Local Heroes - Geoff Lee

Geoff Lee

Geoff at ACTA (Australian Clay Target Association)

By Trevor Stow

Geoff was a son of a “Wheeler” who worked in the Wonthaggi Coal Mine in the 1940’s. His dad Ernie’s job was to drive the pit ponies down the coal mine tunnels, where the skips were filled with coal and return back up the tunnel. This was dirty dangerous work. Geoff lost a great uncle in the coal mine after a piece of rock fell off the tunnel ceiling, hitting him on the head and killing him. Ernie did not think that he had a long term future in this dangerous industry and decided to move to Melbourne, where he joined the police force.

After a period as a detective, he was transferred, back into uniform and off to Alexandra. The Lee family consisted of 4 boys and, of course, his young wife. The boys embraced country life and had the opportunity to hunt and fish.

Rabbits were in plague proportions in the 1950’s and the Lee boys, particularly Geoff, made the most of the opportunity. They loved to trap, ferret and hunt in the newly filled Lake Eildon area. They sold the rabbits for 5 shillings (50 cents) per pair. In those days rabbits came in all colours; brown, black and mixed etc. The boys had to be careful to look after the rabbits. They avoided bruising the carcass as most of these rabbits were for human consumption, many being exported overseas to England. The rabbits were gutted and sold to a rabbit buyer who had a chiller at the Alexandra Butter factory. The buyer would fill up one chiller, replace it with an empty chiller and take the full one to the Melbourne market. These chillers held about 1000 rabbits and business was good.

In those days country boys mostly owned a gun. Geoff was given a 410 gauge shotgun, which he still owns today, when he was 10 years old. Although the gun was a gift to Geoff from his dad, Ernie was not generous enough to provide him with cartridges. Geoff had to save up for the cartridges and pay for them from the proceeds of the rabbit sales and also by doing an early paper round for the local newsagent.

To earn some extra money, Geoff skun and kept some of the rabbits to sell himself. He put them in the basket on his Malvern Star pushbike before taking them around Alexandra and selling them to the local homes. He would receive the same price of 5 shillings per pair price for these rabbits however he could keep and subsequently sell the skins for 4 shillings a pair, thus increasing his profitability considerably.

The recently filled Lake Eildon was a mecca for trout fishing with rainbow trout being the primary target fish. Fish averaged 2 to 3 pounds but fish up to 7 pounds quite common. This was a wonderful resource to have on you doorstep and family were grateful for this added protein source.

When Geoff was 16 years old, his dad Ernie was appointed Office in Charge of the one man Cowes Police station which included Phillip and French Islands and he moved his family to Cowes. Geoff continued with his hunting passion and found the area to his liking, hunting rabbits, ducks, snipe, quail and foxes. The foxes were a big problem on Phillip Island as they predated on the native mutton birds and penguins. Foxes are now said to be completely removed from the Island which is of great benefit to the wildlife.

After leaving school Geoff joined the post office and worked there for about 6 years including spending some time as a telephonist for the post office. In those days the telephone exchange was semi-automatic so the house holder would ring the exchange on 011, speak to the operator, who would connect them to your chosen call recipient. The caller would be given and charged for 3 minutes to talk before the charges would increase, depending on time spent on the call. Sometimes, at quiet times, the operator would “forget” to extend the 3 minutes and conversations would go on for a lot longer at no additional charge.

After the Post Office, Geoff decided to follow in the steps of his father and join the police force. He applied at the St Kilda Rd Police Barrack’s where he was weighed and measured and put through a written test which included mathematics. Geoff found that he would not be joining the force after all. He was never any good at maths finished 23rd out of the 50 applicants in the written test. They only took the top 22! So, instead of joining the Force he decided to join a mate and work his way around Australia for 12 months. At one stage they camped at the base of Ayres Rock and listened on the radio to Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. It was a very exciting day for the world.

Having a round of skeet

Geoff Lee pictured on the left with his Dad on the right

Upon returning to Cowes, Geoff worked in several jobs before gaining employment with the Shire of Phillip Island where he worked for many years as a works superintendent.

Geoff has always been community minded. In 1973 he joined the San Remo CFA as a volunteer fire fighter where he served for 27 years. He rose to the rank of Captain and Deputy Group Officer. He was invited to lead a strike force to the 2000 Sydney fires. These fires raged for weeks around West Sydney threatening houses and homes. They bivouacked at the University of NSW along with other volunteer fire fighters from many other states before returning home.

He also joined the San Remo Foreshore Committee who were responsible for rehabilitation, animal and weed control and beach access. Lots of worthwhile work was undertaken by this group.

Geoff became a Justice of the Peace in 1999. Currently Geoff makes himself available at least one day per week to sign legal documents at a signing centre in Warragul and occasionally in Bairnsdale. Being a JP is a demanding job. Geoff has signed and witnessed tens of thousands of documents over the years. These are important legal documents and care and knowledge are required to make sure that they will stand up legally, if required at a future date. The good job that JP’s do voluntarily for the community is very much appreciated by the police force as it frees up their time to do other important work.

Geoff’s passion for hunting led him to join Westernport branch of Field & Game Australia in 1973. Field and Game was originally formed in 1958 and Westernport branch was formed in 1971. Field & Game is a conservation minded group that have done significant work in the environment such as waterway restoration and reclamation and placement of nesting boxes for our water fowl. Through the local branch Geoff was the instigator of a number of worthwhile projects including the construction of the Cowes Cemetery Wetland and the Churchill Island wetland. These wetlands were constructed and are now used by waterfowl and many native species of birds and animals and are a great benefit to the wildlife of the area. Field and Game also conduct regular clay target shoots at their grounds at Rhyll. Geoff became and continues to be a passionate clay target shooter. He reached a high standard, competing in “A” grade and having shot “The Max” on 1 occasion. This entails hitting all 25 clay targets without a miss. He has competed in National Championships on numerous occasions.

In 1986 he was awarded Life Membership of Westernport Branch. This is an award that is only bestowed on a handful of members. They must have held office, been a longstanding member and contributed a significant amount of time and energy to the organisation. Geoff was deemed to have done this by his peers. His conservation work was greatly appreciated. Recently he was invited to be the guest speaker at the club’s 50th year celebration.

Over the years he has done a lot of hunting. Fox hunting has been a particular passion. Foxes are responsible for the destruction of much native wildlife and also responsible for inflicting huge losses on the farming community. Geoff, along with his Field & Game mates and farmer friends, hunt on a weekly basis throughout the winter months.They are responsible for removing up to 200 foxes annually from the environment.

Geoff is a member of the Labertouche Men’s Shed where he is on the “Wood Crew” that cuts, splits and delivers wood throughout the district. Although not a big organisation, they do a lot of important volunteer work as well as a lot of “Male Bonding”. The Men’s Shed allows, mainly retirees, to get together regularly, do good for their community, as well as assisting to maintain good mental health outcomes within the group.

These days Geoff has retired to Longwarry but commutes back and forth to Bairnsdale with his partner Lennie.