and her child hostage in a fibro house in Sydney’s southwest. The bizarre turns of the eight-day siege captured the attention of Australians and made headlines around the world.
THE SYNOPSIS: Small-time criminal Wally Mellish, 22, was living in a house in Glenfield Road with his girlfriend Beryl Muddle, 19, and her 11-week old son when police arrived to talk about local car thefts.
Mellish told them to “go to hell”, fired a shot in the air and for the next eight days the house was surrounded.
Mellish forced Police Commissioner Norman Allan to arrange for his wedding to Beryl and to be best man. Allan provided the ring and the police canteen the wedding breakfast. Mellish forced police to give him an Armalite rifle and ammunition.
When the siege ended Mellish was taken by Commissioner Allan to Ingleburn Army Camp to enlist for service in Vietnam but he was rejected and committed to Morisset Psychiatric Hospital. No charges were ever laid. The marriage was annulled.
DAY ONE: July 2, 1968: On a cold winter’s morning local detective Ray Millington knocked on the door of the fibro cottage to talk to Mellish about car thefts. He was told to “go to hell” and a shot was fired.
Riot Squad police surrounded the house. Mellish threatened to kill Beryl and the child and more shots were fired. Detective Superintendent Don Fergusson, chief of the CIB, and Long Bay Jail chaplain the Rev Clyde Paton negotiated a truce.
Earlier, a detective in the house talking to Mellish was ordered out by Commissioner Allan when he phoned to talk to Wally.
DAY TWO: Commissioner Allan took personal charge and organised the wedding of the year. He got special dispensation to avoid the statutory seven-day waiting period. Rev Paton married Wally and Beryl with Allan as best man and Fergusson as a witness. Allan brought five rings so one would fit.
The mobile police canteen provided a curry wedding breakfast washed down with Coca-Cola. Mellish laid down his weapons for the wedding but Allan and Fergusson honoured their promise and didn’t grab him. The world began to follow the Glenfield Siege.
DAY THREE: Allan admitted to astonished pressmen that Mellish had been given an Armalite rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition because he wanted to match the fire-power of the police. Allan denied he was a hostage, claiming Mellish threatened the life of his wife and child. Police also gave Mellish food and a radio. Allan said Mellish claimed to have hand grenades and this was supported by Beryl.
DAY FOUR: Police stopped serving food to Mellish but continued to provide for the child. Plans to dope Mellish’s food were ruled out. Mellish would only communicate with Rev Paton. The use of tear-gas was ruled out because of the effects on the baby.
DAY FIVE: Mellish again refused food and cigarettes as police tried to wait him out. Police Association began to question handling of the siege by Commissioner Allan. Power to the house was cut and searchlights installed.
DAY SIX: As the waiting game continued, police defied orders and rained rocks on the tin roof of the house. “If we have to be awake so does he,” one detective said. Riot police were openly contemptuous of Mellish reading papers in full view of the siege house. Dr Tom Lonie, superintendent of Morisset Hospital where Mellish had been a patient, spoke to him.
DAY SEVEN: Mellish reported to be twice on the verge of surrendering after telephone talks with Rev Paton but was still in the house at the end of the day. Police Association censured Commissioner Allan for handing over the Armalite rifle.
DAY EIGHT: After 174 hours, on a sunny afternoon at 3.09 pm. Wally and Beryl walked out of the house with the baby. Wally went to Ingleburn and then to Morisset in Allan’s car. Police and press packed their gear and Glenfield returned to its quiet state.
THE AFTERMATH: The next day Beryl announced she was seeking to annul the wedding. Commissioner Allan, Rev Paton and Superintendent Fergusson were decorated for their bravery. Rev Paton moved into obscurity
^ ^ ^ ^
Glenfield Siege. Liverpool Police attended premises in Glenfield Rd, Glenfield, the home of Wally Mellish (23old), to enquire about some stolen car parts and also execute an arrest warrant for car theft, initiating the siege.
After Detective Raymond Millington from Liverpool knocked on the front door he was told to “go to hell” and Mellish fired a shot in the air and the house was then surrounded for the next eight days.
NSW Police Commissioner Norman. T. W. Allan personally negotiated with a petty criminal Wally Mellish who defied police in a siege by holding his girlfriend Beryl Muddle and their 11 week old baby as hostages.
Having persuaded Mr Allan to arrange his marriage to Beryl and to provide the wedding ring and the feast, Mellish refused to surrender as promised.
Mr Allan acceded at gunpoint to the Mellish demand to be furnished with an Armalite rifle and 200 bullets.
The marriage celebrant Rev Clyde Paton persuaded Mellish to surrender 5 days later.
He was sent to the Morisset Mental Hospital. Soon after release from the Hospital, Mellish was arrested for demanding money with menaces, in an unrelated matter, and subsequently jailed for 3 years.
Detectives who complained about not been able to arrest Mellish following the siege were transferred to Uniform Duties by the Commissioner.
Commissioner Allan rewarded himself and Rev Paton with the Queen Medal for Bravery.
No charges were ever laid, and the marriage was annulled.
^ ^ ^ ^
Former Liverpool Police Officers – Detective Inspector Raymond. D. Millingtonwas the Detective Inspector at ‘H’ District Office. He and Detective Chief Inspector Jim Loomes were chosen to commence an investigation into allegations of corruption ( bribery for early prisoner releases ) by former NSW Corrective Services Government Minister Rex Jackson.
Their initial investigation later lead to a Royal Commission, which resulted in Jackson’s conviction in 9/1987 and serving a term in prison. He was released from prison in late 1990. The Royal Commission also exposed a number of other high profile persons acting corruptly.
^ ^ ^ ^
Scholastic Achievement: Sir Robert Askin Memorial Award. This award was presented annually for attainment during the Senior Police Course. Detective Inspector Raymond. D. Millington, who was attached to the Bureau of Crime Intelligence at the time, was the recipient.
Source: Liverpool Police History time line by Joe Stanioch.
The three-code pioneer who paved the glittering path for Folau and Hunt
Footy fans everywhere are familiar with the code-hopping stories of Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt. But the pair were beaten in playing all three football codes by a Sydney policeman sixty years earlier.
It was a balmy Brisbane night. The kind of night that has citronella candles flickering right along the river.
Israel Folau knew the kind well, never once batting his eyelids as the Lang Park crowd milled around him, many still in singlets and thongs.
But while the multi-million-dollar dynamo was on familiar ground, he was entering new territory. All 102 kilograms of him.
With two seasons as a Brisbane Bronco already under his belt, Folau’s bus ride down Caxton Street that night was filled with a smorgasbord of familiar sights and sounds. Maroon-clad fanatics downing mangos in the swamp. Saturday night specialists sipping on whiskey apples at Lefty’s. The riff-raff congregating suspiciously outside of Honey B’s.
Only this time, none of the locals would be cheering his name. Even if every last one of them had turned up, and paid up, to see him.
Sweaty shoulder to sweaty shoulder, 35,081 made their way through the Lang Park turnstiles on the 23rd of February, 2013. 35,081 were on hand to witness history.
Or so they had been told.
Spruiked as the first man to play Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union at the highest levels possible in this country, Folau made his return to Suncorp Stadium after 905 days. His hand poised to re-write the history books.
Despite earning detractors along the way, the gravity of the then-33-year-old’s achievement couldn’t be understated. Folau’s ability to hop from the Melbourne Storm to the Broncos (NRL), then over to the GWS Giants (AFL) and jump into place with the New South Wales Waratahs (Rugby Union) had kids weaving several dreams into a singular naptime.
No longer were aspirations of becoming a Kangaroo, a Wallaby, or an All-Australian mutually exclusive.
Two years on from his rugby union debut, Folau would be joined in this rare club by Karmichael Hunt, after the Auckland-born, Australian representative made his way from Brisbane to Biarritz, then to the Gold Coast Suns and onto the Queensland Reds’ roster in 2015, all while changing gears – and gear – with relative ease.
Yet, for these Polynesian superstars to stake their claim across all three codes, earning a chance to stroll contentedly down streets paved with gold, their path first needed paving.
For eight years, footy fans from all three codes have been under the impression that Folau was the first man to spin a Steeden, shoot a Sherrin, and grab a Gilbert professionally, to be paid for the honour.
But what if this collective belief was wrong?
What if the history books had been etched incorrectly?
What if we told you that more than six decades ago, it took a Sydney copper to sprint, so Folau and Hunt could stroll?
As the maxim goes, truth is often stranger than fiction. But for Raymond Douglas Millington, this strange truth is his life’s work.
Not that many had noticed.
Unless you are a nonagenarian that packed scrums around suburban Sydney, chased leather in inner Melbourne, or featured in the Harbour City’s first-grade competition during the 1950s, it is unlikely you have ever heard the name, Ray Millington.
However, for the vast uninitiated, the New South Welshman – all 76 kilograms of him – became the first name to sit at the table of three when he completed the trifecta way back in 1957.
A feat completed to absolutely no acclaim.
Take a beat and check out Ray’s entry in any edition of The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. You will find it is only marginally larger than a jelly baby. Folau and Hunt’s by comparison? Theirs are more like mini Mars bars.
“I’ve had a pretty colourful sporting career,” Millington wryly told Zero Hanger from his home in Sydney’s West.
Now less than a month shy of his 91st birthday, and over 63 years since he hung up his boots for good, Ray Millington no longer moves like the whippet-like competitor he once was.
“I’m getting old. I say that every day and I don’t like it very well, but it creeps up on you and you have no alternative,” he admitted through a fatigued drawl.
“Don’t rush yourself, mate. It’s all I can say to you.”
But as whippet-like competitors of any age are prone to, Ray still has plenty to say.
Precursor to Pendles
You could be forgiven for believing that for someone to play VFL football, top-grade rugby union and pull on the Sydney Roosters‘ famous Tricolours in one lifetime, they must be a near-supernatural entity, an all-conquering athlete touched by the gods themselves.
Part Scott Pendlebury, with a touch of James Tedesco, and just a sprinkle of Roy Hobbs in there for good measure. What most would call a natural.
However, if you took the short odds to back Millington in as the most gifted galloper in the race, the bookie would be holding your hard-earned. That ticket would be worthless.
“No, no, no,” Ray rebuffed. “I was never a natural. I had to work pretty hard to get to where I got.”
Raised in the country surrounds of Grose Wold – an 80-minute drive north-west of Sydney’s centre – Ray spent the early years of his childhood playing cricket and rugby league with the 10 others in the school yard of his one-horse town. A town where, ironically, most blokes earned a crust as horse studs.
But with the Curtin government committed to sending fit men to war following the German’s march into France, the Millington family traded the sticks for the tight-knit, double-terraced streets of Paddington in 1942, after Ray’s father was asked to make the barracks on Moore Park Road home.
With rations, blackouts, and tightened purse strings the norm, 10-year-old Ray wandered to the end of the road and changed the course of his life.
Once located less than a Phil Manassa run from the SCG’s stately Members’ stand, the Moore Park Playground was filled with kids of the depression honing their sporting skills from dawn until dusk, each enjoying unfettered access to enough poles, goals, nets, bats, and balls to keep dreamers of every persuasion in business.
“The playground was only about three or four hundred yards from where I lived, so I’d go there straight after school and stay there until around 7 o’clock at night,” Ray recalled.
“We played cricket, rugby league, basketball, rugby union, tennis, baseball, and whatever else.”
It was on this field of dreams that Ray was moulded into the precursor to Scott Pendlebury, with his own basketball background fostered under the watch of Australian hoops royalty.
“We were always bouncing basketballs or swinging bats or something. That was seven days a week. That’s how I got my start,”
“We had a very, very, very good supervisor in Ray Rosbrook. His skills as a sports coach were of an international standard. He was a superb head coach of the New South Wales basketball team.”
The playground’s posts and courts are long gone now. Each removed or sealed over with bitumen and marked into multiple gridlocked lanes. These days, the junction of Moore Park Road and Dowling Street acts as the mouth to the Eastern Expressway – a route used by tens of thousands of Sydneysiders every day, and avoided by hundreds of thousands more.
“The place I lived in Paddington just sold for $3.5 million,” Millington sighed. “Such is progress, I guess.”
Like present-day developers, progression would soon become the name of Ray’s game, with all roads soon leading to the SCG’s greener pastures, and the playground fading fast in his rearview mirror.
Collate the history books, and they will say that Ray was the first person to play any form of Aussie Rules, rugby union, and rugby league on the cricket ground. Still, his first mark at the venue came without a ball at all.
During the summer of 1950, a time in which Menzies was still moving furniture into the lodge, Ray took on all comers during the NSW Junior Athletics carnival, heading home as state champion in javelin, hammer throw, and the pole vault.
A burly lad, by then on the verge of adulthood, Ray’s crowning vault wasn’t without misfortune, as he flew for the heavens, crashlanding like an ungainly Roy Cazaly.
An 18-year-old Ray Millington tumbling from his pole at the SCG – February 25, 1950. Photo – supplied
“I’ve got a photograph of that. Me going through the air, arse upside down,” Millington said with a prideful chuckle, recalling with ease the events of an afternoon that unfolded more than 70 years ago.
“I think the bar was at about 10′ 6 – over three metres in today’s measurements – and the pole broke. In those days, the sandpit was just two inches of sand thrown on the grass.”
It was this size and courage that had served him well as he wandered into view of Australia’s own game. His sticky hands and high leap were more than handy, too.
“I wasn’t a natural, but just having a basketball in your hand every day gave you that hand-eye coordination and that’s why I adapted to Aussie Rules a lot easier than most,” he explained.
“I had good hands, very good hands, and because I used to compete in athletics carnivals, I could jump.”
“Learning to kick came with difficulty, but back then it wasn’t much of an issue, as everyone just went back and laced off big torpedo punts.”
Originally turning out for the now-defunct Dellmuth Football Club, Ray stab-passed his way around the ovals of suburban Sydney, eventually lining up with Eastern Suburbs – a club once home to Swans co-captain Dane Rampe and triple premiership Blue, Mark ‘Sellars’ Maclure.
Tasting grand final defeat in his first season at Trumper Park, the 17-year-old with the dukes and the hops had made waves since his rise to the seniors. Waves that would carry him into a sky-blue jumper and a date against a Hall of Fame spearhead.
Wollongong, October 1949 – A combined NSW side before their fixture against VFA premiers Williamstown – a 17-year-old Ray Millington can be found dead centre of the front row – PHOTO CREDIT – NSW Football History Society.
“I was selected in a composite New South Wales team in 1949 to play Williamstown, who had just won the VFA competition down in Melbourne,” Ray said.
“We played them at Wollongong and the great Ron Todd was at full-forward for them. They only beat us by six points and I kicked three for the day.”
Ray’s goalkicking prowess would continue throughout the 1950 season, with the Sydney Morning Herald routinely reporting on his ability to “dazzle spectators with high marks and long kicks”.
An 11-goal outing against Balmain in late May saw him skyrocket into the state side, booking a place on the plane for the 1950 State Carnival.
“We went up to Brisbane for about 10 days or so. We played on what’s now the Gabba and beat Canberra and Queensland.”.
With the Waratah stamped on his chest, the pride that filled Ray way back when remains a sensation he can vividly recall today, even if his jaw may have been a bit jutted at the time.
“I was just a kid. I was overawed, but I was up myself…”
“You think that you’re Superman.”
“But I played alright. I played pretty well.”
Man of Steel or otherwise, avenues were beginning to open for the nippy forward with a bloodhound’s sense for goal.
Although the dog days of rationing and blackouts had been shrugged off by the spring of 1950, with the nation now finding itself on the doorstep of economic prosperity, VFL outfits still took a decidedly narrow view when it came to signing talent.
Time and again, the stars and also-rans of the day came from within the near reaches of all 12 clubs, or from the bush just beyond town. But whether city slickers or hayseeds, there was a tie that bound almost every teammate: the ‘Barassi Line’.
More than 30 years on from landing a league side to call their own, Sydney may as well have been on a different planet to Melbourne in those days, with few in the Harbour City caring for a game that remains more religion than sport south of the Murray River.
But this Millington kid had something. Something that was too sharp to ignore. From the sticks to the big smoke; from the playground to national recognition, a chance to travel to football’s Mecca would soon follow.
New South Wales’ 1950 State Carnival Side on the tarmac at Mascot Airport – an 18-year-old Ray Millington can be found third from the left – PHOTO CREDIT: NSW Football History Society.
Gorillas and Galloping Greens
1951 was the quintessential ‘almost season’ for the Fitzroy Football Club.
10 wins, six losses, and, peculiarly, two draws, saw the Gorillas – the club’s overtly aggressive mascot between 1939 and 1956 – finish just outside the top four, forcing them to watch on as the hated Pies, Cats, Dogs, and Dons did battle in September.
By then, it had been four years since the Roys had last punched a finals ticket – their last look coming during their preliminary final loss to Essendon in 1947. It had also been eight years since their last premiership – a drought that would remain unbroken throughout their final 45 years of existence.
Though little more than the tracks of a sliding door had kept Fitzroy from a spot in the four, the club’s brass sought an alternative fix for their marginal woes. One that would cost them a mere fraction of the hard-earned spent elsewhere.
In an effort to climb the ladder, the Gorillas looked north, asking a raw utility to trade pre-bohemian Paddington for Fitzroy, a suburb still light years away embracing frothed oat milk in their fairtrade coffees.
“I was approached by the president of the NSW Aussie Rules competition, Les Taylor, at the end of 1951. He must have been approached by Fitzroy because he told me to head down to Melbourne and sign with them,” Ray explained.
News report from The News of Adelaide – January 10, 1952. PHOTO CREDIT: Trove.
“There were articles in the paper down there about how Fitzroy’s officials met me at Essendon Airport because other clubs were interested in signing me. They never told me who those mystery suitors were.
“At that stage, I was the youngest from New South Wales to ever go down to Melbourne. I was only 19 at the time.”
Young, brash, and keen to get his hands dirty, Ray and his wife, Norma, made a home for themselves in the heart of Fitzroy, waking most days to the sound of trams thundering past their front door.
“We lived directly opposite the footy ground In Brunswick Street,” Ray explained.
“That was back when the Harveys were playing cricket with Fitzroy.
“We walked straight out the front gate and across the road into Brunswick Street Oval.”
Across the tram tracks and beneath the shadow of the old railyard silo, Ray rubbed shoulders with a strong and silky ilk, honing his craft alongside Team of the Century members, Bill Stephen and Allan ‘The Baron’ Ruthven, by then a Brownlow medallist and the Roys’ captain-coach.
There was also ‘Butch’ Gale and Norm Johnstone, two men that were more granite than flesh and bone. Around them was place-kicker Tony Ongarello, a dapper gent who would famously hide brandy in his walking stick later in life.
Though the new kid on the block, the teenaged Ray Millington matched it with these champions, seeing scribes from The Age dub him the Roys’ most impressive off-season recruit.
But even after training the house down over the summer, Ray was forced to uphold a time-honoured tradition: earning a spot in the seniors from the reserves.
At 176cm, Ray was deemed too short for a forward post. And though unfamiliar with the rough and tumble of life at the coalface, the Sydneysider was asked to cut his teeth in the middle.
“I used to be the centre-half forward or full-forward up in Sydney, but I was just too short. So, the club threw me in on the half-forward flank instead,” Ray recalled of his perpetually moving magnet.
At 0-2, the Gorillas’ 1952 season wasn’t off to a flier. And, after seeing gun centre-man Don Furness go down with injury, centre half-forward Ron Simpson hit for six with the flu, and their boom recruit earning rave reviews in the twos, Ruthven brought the kid into the big time.
At Princes Park in Round 3 against the capable Ken Hands, Ern Henfry, Bruce Comben and the guile of Ollie Grieve, Ray was quickly swept up in the rise in class, earning a reminder square between the numbers stitched onto his guernsey.
“My first game, I was 19th man and had to go on pretty early,” Ray recollected with ease.
“It would have been in the first quarter. By the time I got to my position, I was shitting myself.
“Here I am, a kid from Sydney playing in the big league in Melbourne, running on in front of the crowd at Carlton.”
“The first mark I went for, big ‘Chooka’ Howell, all six-foot-four of him, took a mark over the top of me and belted the shit out of me.
“I remember thinking, ‘Christ, I’m in A-grade here’.”
Though Ray would make the short walk back down Curtain Street a winner that early-May evening, he would be back kicking the dew off suburban ovals until mid-July.
In those days of ankle-high boots, training on a Thursday and full-to-the-brim ashtrays at half-time, back pocket, of all positions, was a specialist one. And at Brunswick Street Oval, the Roys had the best in the state in Bill Stephen.
A routine Victorian representative, Stephen would again don the Big V in 1952, travelling to face the Croweaters at Adelaide Oval. His void would be filled by the kid used to seeing his magnet flung about. A kid that would help hold the Tigers to just five goals at their Punt Road manor.
Forward, back, or in the guts, with two wins from two starts, Ray had moulded himself into the Roys’ lucky charm. And despite his past in baby blue, he too would familiarise himself with the Big V before too long.
“I made the Victorian seconds team that year,” Ray said.
“We played a combined Victorian country team as a curtain raiser to the major interstate match between Victoria and Western Australia at the MCG.
“They had me running in the centre that day, too.”
Sadly, that afternoon at Melbourne’s Mecca would act as Ray’s crescendo south of the Murray, as circumstances – both at home and across the road – would cap his VFL career at just two senior games.
Though the Gorillas would go on to taste September success that Spring, edging the Blues by a point in a semi-final bout for the ages before going down to the Magpies a week later, Ray would watch each final from the stands.
Still, whispers from the board room led Ray to believe the red carpet would be rolled out for him in 1953.
While the notion of a kid from the wrong side of the border taking the spot of the club’s playing coach and Brownlow medallist seems fanciful, according to Ray, it is one that was squarely on the Roys’ selection table.
“The selectors told me they wanted me to then play in the centre. I had played there all year in the reserves. Unfortunately, ‘Baron’ (Ruthven) was the starting centre,” he said.
“But the rumours were that he would retire and that I would have a genuine opportunity to play firsts in the middle. However, he played on for another two seasons, so I probably would have been left to cool my heels in the reserves.”
Happy news on the home front would help slam the door closed, with Norma falling pregnant and a move back to Sydney proving impossible to deny.
The cruellest blow of upping and leaving after only one winter came when Fitzroy refused to grant Ray a clearance, effectively tying the 20-year-old to the club even after he had left town.
Sporting careers are littered with ‘what ifs’, and although Ray would have plenty more chapters to write by the end of 1952, he remains steadfast in the belief that had he stayed on in Melbourne, he would have stacked up at senior level.
“Oh, yeah. I was told as much,” said Ray when asked whether he could have matched it with the VFL’s stars of the day.
“That’s why Fitzroy held my transfer up. The club didn’t want me to go.
“I was a bit of a victim of circumstance, really.”
Back on familiar ground, Ray returned to Easts for the ’53 season, tasting premiership success, and yet again, earning state honours.
But while the NSW police force recruit’s frame and nous had him dominating defenders at Trumper Park – and even the SCG – on Sundays, the lack of professional pathways placed a use-by-date on his Aussie Rules days.
A date that would have mates from a different code down the road soon calling for a helping hand.
The 1953 NSW carnival team in Brisbane. A more muscular Ray can be found in the front row, fourth from the right. Photo Credit – NSW Football History.
“All my mates were playing rugby union at Randwick, so just to do something, I went out and trialled just to run around,” said Ray of his choice to head down to Coogee Oval.
“I played in two grade trials with them and played pretty well.”
Part Pendlebury, part Tedesco, with a sprinkle of Hobbs and a touch of Serge Blanco, Ray hit the ground running, winning the Galloping Green’s fullback position.
These were the days before Super Rugby clashes and World Cups. There were no central contracts, boot deals or battles across umpteen time zones, only fixtures between suburban Sydney sides. Gordon and Eastwood; West Harbour and Randwick. Fixtures filled to the brim with Wallabies.
At Coogee, Ray would share a dressing room with many of these stars, including those that would eventually have bricks and mortar named in their honour.
“I immediately made the first-grade side at Randwick, and Sir Nicholas Shehadie was captain. He was also the Australian captain. We were full of internationals in the forwards,”
“There were probably four to six internationals in the Randwick side when I played. We didn’t make the four because they were all forwards.”
Ray would also share the sheds with a man who would go on to raise polarising offspring, linking up with the father of Australia’s 30th Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.
“Johnny Morrison was a prop, and in the police force, too,” Ray said.
“He was a good bloke, Johnny. I knew him pretty well.
“He went into politics himself and finished up as the Mayor of Waverley Council.”
Ray’s two seasons at Coogee Oval followed a familiar trend. Not only did he make his presence known, scoring freely by hand and by boot, but he would again shift around the park, plugging holes at centre, first-five and at the back.
His wares wouldn’t go unnoticed by rep selectors either, returning to the SCG to play in a curtain raiser before the eyes of many of his more experienced teammates.
“I got picked for the rugby union city colts. We played Duntroon College on the cricket ground before Australia in Fiji during June of 1954,”
But with the cost of living growing as his young family expanded, Ray eventually made like Morrison junior, trading the amateur 15-man game in for rugby league’s relative riches.
Chooks, pies and Venetian blinds
They say there is no such thing as a free lunch, and with the force providing little for a cop that kept his nose clean, Ray was again left to cash in on his dash and dare.
“My sporting life hit a crossroads in 1956 and the juxtaposition of my sporting interests with the needs of a young family was thrown into clear relief,”
“I was back playing Aussie Rules, but a mate was playing lower-grade rugby league with Eastern Suburbs (nowadays the NRL‘s Sydney Roosters) and receiving a small amount of payment.
“I got nothing in Victoria, and up here, all I got was a pie for lunch or something.”
“I had three children I was raising on a police salary, which was not exactly generous. In fact, you could say it was very poor.”
Lured in by the promise of two pounds (four dollars) for every 3rd-grade appearance, and five (10 dollars) in the reserves, Ray made the short trek back to Moore Park, entering the Roosters’ coop in 1957.
“I hadn’t played rugby league since I was 15, so I was an older recruit with Easts, by then a 25-year-old,” Ray said of his choice to try out a third code.
Though he would spend the vast majority of his first two seasons in Tricolours playing reserve grade, sporadic shots in the firsts – and the accompanying 17-pound (34 dollars) payday – would arise.
On the 25th of August, 1957, before 11,360 at the old Sydney Sports Ground, Ray made his first-grade debut for the Roosters, running in 13-6 loss to Manly.
Ray’s set was complete. Not that anyone had noted.
But it would take a toe-to-toe battle against one of rugby league’s immortals before Ray’s spot in the seniors became his, and his alone.
“Our first-grade fullback was a bloke named Tony Paskins. He was the captain of New South Wales. He was just a great player,”
“In ’58, we were to play Souths at Redfern Oval and I was down to play second grade. I arrived there and was told Tony was injured and couldn’t play,”
“They threw me the boots and said, ‘Right, you’re playing, Ray’.”
“The fullback for Souths that day was Clive Churchill. That was his last year. It was one of the best games of football I played to the point that at training on the following Tuesday, one of the selectors came over and told me I had held my spot.
“I held it for the rest of the year.”
In all, Ray would don the Roosters‘ famed chevrons during 18 first-grade games, including a match-of-the-day clash at the SCG against the immortal might of Reg Gasnier, Norm Provan, Johnny Raper, and the Dragons pack.
Pies may have been off the menu, with some folding stuff finally coming Ray’s way, but – far from the property portfolios, fast cars, and diamond earrings accrued by Folau and Hunt over the years – Ray’s earnings only covered simple furnishings.
“In 1959, I played a full season of first-grade, earning total payments of 310 pounds (640 dollars in today’s currency) for the year,”
“As a result, we could indulge in Venetian blinds in our house at Mount Pritchard.”
And while his family would be sheltered from the summer sun, the 9-to-5 grind – a grind unfamiliar to those that would walk in his wake – put an end to his playing days for good.
“I couldn’t get to training. I was transferred out West as a detective. It would have been unfair,” he remembered.
“If I was working at 5 o’clock and we had a serious case and I said, ‘Look, fellas, I’ve got to go. I’m going to footy training,’ it would have gone down like a lead balloon.
“It took an hour and a half to get to the old Sydney Sports Ground, so I just packed it in.”
There would be attempts to lace them up again after making contact with clubs closer to home, but just as Ray found when he made the move home from Melbourne, his skillset would come at a price.
“I asked for a transfer from Easts in the hopes of joining Parramatta, but the club put a £300 transfer fee on my head to discourage other clubs from signing me,” He recalled, the last note of dismay still lingering.
There would be no seasons on the Basque coast, nor homecomings before tens of thousands of singlet-clad fans. Ray’s days in the arena were over.
Still, even after all these years, Ray knows his place as a true pioneer, just as he knows where he would be lining up in today’s game.
“Nah, they couldn’t. It’s impossible,” Ray said when asked whether a fourth name could ever repeat his code-hopping deeds.
“The players these days train seven days a week. They do weights and sprints. We never did any of that. If some of the blokes I played with back in the day trained like the players today, they would have succeeded.
“But none of us would survive today. They’re too tough. They’re too quick. Too everything.
“I wouldn’t even be the ball boy these days.”
And though Ray set the table for Folau and Hunt’s future feast, creating legacies and bottom lines that will serve their circles for some time, the man that sat at the table’s head alone for nearly six decades isn’t giving his seat up for anyone.
“Israel Folau couldn’t play Aussie Rules. He was awful. Karmichael Hunt could play a bit, though. He wasn’t a bad footy player,” Ray said without wavering.
“They only went over for a bit of publicity. The Giants wouldn’t have signed Folau if they needed him to actually play footy. He couldn’t catch a ball.
“Still, it’s not bad company for a boy from Paddington, is it?”
Regrets, I’ve had a few
None of us really know our parents. Not in totality, anyway.
We never knew them in the prime of their lives. We vaguely recognise them in fading photographs. More vibrant people, still yet to be burdened with the weight of mortgages, pickups, dropoffs, and tedious parent-teacher evenings.
We know the people in front of us, at least we tell ourselves we do. We know they are the ones that fed, clothed, and put a roof over our heads. We remember them instilling life lessons, either by hook or crook.
But at the end of the day, even the dying ones, we are left only with memories and moments, each thatched together with our own particular cross-stitch. Memories and moments that mean something to us.
And though Ray’s three children – Mark, Peter, and Robyn, now parents and grandparents themselves – knew their father as an Aussie Rules pioneer, a union transplant, a late-in-life league import, and a copper, there are still tales untold within the Millington clan.
“I talk to my kids, and I ask them, ‘Do you know what I did for work?’ They have no idea. Not a clue,” Ray said down the phone line.
“I’ve had an interesting life.”
A beat cop-cum-detective in Sydney’s wild West, taking every grizzly case home to the dinner table was never an option. Even those involving gunfire and shotgun weddings.
Ear massages from defenders, and hip-drop tackles from forwards are one thing, but in 1968, Detective Millington found himself in the line of fire when pulling up one morning to a fibro cottage in the suburbs of Sydney’s sprawling West.
Knocking on the door, Ray found a man inside with a woman, a baby, and a shotgun. The man was Wally Mellish, described as an unintelligent psychopath and the centrepiece of the infamous Glenfield Siege.
Shots were fired, threats were made and while the big guns would replace Ray on the front line, it would take police – including Commissioner Norm Allan – eight days and a wedding before Mellish was removed for sentencing.
Later in life, after his badge and gun were handed back and the golf course lured him like a trout to a fly, Ray would reprise his competitive spirit, shaving stroke after stroke off his golf handicap when playing alongside Norma and his two sons, Mark and Peter.
Although, as Sinatra crooned in his trademark track of a life lived, Ray’s life hasn’t unfolded without regrets on either side of the boundary line.
“I made a lot of mistakes in my life. I should have just played one sport. I played too many.”
“I should have concentrated on those where I had a natural flair. I became quite accomplished at Aussie Rules, but I gave it away at the very time when greater performances beckoned.
“Let me express a heartfelt mea culpa. I regret that my abiding interest in all things sporting meant that my wife and children went through life without my involvement at the level that it should have been.
“In short, I was selfish and I deeply regret this failure. I am sorry.”
Less than a month out from his 91st birthday, the former footballer, the ex-cop, the keen golfer, and the man known simply as ‘Millo’ is still keeping himself busy, taking time to mail this writer snippets and photographs from days gone by; even calling for a friendly chat about the weather.
While Ray’s records can be found etched in several yellowing record books, little has been done to collate them, bringing what is a truly unique journey across codes and lines, both real and imagined, to life.
Still sharp as a tack straight off the production line, Ray could have kept his yarn rolling for some time, however, he has never lost a wink of sleep over the fact that others have been championed for the barriers he hopped first.
“It doesn’t worry me, mate,” Ray Millington declares.
Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
SOILAND,
James Henry (Jim)
Jim passed away on 28 June 2023.
Late of Allambie Heights.
Beloved husband of Yvonne (dec) for 59 years.
Loving father of Stephen and Peter and father-in-law of Barbara.
A devoted and adored Pa to Kathryn and James, and a great friend to many.
Jim will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
Aged 90 years.
Friends and family are invited to join us for a celebration of Jim’s life
at Macquarie Park Crematorium, Plassey Road, North Ryde in the Magnolia Chapel at 11.00am on Monday 10 July 2023.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Jim’s memory can be made to Diabetes Australia to support life-saving programs, services and world-class research for people living with diabetes at www.diabetesaustralia.com.au
PENINSULA FUNERALS
9999 5211
Family Owned & Operated
Dave Whiteman
10 July 2023
Today we farewelled our old mate Jim Soiland “Sir James” – “Welfare 1” at the Macquarie Park Crematorium in a service that Jim would have been proud of. Steven and Peter did their Dad proud with some stories of his life and of course our own Oscar Taylor gave a wonderful eulogy for his friend of many years.
So Jim, rest in peace old mate and we hope you and Yvonne are catching up on lost time. The rest of us will have good memories of our time together.
For those who could not attend, the Live Streaming link is available to see the whole service.
( This wonderful image ( main image on display – holding the camera ) on display at the chapel and during the service, was taken by Vic Boase, the current President of the Manly Camera Club of which Jim was an active member for many many years )
Scientific Police – December 1979Front Row L – R
Det Sgt 2/c A.J. WOOD, Det Sgt 2/c E.J. KELLY # 8227, Det Insp J.E. SNOWDEN # 5900, Det Insp J.E. MERRETT # 5596 ( O.I.C. ), Det Sgt 1/c R.R. BROWN, Det Sgt 3/c D.W. WARDROBE # 9456, Det Sgt 2/c B. GIBSON
2nd Row L – R:
Det Sgt 3/c L.K. CAMPBELL # 9618, P.C. Sgt 2/c J.H. SOILAND # 8462, Det SenCon J.R. HESLOP, P.C. Const S.J. HENKEL, Det SenCon D.J. HUGHES, Dets Sgt 3/c D.J. CHIVERS.
Det Sgt 3/c N.G. EZART, Det Sgt 3/c R.W. JOHNSON, Det SenCon W.F.W. DAY, Det SenCon E.L. OOSTERHOFF, Det SenCon M.R. EDWARDS, Det SenCon R.A. NAPIER, Det SenCon R.H. MUNDAY # 12657, P.W. Det SenCon V.L. FLEMING, Det SenCst R.J.W. BARBER, P.C. SenCst D.J. TYSOE, P.C. Cst 1/c T.P. BAKER, Det Cst 1/c R.B. MUSGRAVE, P.C. Cst 1/c P.A. SAMDEMAN, P.C. Cst 1/c J.A. AHERN, P.C. Cst 1/c P.J. HOLDER, P.C. Cst G.L. MURPHY, P.C. Cst G.C. RATCLIFFE, P.C. Cst G.J. CLAUSEN, P.C. Cst M. CONWAY
* Story behind any Nickname:
Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
1983 – Admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW ( stemming from external studies )
Upon Retirement from the NSWPF, he was re-employed by the NSWPF as a Solicitor – providing Legal advise to the Professional Standard Command – Finally Retiring from the employ of NSWPF on 28 July 2005
Service ( From Training Date ) period: From 12 August 1963 to 31 August 2000 = 37 years, o months, 19 days Service
Time employed ( Paid ) with NSW Police: From: 12 August 1963 to 31 August 2000 = 37 years, 0 months, 19 days Service
Time in Retirement from Police: 24 years, 9 months, 30 days
Age at Retirement / Leaving: = 57 years, 0 months, 23 days
Awards: National Medal – granted 15 December 1989 ( C/Insp )
1st Clasp to National Medal – granted 15 December 1989 ( C/Insp )
2nd Clasp to National Medal – granted 24 March 2000 ( C/Insp )
Police Long Service & Good Conduct Medal – granted
Commissioner’s Unit Citation
Born: Sunday 8 August 1943
Died on: Monday 30 June 2025
Age: 81 years, 10 months, 22 days
Organ Donor: No – Age restrictive
Cause: ?
Event location: ?
Event / Diagnosis date: ?
Funeral date: Friday 11 July 2025 @ 1.30am
Funeral location: Ann Wilson Funerals, cnr Darley St & Barrenjoey Rd, Mona Vale, NSW
Northern Beaches PAC provided an Official Police Guard of Honour
Wake location: Mona Vale Surf Club, Mona Vale, NSW
Wake date: Friday 11 July 2025
Funeral Parlour: ?
Buried at: ?
Grave Location: Section: Row: ?Plot: ?
Grave GPS: ?, ?
Memorial / Plaque / Monument located at: ?
Dedication date of Memorial / Plaque / Monument: Nil – at this time ( July 2025 )
GORDON is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance * NOT JOB RELATED
FURTHER INFORMATION IS NEEDED ABOUT THIS PERSON, THEIR LIFE, THEIR CAREER AND THEIR DEATH.
Gordon Frederick LEVER was a prominent figure in the history of the NSW Police. His contributions and dedication to law enforcement have left a lasting impact on the community. Lever’s legacy serves as a reminder of the commitment required for upholding justice and order.
Sergeants Course 2 / 1980 ( Class 3 )14 April 1980 – 30 May 1980
Back Row:
Doug RICHES, George McCLEERY, Tom CONNERTON, John MORELAND, Gerry PERKIN, Laurie MOFFITT, Les AUSTIN, Roger MORRISON, Ray FRANKHAM
Middle Row:
Terry RUSKIN, Allan McCLOSKEY, Neville CHEW, Reg HALL, Bill MAHONY, Peter BURTON, Harvey CHAPMAN, Warren DAY.
Front Row:
John HAMER, Kevin MATTHEWS, Angus McDONALD ( Instructor ), Gordon LEVER ( Instructor ) Bryan BINNS ( Director, Brian MILWARD ( Instructor, Alan RUDD
* Story behind any Nickname:
Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
With heavy hearts and deep sorrow, we share the sudden passing of David McCarty on 3rd July 2025.
This unexpected loss has left us all in shock, and words cannot express the grief we feel. Dad was a cherished husband, father, grandfather and friend, known for his kindness and humour, with his absence leaving a void that can never be filled.
The celebration of his life will be held at Woronora Crematorium South Chapel on Thursday July 17th at 11am.
Class 154 – NSW Police Academy – Redfern
Back Row ( L – R )
Mick HEMMINGS # 17530, Wayne McGRATH # 17492, Ian NICHOLSON # 17501, Garry LILL # 17484, Val IVLEV # 17475, Dave McCARTY # 17480, Brian HUGHES # 17542, Peter LANE # 17535, Bob MORGAN # 17481, Greg PENN # 17534
Middle Row
Jim PENDERGAST # 17467, Geoff HILL # 17478, Neil MILLER # 17497, Shane PIOVARCHY # 17529, Les JARJOURA # 17514, Ean HEANY # 17551, Andy LAKOWEC # 17476, Stuart LIVINGSTONE # 17550, E. NOUWENS # 17488, Doug KANE # 17499
Front Row
Luigi LUNGO # 17511, Murray NORRIS # 17521, Peter McNAMARA # 17469, Graham McKENZIE # 17533, Terry KING # 17490, Jim McKITRICK # 17466, Jan HOOGLAND # 17468, Sue LLOYD # 17479, Michael HOLMES # 17538, Alan HODGE # 17549
Back Row ( L – R ) SenCon Ian BALOGLOW, Cst 1/c Ted SHEPPHARD, Cst Glen WARD, Cst Phil VICKERY, Cst 1/c Denis BURDINAT, Cst 1/c David PARKINSON, Cst Steve CANELLIS
Middle Row Cst 1/c Alan DOBSON, Cst Geoff ALLEN, Cst David McCARTY, Cst Hans RUPP, Cst 1/c Dennis CLIFFORD, Cst Riscoe BLATOSKI, Cst Les REILLY, Cst Ray PEATTIE
Front Row Cst Bob ERSKINE, Cst 1/c Brendon RYAN, Det Sgt 3/c Don GRACE, Det SenInsp Merv BECK, Det Insp FLOOD, Cst Ian MILLER, Cst Paul MAYGER
Det Cst 1/c C.J. URE, Cst 1/c A. MULLIGAN, SenCon K.D. LLEWELLYN, Cst 1/c J. KHALIFEH, Cst 1/c M.J. REYNOLDS
Front Row
Det SenCon Adolfas JABLONSKIS, Det Sgt 3/c .E.H. DICKINSON, Det Sgt 2/c Walter J. HADRICK ( O.I.C. ), Det Sgt 2/c D.T. McCUSKER ( 2.I.C. ), Det Sgt 3/c F.J. MELLIS, Det Sgt 3/c G.L. STARLING
* Story behind any Nickname:
Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
Prior to joining the NSWPF, Lachlan tried Nursing.
He joined the Force although 3 weeks prior to Attestation he contracted glandular fever and missed out.
He reapplied and Attested 17 May 1996.
2022
We are sorry to inform you that a member of our Police Family is in trouble.
Recently retired Senior Constable Lachlan Bransgrove has been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer, and has been given limited time to live.
Lachlan and his wife Michelle have three daughters, Sarah (21), Emma (18) and Amy (16).
Sergeant Charles Browning and his colleagues from the Northern Region Youth Command are fundraising to assist Lachlan and his family during this incredibly difficult time.
Run4Lachie
Run4Lachie
Story
Hi there! We have decided to create this team Run4Lachie to support the Run4Blue campaign.
On Sunday the 26th May, 2024, we will be joining together to walk or run in memory of Lachlan Bransgrove and other fallen Police Officers from our Local Area Command. There will be 3 distances, 5km, 10km and 15km, starting and finishing at Edge Fitness Gym, Alston Ave Alstonville, kicking off at 6.30am. We would love to see you all there for a great event, bringing our Community together.
At Lismore PCYC are: Ben Franklin MLC with PCYC Lismore Club Manager Greg Enfield and Senior Constable Lachlan Bransgrove.
The Lismore PCYC will soon have temperature control in their primary exercise areas thanks to a new air conditioning system and purpose fitted doors.
The PCYC will receive $50,261 in funding from the NSW Government to undertake the upgrades.
With hundreds of people from the local community accessing the facility each week, they will now be able to exercise in greater comfort.
At Lismore PCYC are: Senior Constable Lachlan Bransgrove with Ben Franklin MLC and PCYC Lismore Club Manager Greg Ironfield.
Nationals Member of the Legislative Council Ben Franklin said the upgrades were needed to make sure the PCYC could continue offering great facilities to the community.
“The Lismore PCYC is a really important place for schools, local clubs and groups, but most importantly, it is a safe place for young people to go, particularly those who are most vulnerable,” Mr Franklin said.
“Upgrading the facilities will mean they can be accessed more frequently and youth programs can be expanded to continue looking after vulnerable and at-risk youth in the local community.
“Ensuring that the facilities are modern also makes sure the wider community can enjoy the PCYC year round and support their wellbeing.”
The increased usability of the PCYC will mean the Club can focus on increasing the capacity of young people to come together, increase their divisionary and Aboriginal youth programs and expand NSW Police youth case management with disadvantaged young people.
Mr Greg Ironfield, Club Manager at the Lismore PCYC said this was great news for the Club.
“We’re very excited to receive funding through the Stronger Country Communities Fund,” Mr Ironfield said.
“We will be utilising the funds to upgrade our Club facilities, including adding air conditioning to our gym, martial arts and boxing rooms.”
“We will also be enhancing and expanding our Police Rise Up Programs to reach more young people in our community.”
Air conditioning and purpose-fitted doors will be installed to the gym, the martial arts room and the boxing room.
Replacing the current barred doors with more appropriate sealable doors will mean temperature regulation is possible and will provide for sustainable use of electricity through heating and cooling.
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 services at the PCYC have currently been suspended in line with the Public Health Order but anyone who needs support during this time can contact the Lismore Police on 02 6626 0599.
* Story behind any Nickname: The Big Fella due to his 6′ 4″ height and stature.
Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
The reunion photo identified as follows ( 2001 ):
Scientific Police – December 1979Front Row L – R
Phillip St Detectivesc1979
