To commemorate 100 years since the Armistice, we would like to introduce you to 100 members of Caulfield RSL over the next 100 days
Sir James Stanley Disney
James Stanley Disney was born in Ballarat, the 5th of child of a local businessman. His family moved to Melbourne, where his father served on the South Melbourne Council, eventually becoming Mayor.
Disney enlisted in the AIF on 9 September 1914 and next month embarked for Egypt with the 8th Battalion. He saw action at Gallipoli and, from June 1916, on the Western Front where he was a motor-transport driver until selected for flying training. Commissioned in the Australian Flying Corps on 28 April 1918, he was posted to No.2 Squadron and promoted lieutenant in July. His A.I.F. appointment terminated in Australia on 28 March 1919.
Post war, he made a name as a motorcycle racer. He won the Phillip Island 200-mile (322 km) 250-cc motorcycle road race in 1928, and many solo and sidecar events on grass tracks and at the Melbourne Motordrome and eventually opened a motorcycle shop.
In November 1935, he was elected to the Melbourne City Council, eventually becoming Lord Mayor in 1948. He lead the delegation which pressed Melbourne's bid to the IOC to host the 1956 Olympic Games. He was Lord Mayor for 3 successive terms and was knighted following the completion of his last term.
He continued the Lord Mayor's holiday camp for children at Portsea - an initiative that continues to this day, and is supported by RSL Victoria.
Disney is named on the Caulfield RSL 1948 Membership list, with his occupation listed as importer.
A foundation member of the Liberal Party of Australia, he was active in politics until his heath failed in 1950. He passed away in 1952.
Read more about Sir James Stanley Disney here - http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/disney-sir-james-stanley-10021
Lest we forget