Stanley Tolley (1912-1989) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Stanley (Stan) Tolley

Born 18 Dec 1912 in Drouin, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Son of Albert Tolley and Kate (Jagoe) Tolley

Brother of William Albert Tolley [half], Norman Samuel Tolley [half], Harold James Tolley [half], Alice Maude Tolley [half], John Tolley, Mary Maude (Tolley) Martin, Eliza Kate Tolley, Leslie Tolley, Reginald Ernest Tolley, Irene Nora (Tolley) Warren and Edward William Tolley

Husband of Jean Olive (Hand) Tolley — married 4 Jan 1935 in Drouin, Victoria, Australia

[children unknown]

Died 31 Mar 1989 at age 76 in Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia

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Profile last modified 5 Jul 2023 | Created 23 Nov 2019

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Biography

Stanley was born in 1912. He passed away in 1989 and passed away in Heidleberg Hospital , at the time he was living at 77 Prospect Hill Road Narre Warren.

Stan Tolley was born in Victoria, Australia

Stan followed Geelong in the AFL and played local Australian Rules Football for Warburton in 1938 , 1939 & 1940 and was often placed as one of the better players on the ground.

Stan served in the Australian Army, with a total of 1370 days in service with 636 days of that service posted overseas. His Service number is VX78291 and he achieved the rank of Corporal on 30 march 1945, and later Sergeant on 6 September 1945 in the 2/24 Australian Infantry Battalion. He was wounded in the shoulder from grenade fragments on 2 June 1945, whilst in Tarakan, and luckily returned to his unit 5 days later. He spent approx 4 months in the Middle East, with a 6 month gap before an approx 4 month stint in New Guinea and then a 14 month gap before a approx 8 months final stint in Borneo.

Stan with his friend Pud Hort ,on 21st March1942 joined up with the armed Forces in Warburton , but were both assigned to the Wangaratta training camp prior to going overseas. Some of the locations he was stationed in , were Tarakan Indonesia , Port Moresby Papua new Guinea , Turkey , Tobruk ( although not a rat of Tobruk ) and Borneo.

The 2/24th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army, which served during World War II. A unit of the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF), it was formed in July 1940 from primarily Victorian volunteers and was known as "Wangaratta's Own" because of the time the battalion spent in the town during its formative period prior to deployment overseas.

It served with distinction in North Africa in 1941–1942 as part of the 26th Brigade, which was assigned to the 7th Division, before being reassigned to the 9th Division for the rest of the war.

In the Middle East the Battalion became part of the legendary 'Rats of Tobruk' when as part of the 9th Division, under the Command of Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead, known as 'Ming the Merciless' after a popular cartoon character of the period, they sucessfully held the town of Tobruk against the Afrika Korps of General Erwin Rommell, winning international acclaim and affording the Allies a victory over the all-conquering Axis forces.

When the rest of the AIF returned home in early 1942, to defend Australia against Japanese aggression, the 9th Division remained in the Middle East and formed a key part of the offensive forces at the Battle of El Alamein in late 1942.

In early 1943, the 2nd/24th Battalion returned to Australia with the rest of the 9th Division and later took part in campaigns against the Japanese in New Guinea in 1943–1944 and Borneo in 1945, before being disbanded in 1946.

The 2/24th suffered the highest number of casualties of any 2nd AIF infantry battalion.

Stan , one of eight siblings , grew up on the family farm in Ripplebrook , Longwarry , called River Banks he initially worked as a farm hand milking cows and general farm work for his father , in his early days he bought a old tray truck to go to markets carting vegetables between Warburton and Drouin. Stan with his brother Reg & sister Irene joined the drama club in Ripplebrook where they were in a comedy play in 3 acts called “Jane” on May 3rd 1933 in the Drouin Sth Hall , a dance followed the play, they all attended the Longwarry South School. Stan played cricket for Ripplebrook Cricket Club and was captain of the team that won the 1906 premiership in the Yannathon Association. Stan married Jean Hand in 1935, ( they got married on a Friday , so Stan could play football on Saturday ) they initially lived at Ripplebrook for 8 months before Stan won a contract to share farm at Sunningdale East Warburton ,which he and his close friend Aaron (Pud) Hort shared farmed which was across the road from the Timber Mill that he & Pud also worked in . They both lived on the Mill property in separate houses provided by the timber mill company owned by Don Richards, as part of their pay conditions . The mill house they lived in with Margret was a very small dark brown timber house, consisting only of a main Bed rm & Kitchen which were directly of the Lounge room, and a further small room for Margaret , and with a small lean too on the rear of the house which was the Bath room with a chip heater for hot water , the laundry and can toilet were in a separate outbuilding away from the house .They had no children of their own , but raised Jeans younger sisters child ( Margret Ellen Clements ) as their own .

Stan enlisted in WW2. where he proved to be a natural leader of men. When he returned from the war he was placed immediately in repatriation in Heidelberg for a long time as he had Malaria and they also found a mass on his lung which was TB , once he left repatriation he worked with the Board of Works where he built huts at Big Pats Creek for the Upper Yarra Dam project, he stayed at the Upper Yarra Dam project til its completion , after the dam project he relocated to Nunawading and later Carrum Downs , he became a very good fastidious and precise tradesman , he retired from the Board of Works as a senior supervisor of the Carpentry section.

During his early time with MMBW , and after completion of the Upper Yarra Dam project, he bought a block of land at Leila Rd Warburton , and in his spare time he built their first home , they spent 20 years in Warburton. In 1955 they moved into a garage at 8 Barnett Grove Noble Park where Stan built another house in his spare time, at this time Stan was contracting with another man in the Dandenong area. After Margaret married , and left their home they moved to Croydon where Stan built 3 more homes that lived in and then sold . They moved a total of 7 times. Stan returned to MMBW where he was stationed at Mitcham , in 1963 Stan & Jean started touring around Australia in a caravan for 7 months and later in life they again caravanned to most states in Australia for their holidays . While Stan was working one day , he suffered a bad haemorrhage and was rushed to hospital, his illness continued and whilst at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital he suffered another Haemorrhage that forced the removal of one of his lungs , it was touch and go for a few weeks whether he would survive. This forced him to give up smoking his beloved pipe This forced his retirement from work , so they travelled up to Queensland for the winters , on one trip Stan suffered a heart attack and after a few weeks in hospital in Tamworth NSW they returned home to a unit in Croydon. He was bored with not having much to do , so they moved to Narre Warren to be closer to Margaret and family, and he took up lawn bowls, upon his death, the Narre Warren Bowls Club, created a Annual Pairs Game called the "Stan Tolley Trophy, played over two weekends". The years were taking their toll with only one lung and a bad heart , this made breathing very hard ,in his final year he was as dependant on supplementary supply of oxygen .On Easter Sunday 1989 he was rushed to Dandenong Hospital then transferred on Monday to Heidelberg Repat ,on Friday 31st Stan passed away His Death Certificate , registration no 08340/89 , noted his cause of death as Pneumonia - weeks ; Emphysema - years : Cardiomyopathy - years

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