May2015_VALE: LESLIE JOHN LONG

Died aged 87 years.

The death occurred recently of a former Dayboro resident, Leslie John Long.  Leslie was born on August 2nd 1927, the youngest of four children born to Ted and Eileen Long.  His siblings were Ted, Bill and Joan, who all predeceased him.  Les’s father, Ted, built the local butcher shop, and this building in Williams Street, Dayboro, still bears his name on the façade . . . and still operates as a Butcher’s Shop – Dayboro Butchery.  

Les recalled riding around collecting the meat orders before school, and then delivering them in the afternoon.  He attended Dayboro State School all his school years.  After leaving school, he started work in his father’s butcher shop.  When his parents retired to Esk, Les followed them and worked in the butcher shop there.

At twenty, Les entered the Police Force.  After his training he was transferred to Townsville.  Before leaving for Townsville he married Mavis.  They had four children:  Diane, Leslie, Paul and Judy.  Leaving Townsville, he transferred to Albion and later Lansborough.  His final transfer was as Sergeant of Police at Rosewood, where he spent ten years, resigning in 1976.

Whilst in Rosewood be became interested in local activities and served on the Show Committee and St Brigid’s Catholic Church.  Les was also active in Bowls and Golf.

 

On leaving the Police Force Les turned to mining at Newhope Colliery, Ipswich.  He transferred to Blair Athol Coal, Clermont, to be close to the camp he’d had for several years, on the Tomahawk Creek gemfields.  Les retired to there, where he spent the next twenty years.  He also maintained a home in Rosewood which he visited frequently.  Over the years there he accumulated a fine collection of Sapphires.  He was an excellent horseman, and helped the owner of the gem-field property with his mustering – a trade he learned as a lad, working with his father’s stockman on his property at Mt Byron.  Les recalled riding over to see Somerset Dam under construction, and could point out the remains of the construction site.

Les loved to travel and he and his friend Kay, did two trips to New Zealand and Tasmania;  driving around Australia PLUS the dozens of trips between Rosewood and the gemfields.

 

Ill health forced him to leave the gem-fields and return to live permanently in his Rosewood home for the next seven years, until his recent death.

His funeral Mass was celebrated at St Brigid’s Church Rosewood, followed by the funeral cortege to the Esk Cemetery where he was laid to rest near his parents, Ted and Eileen.